Rebuilding Trust in Europe

14-18 July 2019

Please note that this event is now over. You would like to know more about Tools for Changemakers 2019?

 

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

A continuation of Addressing Europe’s Unfinished Business

The concept of identity, particularly national identity, is a double-edged sword. It provides a common sense of belonging, but also a justification for exclusion, mistrust and xenophobia. 

Building on the five-year vision of Addressing Europe’s Unfinished Business, Tools For Changemakers strengthens its training component while embarking on  a three- year journey of exploration of the link between personal and collective identities in Europe, the rise of populism and nationalism in different European regions, the need to belong for old and new community members, unaddressed collective traumas, and the urgency to work with these issues in order to build more trust and cohesion in Europe.

Come and learn from initiatives with extensive experience in offering training in practical tools for building trust.

 

Find out more about our integrated Programmes 2019

 

Who should attend?

  • Grassroots practitioners active in the field of community and trust building in Europe
  • Young changemakers engaged in Europe’s future
  • Teams and individuals engaged in IofC work in Europe

 

Themes

 

Identity dynamics in Europe

 

 

 

Tools for building trust and social cohesion

 

 

 

Training Tracks

During Tools for Changemakers – Rebuilding Trust in Europe, you can chose to be part of one of 5 Training Tracks that focus on equipping you with tools for your work, in your organization, or in your community.

Our Training Tracks are run by experts in trustbuilding, peacebuilding and dialogue facilitation. You will commit to one training track over three afternoons. At the completion of the training you will receive a certificate of completion.

In the following overview, you can find information about the different Tracks that are diverse in character and methodology. All of them are interactive and your experience, skills and voice will be integrated. “Tools for Being the Change” will focus on ‘inner work’ designed to support your self-development and personal resilience in order to be efficient and impactful. “Tools for Enabling Change” are tracks designed to develop your practical skills and equip you with useful tools that can be added to your toolkit as a field practitioner.

About the Training Track

 

General Information

Trainers: Louie Gardiner and Su Riddell   

Maximum number of participants: 12

Becoming and being our best Selves calls on a lifetime’s commitment to daily, moment-to-moment practice. If this is true, what can we possibly learn together in the 10 short hours we will share, that can resource us throughout our lives?

In IofC, we believe that changing the world starts within. So, we will start with Ourselves. We learn to listen to others and to the still quiet voice within that many call ‘God’. But whether you believe in God or not, how well do you attend to you? The you that is the most sensitive, potentially sophisticated and potent instrument for change on the planet? How do you attend to the self-hatred, accusations and shame you generate within yourself, about yourself? How do you deal with the labels, judgments and acts of hatred that others direct towards you or others around you, if you do not know how to deal with your own inner aggressor?

YOU are where we begin. We will open your eyes, minds, bodies and hearts to a new approach – Presence in Action - that will help you begin the process of healing and resourcing yourself from within. This is our crucial first step to tackling the growing ripples of hatred, anger and violence spilling out across the world. Join us, if you believe this is the crucial first step for you.

Different versions of this training have been delivered over the last 5 years in Switzerland and UK. Each time it is different – orientated to focus on the particular issues and context of the situation and the people in the room.

We can’t wait to see you!

 

What past participants say

 

"This is a gentle and powerful approach to understanding the thoughts, beliefs and emotions that tend to affect our lives and our relationships. It goes further than most personal training & self-development methods in that this new understanding is reached at a deeper, more embodied level … so much so that it leads to a level of awareness that is not just in the head but in your whole being.  This leads to internal shifts and change that have more impact, clarity and stickability than anything I have tried before."

 

"…it's extremely powerful and unique in how it helps you understand and face into your emotional life, objective reality and the way you interact with the world… you have to feel ready for it… and you have to be prepared to step into in the unknown."

 

About the trainers

Louie Gardiner

Louie Gardiner is the creator of the P6 Constellation – the framework that enables people to access the praxis of Presence in Action. This powerful approach equips people to engage in deep personal change, transforming their relationships with themselves, others and the wider world. She is a Director of Presence In Action (PIA) Collective CIC and Potent 6 in which she is the Lead PIA Practitioner & Learning Partner; Change Consultant & Trainer-Facilitator. She is also a member of Initiatives of Change UK and initiated the REAL Change programme in 2015.

