Peace in the Middle East needs the strengthening of the moral and spiritual foundations of society

27/03/2024
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In alignment with the statement issued on 25 March by Initiatives of Change International, the Caux Initiatives of Change Foundation affirms its support for the UN Resolution 2728, a first step towards a permanent ceasefire, the ending of the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the pathway towards peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Please read the full statement here:

 

STATEMENT REGARDING THE HUMANITARIAN CRISIS IN GAZA

Initiatives of Change International, an international non-governmental organization (registered in Switzerland) with Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), expresses its solidarity with the United Nations in its call to end the current humanitarian crisis in Gaza and to find a path for peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The protracted Israeli-Palestinian conflict has continued for decades, causing excessive suffering on all sides. The current crisis in Gaza, triggered by the events of 7 October 2023, has resulted in further loss of countless lives.

In recognition of the catastrophic deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), especially Gaza, without detracting from the severity of the situation in other parts of the OPT, Initiatives of Change International supports the call for:

  • the immediate and permanent ceasefire and unrestricted access to humanitarian relief to meet the needs of all residents in the affected areas, and
  • restoring the necessary means for dignified daily living conditions for all residents of the affected areas. This is urgent and needs immediate action.

Initiatives of Change International affirms the call, issued by the United Nations, to all world leaders to play their part in establishing a situation of peaceful co-existence between Israelis and Palestinians. Once a ceasefire is in place, we urge that substantial measures be put in place to resolve the long conflict, considering the legitimate needs, responsibilities and rights of all inhabitants of Israel, and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including Gaza, in accordance with international law and the relevant UN Security Council Resolutions.

A sustainable, peaceful future requires that both Israelis and Palestinians have equal economic, social, cultural, civic and political rights. Both Palestinians and Israelis deserve equal measures of security, freedom, opportunity, respect, dignity and right to self-determination.

We in Initiatives of Change helped to build fraternity and peace between Germany and France post-World War II and between people in conflict in many countries. We are able and willing to contribute to peace-making efforts independently and in partnership with other like-minded organizations. We are also committed to participate in any grassroots initiatives to achieve a sustainable peace in the Middle East.

Initiatives of Change seeks to strengthen the moral and spiritual foundations of society and believes that change in the world starts with change in our own lives. We encourage individuals to seek peace in their communities, their nation and around the world.

Issued by:

Professor Gerald J Pillay, President, Initiatives of Change International
on behalf of the International Council of Initiatives of Change International

 

 

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Simren Cornut

Simren Cornut holds a Master's degree in contemporary history from UNIL and is now an archivist in the private sector. He trained with various university and cantonal archive services, and this year is completing a Master in Advanced Studies in archival science at the University of Bern.

Opening Ceremony Caux Democracy Forum: Revitalising democracy - towards inclusive and peaceful societies

15 July 2024

 

Join us at the Opening Ceremony of the Caux Democracy Forum at the Caux Palace, Switzerland!

 

  • Venue: Caux Palace, Switzerland
  • Time: 15 July 2024 - starting at 16:00 CEST
  • Cost: CHF 70.-/person (including reception & concert)

 

About the Opening Ceremony

In collaboration with the Geneva Diplomatic Club, the opening ceremony of the Caux Democracy Forum will take place at the Caux Palace on 15 July at 16:00 CEST, followed by a reception and concert organised with the support of the Montreux Jazz Artists Foundation.

With an expected in-person attendance of three hundred people, the event will also be streamed online. If you're not planning to attend the entire four-day residential forum, you can still register for the opening ceremony. To secure your place for the Opening Ceremony, we kindly ask you to fill out the online registration form.

A complete line-up of speakers will be announced in the upcoming weeks.

 

PARTNER ORGANISATIONS 

The organisation will leverage the expertise and diverse geographical and cultural backgrounds of members within the Initiatives of Change network, as well as strengthen and cultivate partnerships.

