Monday September 21st is the United Nations International Day of Peace, when individuals, communities, nations and governments are invited to highlight efforts to end conflict and promote a culture of peace. Initiatives of Change sees many signs of hope – including, at the recent Caux Forum for Human Security, a gathering of Indians and Pakistanis working to build bridges of trust in their region. Among them was Salman Ahmad, rock star, medical doctor and ambassador extraordinaire for peace, who has touched millions of lives.

In 2009 Rajmohan Gandhi, biographer and grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, was elected President of the International Council of Initiatives of Change. A product of the Modern School in New Delhi, Gandhi is a journalist and political activist as well as a research professor at the Centre for Policy Studies in New Delhi, India. Katherine Marshall interviewed him for the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs

As young Jews and Arabs in France become more and more violently aware of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, one book, So Far Yet So Near, has a particular focus. Nathalie Chavanne meets the book's protagonists.

RD Mathur, as a student leader in India, found that the greatest thing a person can have in life is a clear purpose

IofC's long engagement with the UN entered a new phase in the 1990s with the opening of an office adjacent to the UN headquarters. Vasu Vaitla took up responsibilities for this office in July 2002, serving until 2005. Will Jenkins asked Vasu to share his vision for change.

Retirement hasn't slowed the pace of Cornelio Sommaruga, former President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Andrew Stallybrass discovers.

Hugh Nowell has made a vocation of rising to the unexpected, as Paul Williams and Mary Lean discovered.

Throughout the highs and lows of a long diplomatic career, Archie Mackenzie has always striven to put service ahead of ambition. Campbell Leggat and Kenneth Noble tell his story.