 

Su Riddell

Su Riddell is the local coordinator for Initiatives of Change in Oxford, helping to coordinate a range of activities, such as mentoring, discussions, spiritual reflection, conference planning, project management, painting and craft. She is a daughter, mother, soon-to-be-grandmother, and friend to a web of diverse people who inspire her and who she aspires to support. She has been working with IofC for the best part of 40 years, practicing inner reflection daily, which enables her to engage with hervalues and support others in their own practice. For 10 years she was a member of a training team inspiring and equipping people across all diversities to embed change in their lives, and enable individual outreach. Su runs workshops in art and craft combined with mindfulness.

About the Training Track

 

General Information

Trainer: Agnes Otzelberger 

Maximum number of participants: 15

 

This course is for you if some or all of these apply:

  • You feel overwhelmed and/or conflicted in the face of injustice, poverty, physical/structural violence or ill health in your community or the world.
  • You experience signs and symptoms of compassion fatigue, empathic burnout, or similar: e.g. depletion, hopelessness, cynicism, ill health, or disconnection from others.
  • You would like to sustain - or regain - trust in yourself as an able, resourceful vehicle for change.
  • You wonder how to sustain your spark and emotional involvement in your work, whilst also staying healthy and able to act.
  • You are interested in or open to working with your inner world.

In professions relentlessly confronted with the suffering of injustice, poverty, violence, or ill health, it is a common belief that emotional shutdown – often dubbed ‘being professional’ – is the only option we have to avoid emotional breakdown. But with numbing the pain, we shut out all the good stuff, too: joy, gratitude, inspiration, intuition, empathic connection with others. Increasingly at war with ourselves and with the world, we end up losing trust in ourselves. We fear losing our ability to care.

These struggles are a silent and costly epidemic. They go by the names of compassion fatigue, or empathic distress/burnout, or vicarious trauma.

The thing is: We can’t actually tire of compassion. But most of us need to learn it first. What we do fatigue of is ‘affective empathy’ — our visceral, painful mirroring of other people’s suffering. But compassion, neurologically speaking, is a different emotion altogether, and a way to stay fully present to suffering, without overwhelm and paralysis. This response comes more naturally to us with e.g. our offspring than with people we perceive as ‘other’. As neuroscience now shows - on the back of insights developed over millennia - it can be strengthened and expanded like a muscle. And that’s what you’ll be learning to do in this programme.

 

In this training track, you will

  • learn the difference between empathic distress and a healthy, sustainable way of caring for and about others and the world – a way to stay deeply engaged without running yourself into the ground;
  • learn the time-tested mind practices that will help you do this;
  • be supported to develop a way to practice that works for your personal needs and circumstances; and
  • gain inspiration and motivation through the connection with a group of people in the same boat as you.

This approach unpacks what trust in ourselves and connection with those perceived as other means on a physiological basis. Trust, physiologically, is a nervous system modus where the body can rest and digest, as opposed to a state of threat – fight, flight, freeze.  In the former, we are able to engage, connect, empathise, learn, reflect – all the things we want to be able to do in the role of a change maker. The training, without going into arduous details on these neuroscientific aspects, teaches techniques that expand our ability to work from this safe, connected place of trust even under trying circumstances which would normally tip us into threat mode.

The training comes in three parts – the three cornerstones of healthy compassion –, taught through a mix of group discussion, guided practice, individual reflection and exploring of resources: 1) mindful awareness 2) self kindness ('inward compassion'), 3) common humanity ('outward compassion').

This particular training has been delivered before to two groups of people working in humanitarian aid/ international development, environment & sustainability, activism & human rights, youth & social work, healthcare, and mental health & coaching.

 

What past participants say

 

"This stimulating programme gives deep and fascinating insights and practices to help participants discover ways to flourish on a personal level whilst sustaining a compassionate approach to others. […] A vital kind of self knowledge for those in the helping professions."

Chris, humanitarian worker, Liberia

 

"I would recommend this to all people who burn out and run on empty."

Hannah, Youth worker, UK

 

"I thoroughly recommend it for everyone working in a caring profession – be it for people, animals or planet."

Will, environmental activist, UK

 

"I now have a new understanding of the difference between empathy and compassion and how they employ different neural circuitry. This has given me a new clarity about the goal of my personal practice plus inspiration that there is potential for positive change. And I have practical strategies I can use."