Partnership lies at the heart of the Caux Foundation's endeavors, with a commitment to fostering a collaborative and cooperative mindset that permeates Caux's culture, strategies, and operations.

The Geneva Diplomatic Club is recognised as the official Club of International Geneva by the Swiss Confederation, the Republic and Canton of Geneva, the City of Geneva and the United Nations Office at Geneva. Its mission is to bring the international community together, stimulate links and exchanges, and contribute to the development of relations with the host state. Its 850 members are representative of the diversity of players in International Geneva (diplomats, international civil servants, directors of non-governmental organisations, Swiss personalities and businessmen).

The Caux Initiatives of Change Foundation is a Swiss private charitable foundation with its center for dialogue, the Caux Palace, in Caux, above Montreux, Switzerland. The Caux Palace has become a historic venue bringing together a diverse range of people to address the world’s political, economic and societal challenges together. 

Caux Initiatives of Change mission is to provide a safe and privileged space to inspire, equip and connect individuals, groups and organisations from around the globe to engage effectively and innovatively in the promotion of trust, ethical leadership, sustainable living and human security. 

Initiatives of Change International is a voluntary, donation- and grant-funded nonprofit association of national legal bodies (national teams) and international programmes. Registered in Caux, Switzerland, they coordinate the world-wide Initiatives of Change people’s movement, uniting a community of people of diverse cultures and backgrounds, who are committed to the transformation of society through changes in human motives and behaviour, starting with their own.

Initiatives of Change International have special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the UN (ECOSOC), participatory status at the Council of Europe as well as a seat at the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

 

Caux Palace Adrien Giovannelli
The Caux Palace (photo: Adrien Giovannelli)

 

Programme - Monday, 15 July 2024 (start: 16:00)

  • MUSIC
  • WELCOME BY THE MASTER OF CEREMONY: Ignacio Packer, Executive Director, Caux Initiatives of Change Foundation  
    • Safety and Security Announcement & Aretha Charter explanations 

 

Ignacio Packer was appointed as Executive Director of the Caux Initiatives of Change Foundation in May 2023. Until March 2023, he served as Executive Director of ICVA, the global consortium of humanitarian NGOs. ICVA is a global network of non-governmental organisations whose mission is to make humanitarian action more principled and effective by working collectively and independently to influence policy and practice.

Ignacio has over 30 years of experience in humanitarian work and development issues. He served a five-year term as Secretary General of the Terre des Hommes International Federation, and previously worked for the Terre des Hommes Foundation, the Swiss Tropical Institute, the European Association for Development and Health, Medecins Sans Frontieres, KPMG and the European Bank for Latin America.

He is an expert on human rights and social issues. He has been strongly engaged in global advocacy on protection frameworks for migrants and refugees with a particular focus on children and youth.

Passionate for long-distance challenges, he is also an enthusiastic ultra-trail runner.

 

  • WELCOME ADDRESS
    • Jacqueline Coté – President Caux Initiatives of Change Foundation
    • Raymond Loretan – Chairman Geneva Diplomatic Club

 

Jacqueline Coté

Jacqueline Coté was the Director of Public Relations and previously Head of Communications at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva from 2009 to 2021. In that role she was instrumental in building the new campus of the Institute, the Maison de la Paix, as a vibrant centre of conferences and seminars, thus solidifying the reputation and outreach of the Institute in International Geneva and beyond.

Prior to that Ms Coté was the Permanent Representative to the UN of the International Chamber of Commerce and also served as Senior Advisor Advocacy & Partnerships to the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.  In the early part of her career, Ms Coté practiced as an international lawyer in Canada and Switzerland and held management positions with multinational companies SGS and DuPont.   

Ms Coté believes that the global agenda can best be tackled by linking the public, private and non-profit sectors, and that dialogue and empathy are essential tools to achieve the sustainable development goals.  She recently trained as a mediator at Harvard Law School and joined the board of several associations to continue her engagement with International Geneva.

Ms Coté has Swiss, Canadian and British nationalities, is a member of the Bar of Quebec and has two grown-up children who share her passion about tackling today’s global challenges in their areas of work.

 

Raymond Loretan

A former Swiss Ambassador to Singapore and Consul General in New York, Raymond Loretan is a political entrepreneur who, after leaving the Foreign Office in 2006, became Chairman and Director of several companies and foundations in fields as diverse as health, the hotel industry, chemicals, watchmaking and documentary cinema. He has been President of the Geneva Diplomatic Club since 2016, with the priority of decompartmentalising the worlds of diplomacy, economics, politics, academia and culture.  

 

 

 

 

  • A WELCOME FROM SWITZERLAND
    • Ambassador Thomas Guerber, Head of UN Division, Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs
Ambassador Thomas Guerber

Ambassador Thomas Guerber was appointed Director of DCAF - Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance on 24 November 2015 and took up his function on 1 July 2016. He brings to the position extensive experience in multilateral diplomacy and policy development relating to human security, human rights and sustainable development.
From 2010 to 2013, Ambassador Guerber was Switzerland’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York. From 2007 to 2010, he worked as a Counsellor for financial, budgetary and institutional issues at Switzerland’s Permanent Mission to the UN in New York. Prior to these assignments, he held various functions within the Swiss Department of Foreign Affairs’ Human Security Division, including Head of Section for Peace Policy and Human Security. He entered the Swiss diplomatic service in 1997.
Thomas Guerber holds an LL.M. degree in public international law and international economic law from the University of Berne, a master’s degree in European integration and economics from Institute for European Global Studies (Basel) and a master’s degree in history and literature from the University of Basel.
Apart from his mother tongue German, he is fluent in English and French. He is married and has two sons.

 

  • MUSIC 
  • KEYNOTE
    • Ms. Nada Al-Nashif, United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights
  • MUSIC
  • KEYNOTE
    • Ambassador Andrius Krivas, Vice-Chair of the Committee of Ministers’ Deputies, Permanent Representative of Lithuania to the Council of Europe
  • MUSIC
  • HUMAN LIBRARY: VOICES OF THE MAP 
    • Three youth from three continents sharing testimonies of their day-to-day life and what democracy means for them
  • MUSIC
  • REFLECTIONS
    • Prof. Rajmohan Gandhi, Historian, biographer and former member of India’s Parliament  
Rajmohan Gandhi
  • Rajmohan Gandhi is a historian, biographer and former President of Initiatives of Change International. He was born in 1935 and has worked as a journalist, writer, politician and professor of political science. Rajmohan Gandhi is unique in that he is both one of Mahatma Gandhi's grandsons and a grandson of C. Rajagopalachari, an Indian National Congress leader and the only Indian to have served as Governor General of India (from 1948 to 1950). Like Gandhi and Rajagopalachari, Rajmohan Gandhi is committed, including in politics, to a peaceful democracy with integrity and respect for the dignity of every individual. He is the author of numerous works on the figures of the struggle for Indian independence, the drama of the partition of India and the relations between Hindus and Muslims.
  •  

 

  • WHAT'S NEXT IN CAUX?
    • Sarah Noble – Head of Global Engagement, Caux Initiatives of Change

 

Sarah Noble

Sarah Noble is originally from Canada and but was born and has lived in Switzerland for more than half her life. She has dedicated her career to building a better world and is passionate about showcasing people's stories about how we build peace with each other and the planet. In her TEDx talk, Storytelling is Our Real-Life Superpower, she invites us to embrace this ability to take on the existential issues of our time and create a better future.

Sarah has held leadership positions at international organisations focused on peacebuilding, humanitarian issues, and independent media. She brings with her more than 20 years of experience in strategic communications, fundraising, and partnerships in the field of international peace and security. She is co-founder and is Curator of the Peace Talks at Interpeace where she has held a number of positions, including Special Assistant, Chief of Staff, and Director of Global Engagement. She has overseen more than 20 editions of the Peace Talks that have taken place in more than 8 countries with over 8.000 attendees and has worked with more than 200 speakers from over 50 countries. Sarah also served as Director of External Relations at The New Humanitarian, a non-profit newsroom that puts quality, independent journalism at the service of the millions of people affected by humanitarian crises around the world, where she led the rebrand process and helped build the funding base of the organization.