Jessica, coach, UK

 

 

About the trainer

Agnes Otzelberger

Agnes Otzelberger is a trainer and facilitator working to get our minds, hearts and bodies in shape for the social good we seek. From a young age, she knew she wanted to be involved in tackling injustice and inequality in the world. Then, 10+ years of working as an adviser, trainer and researcher in the international aid sector, and in a range of non-governmental and public sector organisations, left her feeling depleted and deeply troubled about the many ways in which their work seemed to model that which they were against. She began to explore the paradox of systems that are set up to ‘do good’ and yet often inflict harm, and of people who fight the good fight for others, yet often fail to truly do this for themselves. Over the past seven years, she has immersed herself more and more in a range of ‘inner’ and interpersonal practices that can help us bring our values and ways of being in this work into better alignment. This includes various techniques for group process, working with the mind and body, and interpersonal communication, working with individuals, groups and teams. Agnes works independently, and as an associate with OpenEdge – Transforming Conflict, and Wild Things. She is passionate about the emerging meeting places between Western and Eastern psychology and science, and she has recently completed a certificate in Compassion-based Psychotherapy and Social Transformation with the Nalanda Institute for Contemplative Science, which brought her to the work on compassion fatigue she now does.

About the Training Track

 

General Information

Trainers: Anne-Claire Frank-Seisay & Jean Brown

Maximum number of participants: 14

Hosted by: Creators of Peace

 

"How do we change the world? Change the Story."

Charles Eisenstein

 

"Neither revolution nor reformation can ultimately change a society, rather you must tell a new and powerful story... one so inclusive that it gathers all the bits of our past and our present into a coherent whole, one that even shines some light into the future so that we can take the next step forward."

Ivan Illich, priest/philosopher 1926-2002

 

"You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending."

CS Lewis, academic/novelist 1898-1963

 

In an increasingly fragile and divided world stories can heal, stories can harm. We will explore an invitation to take responsibility for the stories we tell and to transform them for the future benefit of our communities and in the cause of peace. What might it mean to be an advocate for a new story’– the story of our shared humanity? 

Over the course of the sessions, each participant will have the chance to investigate their own sense of identity, and to prepare and tell an aspect of their own story as a tool for peace advocacy.

The areas of learning are:  
1. The potential of each individual in becoming an ‘advocate for a new story’
2. Skills in listening deeply to ourselves and others as a means for healing
3. The role of storysharing as a tool for deepening connections and advocating for peace

 

About the trainers

Anne-Claire Frank-Seisay

Anne-Claire Frank-Seisay is Dutch-French and currently living in the USA. She is on the International Committee of Creators of Peace International. She was a member of Initiatives of Change for 10 years in the Netherlands, before moving to the USA. In the Netherlands, she worked for the City of Amsterdam as an interim project manager and also facilitated many large group conversations around the city on many different topics. She currently works in international education on the east coast of the USA. Anne-Claire has been involved with CoP’s new project Advocates for a New Story since she facilitated a first trial workshop in Caux in 2017. This project connects her degree in History to her passion for peace building. History to her is not about finding the truth, but understanding different perspectives and understanding that narratives about events can change. 

 

Jean Brown

Jean Brown is one of the elders for Creators of Peace (CoP) and has been involved with CoP since 1994. Jean is the designer of the Creators of Peace Circles which have spread to 50 countries over the last fifteen years. She authored the CoP facilitation and training manuals and most recently was the convenor for CoP's 25th anniversary conference. Jean has worked full-time with Initiatives of Change for 50+ years, including for many years in India and the USA, pioneering projects such as 'Action for Life', a leadership programme for young people, and supporting reconciliation initiatives in South Sudan. She lives in Australia where, together with her family, she is actively involved with community initiatives and regularly mentors women around the world.

About the Training Track

General Information

Trainers: Olena Rosstalna and Olha Boiko

Maximum number of participants: 20

 

Do I believe that change starts with me? How can I be that change when I am just a person standing in front of a big world? Can I make a difference? Does the change really start with me?

Against a backdrop of migrant crises, honour violence and other conflicts, we can foster civil courage and build bridges of inner and outer peace by using art as a tool for changemaking and social impact.

‘It Starts with Me – Using Drama and Artistic Methods for Changemaking’ is about developing a leadership culture based on moral integrity and compassion. Course trainers use various artistic methods such as triangle drama, emotional transmitting, multi-voice dialogue and creative art to help participants get practical experience of using art as a tool for changemaking.

The training is intended to help people of all ages express their creative needs in a democratic way. Participants will be encouraged to explore solutions not only to the challenges they face in their society but also internally as individuals. The different artistic methods will enable participants to share their needs and the needs of their community. Emphasis will be placed on listening to each other and understanding each other’s needs.

All participants are requested to wear comfortable clothes and footwear.

 

What past participants say

It helped me to achieve my life goals.

This course made me realize that if I want changes for a better version of me and my community I need to be the change maker.

Very artistic training with really professional trainers who helped us to break down borders between representatives of other cultures. It’s a “must have” for young adults living in multicultural societies.

 

About the trainers

Olena Rosstalna

Olena Rosstalna (Ukraine) is the artistic and stage director of Youth Drama Theatre “AmaTea” (Chernihiv, Ukraine) and an actress, drama facilitator, PhD and assistant professor. Educated in Ukraine and Ireland, Olena works as both artistic director theatre at a theatre and an academic scholar in Ukraine. From 2012 to 2015 she worked in Ireland with the Graffiti Educational Theatre Company on projects which examine art and in particular drama as a tool of social change. In 2017 she worked for the “theatre combinat”theatre company in Germany and from 2017 to 2018 on Erasmus+ youth exchanges in Finland. She has produced more than 30 performances in different genres aimed at addressing the problems of violence, internal migration and gender justice. She is one of the managers of the project “The Different Stages” (a cross-border project presenting a common episode of Scandinavian/Ukrainian history through a strong female personality) which was implemented together with IofC Sweden in 2016-2019. She is currently working on two projects: “Drama in Education for Social Change” and “Incisive Drama”.

 

Olha Boiko

Olha Boiko (Ukraine) is an actress, drama facilitator, youth worker, and teacher of a multidisciplinary course combining art, photography and drama for children and young adults. She has worked on numerous artistic projects (‘Real Stories’, ‘Crossroads’, ‘Together’ etc.) aimed at community building, developing civil society, and sustainable development.

 

About the Training Track

General Information

 

Trainer: Neil Oliver

Maximum number of participants: 16

 

The whole ethos of Caux is to help heal divides between different cultures, ethnicities and religious groups which inevitably means bringing people together to talk. An easy thing to say perhaps, but often a challenging thing to do. This training will equip you with the skills and the understanding you need to work effectively with diverse groups.

We will achieve this by working experientially. We will work together using our own individual identities and cultures to explore and discover what it takes to bring out the best in people. The training will be challenging, informative and fun!

If you ever have to facilitate groups like this, or would like to learn how, then this could be for you.

You will learn:

  • The impact assumptions haveon effective communication
  • Where we have blind spots
  • How we project onto others thoughts and feelings based on our own view of the world (our personal lens)
  • Effective communication
  • Working with challenging behaviour and developing strategies for dealing with it
  • How to enjoy diversity!
  • The role of the facilitator

Our intention is that everything we do and learn will be applicable to your work and to your life.

 

About the trainer

Neil Oliver

Neil Oliver is a Certified Professional Facilitator with experience of working with diverse groups across a wide range of sectors in the UK and internationally. Most of his experience comes from working with complex public sector organizations including the UK National Health Service. Since 2011 Neil has worked with the Caux Forum organizing conferences and providing training. This year Neil is part of the Tools for Change Makers organizing team. He has a particular interest in working with multi-cultural groups and teams.

 