She has 2 small children and volunteers on the Parent Teacher Association at the International School of Geneva. She also volunteers as the Country Chair of Global Dignity for Switzerland and serves on the Global Advisory Circle of the Future of Good. 

She has an MA in International Affairs from Norman Paterson School of International Affairs and a BA in Political Studies and Economics from Queen’s University. She is an Alumni and Past President of the Geneva Hub Association of the Global Shapers.

  • MUSIC
  • EXPOSITION "Democracy - pictured by Patrick Chappatte" (at the Belle Epoque Expo)

 

Patrick Chappatte, credit: Matthieu Zellweger

Patrick Chappatte was born in Pakistan in 1967 to a mother of Lebanese origin and a Swiss father. Published in the world's leading newspapers, he quickly made a name for himself with his incisive and caustic take on current affairs in Europe and around the world. He has worked for Le Temps, the NZZ, Der Spiegel, Le Canard enchaîné and The New York Times. He chairs the Freedom Cartoonist Foundation, inspired by Plantu and Nobel Peace Prize winner Kofi Annan, and is involved in a number of initiatives to promote peace and democracy around the world. 

 

 

 

17:30 - 18:00 CEST: Refreshments 

18:00 - 18:45 CEST: Concert with Nola Kin, organised by the Montreux Jazz Artists Foundation

Nola Kin

Nola Kin is the solo project of Zurich-based singer-songwriter Carla Fellinger. Her first EP, Fallstreak, is the result of three years without touring. A period of introspection marked by grief and a need to reconnect with her love of music. Between melancholy and hope, Carla displays her vulnerabilities on folk-pop productions, carefully blending organic and electronic sounds, natural and urban elements. (photo & bio: Montreux Jazz Artists Foundation)

 

 

 

19:00 - 20:00 CEST: Reception/Buffet-style Dinner

As from 20:00 CEST:

  • Between 20:00 and 22:00: Sunset Networking (Sunset at 21:20). 
  • Between 20:00 - 21:15: Possibility for historical guided tours of the Caux Palace (mainly for guests of the Diplomatic Club)

 

How to register for the Opening Ceremony?

The Opening Ceremony of the Caux Democracy Forum will take place on 15 July (16:00 - 17:45 CEST) at the Caux Palace.

If you're not planning to attend the full four-day residential Caux Demoracy Forum, you can still register for the opening ceremony and join us in Caux or online. To secure your place for the Opening Ceremony, we kindly ask you to fill out the online registration form from 20 March onwards.

Please note that for day guests, the event in Caux includes the Opening Ceremony, dinner and the concert: CHF 70.-

 

Arrival

The Caux Democracy Forum starts with the Opening Ceremony at the Caux Palace on Monday, 15 July at 16:00 CEST.

Attendees who have booked the full Forum packages (15 - 19 July) are asked to check in from 15:00 CEST on the 15 July. For participants who arrive early on 15 July and would like to drop off their luggage at the Caux Palace before official check-in times a luggage room will be available.

 

Useful Information

 

Questions?

For further information, please get in touch BY EMAIL.

 

REGISTER HERE FOR THE EVENT IN CAUX

 

REGISTER HERE AND JOIN US ONLINE

 

___________________________________________________________________________

 

Please note that if you have already registered or are planning to register for the full residential Caux Democracy Forum at the Caux Palace, you do not need to register separately for the Opening Ceremony as it is part of your package. 

 



fees

Per person (including dinner and concert at the Caux Palace)
  • CHF 70.-

partners


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Evelyn Vy Nguyen

Evelyn Vy Nguyen is from Vietnam and came to Switzerland in 2013 where she studied at SHMS at the Caux Palace and completed her Bachelor degree in International Hospitality Management. She has fallen in love with Switzerland and has a great passion for the business and hospitality industry. She has been to Asia, Europe, America and Australia as she loves to explore many different cultures and cuisines from all around the world.