Speakers

Omar Alshogre
Public Speaker
Syria/Sweden
Read More Hide More
Omar Alshogre is a Syrian refugee and prison survivor who currently lives in Sweden. He moved there in 2015 during the refugee crisis. Omar fled Syria at the age of 22 after being arrested and imprisoned for participating in rallies and demonstrations against the Assad regime. During his time in prison Omar and others formed the "University of Whispers”, a secret and highly dangerous information and knowledge sharing community. With the help of his mother and a lawyer, Omar was finally released from prison at the age of 22. From his new home in Sweden, Omar currently engages in raising awareness of the situation in Syria.
Mounir Beltaifa
Vice President of Initiatives of Change International / Founder of Bridgers One
France / Tunisia
Read More Hide More
Born and raised in Tunisia, Mounir Beltaifa spent 17 years in Sousse before heading to Paris in 1981. Mounir graduated from Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées as a Civil Engineer in 1988 and from Ecole des Ponts Business School in 2008 with an Executive MBA. Mounir founded Bridgers One, a consulting company focusing on accelerated development strategies for SMEs in the MENA region (Middle East and North Africa). Mounir has been active in the civil society in both France and Tunisia after Arab Spring. He is currently serving as Vice President of Initiatives of Change International.
Jean Brown
Trainer, Facilitator - Creators of Peace International
Australia
Read More Hide More
Jean Brown is one of the elders for Creators of Peace and has been involved with CoP since 1994. Jean is the designer of the Creators of Peace Circles which have spread to 50 countries over the last fifteen years. She authored the CoP facilitation and training manuals and most recently was the convenor for CoP's 25th anniversary conference. Jean has worked full-time with Initiatives of Change for 50+ years, including for many years in India and the USA, pioneering projects such as 'Action for Life', a leadership programme for young people, and supporting reconciliation initiatives in South Sudan. She lives in Australia where, together with her family, she is actively involved with community initiatives and regularly mentors women around the world.
Burak Han Cevik
Immigration Lawyer / Consular Officer Dutch Foreign Affairs
The Netherlands
Read More Hide More
Born in the Netherlands in 1990 of a family who migrated from Turkey two generations ago, Burak Han Çevik studied Dutch and European Law in The Hague, and worked in government institutions focusing on immigration. He interned at the Dutch Embassy in Washington, DC, and gained a Master’s degree in International Humanitarian Laws specialising in Immigration. He then worked as a case manager for asylum seekers in the USA. He now works in the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and is currently based in Prague. He is a board member of the Ministry’s Diversity and Inclusion Taskforce advocating for greater gender and age balance, and the inclusion of LGBT, disabled and non-Western Dutch colleagues. Burak first attended the Armenian Turkish Kurdish Dialogue in 2017, and since then has been spreading Caux’s peacebuilding approach. This took him to Lebanon in February, where he visited Armenian colleagues.
Amina Dikedi
President of Creators of Peace International
Nigeria/United Kingdom
Read More Hide More
Amina Dikedi-Ajakaiye has been actively involved in the work of the Initiatives of Change (IofC) since 1982. Originally a teacher, Amina decided to change her profession and run a fashion business in Lagos. While involved in her profession, Amina remained involved with IofC volunteer work. In 2000, as a member of the IofC International Coordination Group, Amina and others ran international pan-African ethical leadership programmes across Africa. In 2013, Amina was contracted as Project Leader to support the South Sudan Initiative for Peace and National Reconciliation. From 1994 to 2013 Amina served as International Coordinator to the Creators of Peace (CoP).  She has been a Board member of IofC Nigeria since 2012 and a member of the IofC African Coordination Group (ACG) 2007 – 2010. From March 2014 to 2017 she served as convenor of the ACG. Amina is currently the President of Creators of Peace International. Through her work and her caring approach, Amina has earned the respect, trust and friendship of a large network of individuals throughout Africa and many countries beyond, from Presidents, and politicians, senior civil servants, traditional leaders, educators, business people and ordinary citizens. She has an ongoing involvement through these friendships in many countries, including the Great Lakes Region, Sierra Leone, Sudan, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe. She worked with the programme Agenda for Reconciliation for over 10 years. Amina is married and lives in UK.
Louie Gardiner
Director of Presence In Action (PIA) Collective CIC and Potent 6
United Kingdom
Read More Hide More
Louie Gardiner is the creator of the P6 Constellation – the framework that enables people to access the praxis of Presence in Action. This powerful approach equips people to engage in deep personal change, transforming their relationships with themselves, others and the wider world. She is a Director of Presence In Action (PIA) Collective CIC and Potent 6 in which she is the Lead PIA Practitioner & Learning Partner; Change Consultant & Trainer-Facilitator. She has been serving within Initiatives of Change since 2010 and initiated the REAL Change programme in 2015 in the UK in response to emerging needs within and beyond the fellowship.
Senator Bogdan Klich
Minority Leader of the Polish Senate, Former Minister of National Defence of Poland
Poland
Read More Hide More
Senator Bogdan Klich is the Leader of the Opposition in the Polish Senate, and Deputy Chair of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs. He comes from Krakow, where he also lectures in the Jagiellonian University. From 2007 to 2011 he served as Minister of Defence in the Government of Donald Tusk. As a student he was active in the struggle for a democratic country, and was interned in 1981 by the communist regime. He was a Member of the European Parliament from 2004 to 2017.
Agnes Otzelberger
Trainer / Facilitator / Researcher / Founder of TheGoodJungle.org
United Kingdom
Read More Hide More
  Agnes Otzelberger is a trainer and researcher supporting change-makers in finding their resilience, power and wisdom. Coming from a background of ten+ years in the not-for-profit sector and international development, with a focus on climate change and social inequality, she began to work on the connection between 'inner'/personal and 'outer'/system change in these demanding and volatile times. In 2017 she founded The Good Jungle which exists to connect beyond-profit organisations and people working for the greater good with cutting edge insights and practices from the emerging meeting place between modern psychology & science and ancient wisdom - resourcing those whose work on global challenges has led them to doubt, anxiety, hopelessness, and frustration about the planet's declining health, persistent injustices and collective responses to them.   As part of this, Agnes offers training and support for those experiencing 'compassion fatigue'/empathic distress/vicarious trauma, anxiety, grief, moral injury and other symptoms resulting from their work in a change making role for people, animals or planet. Another area of focus is a deeper examination of our desire to help and change the world, and the not-for-profit world’s complicated relationship with money.
Arshalouys Tenbelian
Communication Specialist / Co-Chair at the Armenian Kurdish Turkish Peace Initiative
Lebanon
Read More Hide More
Arshalouys Tenbelian is a communication specialist from Beirut, Lebanon. Arshalouys is of Armenian origin, she is a 4th generation survival of Armenian genocide. Coming from a minority group in her country Lebanon, which is considered to have one of the biggest Armenian diaspora communities in the world, she has fought for long to keep her identity and Armenian cause alive. Arshalouys is an advocate for human rights, especially for minority groups campaigning and promoting minority rights. Currently, she co-chairs the Armenian Kurdish Turkish Peace Initiative (AKTPI) that aims to hold dialogues with opponents, to confront and not to avoid, to promote awareness, create a safe space for healing memories, increase tolerance and inclusion, work on conflict resolution and help all towards a peaceful closure. Arshalouys plans to continue her education and earn her graduate degree in human rights.
Richard Werly
Journalist / France and European affairs correspondent, Le Temps, Geneva
Switzerland
Read More Hide More
Richard Werly, 52, is the France and European Affairs correspondent for Le Temps, Switzerland's main French-language daily newspaper. Formerly based in Tokyo, Bangkok and Brussels, he now works from Paris. Richard is also the publisher of «L'ame des peuples» (Nevicata Publishing), a collection of 50 books, each focusing on the culture, identity and 'personality' of a particular country.
Jens Wilhelmsen
Fulltime IofC worker and writer
Norway
Read More Hide More
Jens J Wilhelmsen is Norwegian and he fought in the clandestine resistance movement to liberate his country from foreign occupation. After the war, he had the unique experience of spending a decade in two of the countries which lost, in Germany from 1948 to 1953, and in Japan from 1953 to 1958. In both countries he worked with IofC, and distilled his experience in two books: 'Men and Structure' (1982) and 'Eyewitness to the impossible' (2016). The first deals with the inter-action between change in social structures and human attitudes, the second reports on reconciliation and trust-building as a means of solving conflicts. He has lived and worked in different parts of Asia, Africa, North America and Europe.

Facilitators

Louie Gardiner
Director of Presence In Action (PIA) Collective CIC and Potent 6
United Kingdom
Read More Hide More
Louie Gardiner is the creator of the P6 Constellation – the framework that enables people to access the praxis of Presence in Action. This powerful approach equips people to engage in deep personal change, transforming their relationships with themselves, others and the wider world. She is a Director of Presence In Action (PIA) Collective CIC and Potent 6 in which she is the Lead PIA Practitioner & Learning Partner; Change Consultant & Trainer-Facilitator. She has been serving within Initiatives of Change since 2010 and initiated the REAL Change programme in 2015 in the UK in response to emerging needs within and beyond the fellowship.
Su Riddell
Local Coordinator Initiatives of Change Oxford
United Kingdom
Read More Hide More
Su Riddell is an Outreach Worker for Initiatives of Change, based in Oxford, UK, amongst other things running small groups to deepen the practice of the Quiet Time. She uses Presence in Action daily to clarify and illuminate her own Quiet time practice, and offers one-to-one sessions with people to support them in finding their own clarity and integrity. Su, who has been involved with IofC for 40 years, likens the REAL Change experience to that of a picture restorer, removing years of deposits from the surface of an Old Master so the original emerges fresh and bright.
Agnes Otzelberger
UK
Trainer & Facilitator
Read More Hide More
  Agnes Otzelberger is a trainer and researcher supporting change-makers in finding their resilience, power and wisdom. Coming from a background of ten+ years in the not-for-profit sector and international development, with a focus on climate change and social inequality, she began to work on the connection between 'inner'/personal and 'outer'/system change in these demanding and volatile times. In 2017 she founded The Good Jungle which exists to connect beyond-profit organisations and people working for the greater good with cutting edge insights and practices from the emerging meeting place between modern psychology & science and ancient wisdom - resourcing those whose work on global challenges has led them to doubt, anxiety, hopelessness, and frustration about the planet's declining health, persistent injustices and collective responses to them.   As part of this, Agnes offers training and support for those experiencing 'compassion fatigue'/empathic distress/vicarious trauma, anxiety, grief, moral injury and other symptoms resulting from their work in a change making role for people, animals or planet. Another area of focus is a deeper examination of our desire to help and change the world, and the not-for-profit world’s complicated relationship with money.
Anne-Claire Frank-Seisay
France/Netherlands/USA
Creators of Peace
Read More Hide More
Anne-Claire Frank-Seisay is Dutch-French and currently living in the USA. She is on the International Committee of Creators of Peace International. She was a member of Initiatives of Change for 10 years in the Netherlands, before moving to the USA.  In the Netherlands, she worked for the City of Amsterdam as an interim project manager and also facilitated many large group conversations around the city on many different topics. She currently works in international education on the east coast of the USA.  Anne-Claire has been involved with CoP’s new project Advocates for a New Story since she facilitated a first trial workshop in Caux in 2017. This project connects her degree in History to her passion for peace building. History to her is not about finding the truth, but understanding different perspectives and understanding that narratives about events can change. 
Jean Brown
Australia
Trainer & Facilitator Creators of Peace
Read More Hide More
Jean Brown is one of the elders for Creators of Peace (CoP) and has been involved with CoP since 1994. Jean is the designer of the Creators of Peace Circles which have spread to 50 countries over the last fifteen years. She authored the CoP facilitation and training manuals and most recently was the convenor for CoP's 25th anniversary conference. Jean has worked full-time with Initiatives of Change for 50+ years, including for many years in India and the USA, pioneering projects such as 'Action for Life', a leadership programme for young people, and supporting reconciliation initiatives in South Sudan. She lives in Australia where, together with her family, she is actively involved with community initiatives and regularly mentors women around the world.
Olena Rosstalna
Ukraine
Artistic and stage director of Youth Drama Theatre “AmaTea” (Chernihiv, Ukraine), actress, drama facilitator, PhD and assistant professor.
Read More Hide More
Olena Rosstalna is the artistic and stage director of Youth Drama Theatre “AmaTea” (Chernihiv, Ukraine), an actress, drama facilitator, PhD and assistant professor. Educated in Ukraine and Ireland, Olena works as both artistic director theatre at a theatre and an academic scholar in Ukraine. From 2012 to 2015 she worked in Ireland with the Graffiti Educational Theatre Company on projects which examine art and in particular drama as a tool of social change. In 2017 she worked for the “theatre combinat”theatre company in Germany and from 2017 to 2018 on Erasmus+ youth exchanges in Finland. She has produced more than 30 performances in different genres aimed at addressing the problems of violence, internal migration and gender justice. She is one of the managers of the project “The Different Stages” (a cross-border project presenting a common episode of Scandinavian/Ukrainian history through a strong female personality) which was implemented together with IofC Sweden in 2016-2019. She is currently working on two projects: “Drama in Education for Social Change” and “Incisive Drama”.
Olha Boiko
Ukraine
Actress, drama facilitator, youth worker, and teacher
Olha Boiko is a Ukrainian actress, drama facilitator, youth worker, and teacher of a multidisciplinary course combining art, photography and drama for children and young adults. She has worked on numerous artistic projects (‘Real Stories’, ‘Crossroads’, ‘Together’ etc.) aimed at community building, developing civil society, and sustainable development.  
Neil Oliver
Certified Professional Facilitator
United Kingdom
Read More Hide More
Neil Oliver is a Certified Professional Facilitator with experience of working with diverse groups across a wide range of sectors in the UK and internationally. Most of his experience comes from working with complex public sector organizations including the UK National Health Service. Since 2011 Neil has worked with the Caux Forum organizing conferences and providing training. This year Neil is part of the Tools for Change Makers organizing team. He has a particular interest in working with multi-cultural groups and teams.


related stories

YAP 2021 article square

Young Ambassadors Programme 2021: Learning to listen

When Indonesian law student Agustina Zahrotul Jannah discovered the Young Ambassadors Programme (YAP) on Google she felt both excited and hopeless: excited because she hoped it might give her the skil...

YAP goes online

The Young Ambassadors Programme goes online

The Young Ambassadors Programme (YAP) went online for the first time this summer, after six years of continuous growth and development and a pause in 2020 for reflection and adjustment to the new real...

Books for changemakers

Books for Changemakers

A bi-monthly drop-in book club to resource you and fellow change-makers. Dive or dip into important and inspiring resources and ideas, connect with kindred spirits and explore your inner wisdom. ...

Geneva Peace Week T4C square teaser

The Courageous Listener: Bearing Our Own Discomfort

Listening is a powerful tool that can have powerful effects on its recipient. It is also a difficult one to master. On 5 November 2020, Initiatives of Change Switzerland led an online workshop on the ...

Mohammed Abu-Nimer

Mohammed Abu-Nimer: Dialogue – Weaving peace into the fabric of society

Mohammed Abu-Nimer is Professor at the American University’s School of International Service in International Peace and Conflict Resolution in Washington DC and a Senior Advisor to the International D...

Sabica Pardesi

Learning to be a Peacemaker 2020

"I am really thankful to the person who introduced me to the Initiatives for Change programme "Learning to be a Peacemaker". It was life-changing in so many ways. It opened my eyes to things we know i...

SCreenshot keywords T4C 2020

Tools for Changemakers 2020 – Shaping the future together through dialogue

Can you truly listen? What if we all had the power to make our communities more cohesive and inclusive by starting to deeply listen to each other? The Tools for Changemakers conference was a three-day...

YAP 2019 congratulations

Fresh air for Young Ambassadors

This year’s Young Ambassadors Programme (YAP) brought 39 young people from across Europe to Caux for four intensive days of training in how to work for change in their communities. They then took part...

Armenian-Kurdish-Turkish Dialogue 2019

It takes more courage to love than to hate

The Armenian-Kurdish-Turkish Dialogue 2019 took place during the Tools for Changemakers conference, bringing together people of Armenian, Kurdish and Turkish backgrounds to explore sensitive issues th...

Jens Wilhelmsen

Jens Wilhelmsen: IofC values as a practical tool for change

After fighting against the German occupation of his country, Norway, Jens Wilhelmsen worked with Initiatives of Change (IofC) in Germany and Japan. In over 70 years of fulltime work for IofC on three ...

LPM 2019

Healing the alienation of young European Muslims

How can the alienation felt by so many young Muslims be healed? Imam Ajmal Masroor believes that the alienation stems largely from the inner conflict generated by feeling caught between two value-syst...

Marc Isserles

How storytelling can foster healing and reconciliation

Marc Isserles’s poignant one-man show, We Must Save the Children, comes to life when you discover that his grandparents sought shelter at the Caux Palace in 1945 as Jewish refugees. The play took plac...

Tools for Changemakers 2019

Rebuilding Trust in Europe: An Overview

The first edition of the ‘Tools for Changemakers’ conference took place from 14-18 July 2019 at the Caux Forum. It was based on the conclusions from the conference ‘Addressing Europe’s Unfinished Busi...


organizing team

Diana Damsa

Diana Damsa

Managing Director
Diana Topan

Diana Topan

Graphic Design
Neil Oliver

Neil Oliver

Conference Design
Jane Wuth

Jane Wuth

Conference Design
Sarah Hammoura

Sarah Hammoura

Conference Design Coordinator
Aleksandra Kielek

Aleksandra Kielek

John Bond

John Bond

Special Delegations Director
Alexandra Timiş

Alexandra Timiş

Logistics Coordinator
Bhav Patel

Bhavesh Patel

Design & Facilitation
Patrycja Pociecha

Patrycja Pociecha

YAP Content Design/Trainer
Rob Lancaster

Rob Lancaster

YAP Content Design / Trainer
Timo Pfender

Timo Pfender

YAP Follow-up Coordinator
Lynne Barker

Lynne Barker

Artist
Mike Brown

Mike Brown

Key Listener
Aili Channer

Aili Channer

Key Listener

#CauxForum #toolsforchange  #trainingconference