What is the meaning of home?

15/03/2024
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Amid escalating conflicts worldwide, the arts emerge as a potent force to challenge misconceptions and foster positive perspectives. The pivotal role of artists in creatively raising awareness has never been more important. Last summer, at the Caux Forum, three remarkable artists offered profound reflections on diverse realities. 

A dark theatre with dimmed light in blue and purple, just enough to see where you are going without stumbling. In a corner, an accoustic guitar, playing music - etheric, haunting and beautiful. A range of photos projected on the ceiling. And a woman, sitting alone on the stage in front of a camp fire, carving wooden sticks into stakes to protect her home, while behind her, a video projection shows her lying in a glass container in the cold water of a river.  

Talking feels out of place, even whispering is conceived as a disturbance. Listening, watching, writing seem the best way to absorb what is going on. The music never stops and neither does the woman on stage, carving the wooden stakes at the fire in the middle of a war, far from home. 

Between the rows of empty seats there are signs, maze-like, with stark words in bold: “Shelter” or “Home?” and visitors are discreetly urged to ponder their definition of home before departing. 

This evocative visual arts installation, brought to the Caux Palace during the Caux Forum 2023 by Ukrainian artists Polina Kuznietsova and Kateryna (Katya) Tretiakova, alongside Norwegian musician Sveinung Nygaard, offers a poignant testament to the power of art in fostering empathy and understanding amidst turmoil. 

 

Image
The arts installation "HOME?" at the Caux Palace theatre during the Caux Forum 2023  (photo: Kateryna Tretiakova)

 

Polina and Katya, tell us about yourself!

Polina: I am Polina Kuznietsova, I am an artist from Kharkiv, Ukraine and I do exhibitions. Most of the time I do paintings but I am also interested in analytical psychology.

Katya: My name is Kateryna - or Katya - Tretiakova and I also live in Ukraine. I am a photographer and I am also a psychologist.

 

Are you both full-time artists or is art a hobby for you? 

Polina: There were tense situations in my life when I was wondering whether to become a full-time artist or not and every time I felt it like a crisis. But how can I not be an artist when I am an artist?

Katya: For me it is a bit different. I started studying psychology, but photography has always been my hobby. At some time it turned into my profession. But when I finish with my studies, I am thinking of combining both and bring a more therapeutic sense of psychology into photography. It is something I originally never believed it might be possible. But there is a branch in psychology which is called photo-therapy. It means dealing with and talking about feelings through images, through photography. It can be very helpful, especially for people who find it hard to express what they feel through words.There are different techniques, like choosing and talking about a picture that shows what I feel or picking a picture that I feel is important to me and talk about that. I love talking about this! (laughs).

 

Polina and Katya: Home sign credit: Katya
One of the banners set up on the stairs to the Caux Palace theatre (photo: Kateryna Tretiakova)

 

Do you feel that combining those two fields is going to be important for your country and the people there?

Katya: When the war started I was wondering what I could I do for my country. At the beginning I was thinking that maybe I should go to the front line, but frankly speaking I am not a great warrior. But photography and psychology can help others, so I hope that I can be helpful through what I love doing.

 

The art project you brought to Caux is called “Home?”. Why is there a question mark at the end?

Polina: The topic of home worries me much because at my home right now not everything is good and this is something I am constantly thinking about. When I travel I always think about what I can do for myself in order to feel at home. Not long ago I went to my original home where I come from. But I didn’t really feel at home anymore. Something was missing. There was a lack of something. I guess it was security. 

 

Where is home for you?

Polina: That is a good question. My home is Ukraine. My home is Kharkiv. This is where my family and friends are. But now it’s so hard to go there and have all this.

 

Polina and Katya: collage 3 photos, credit: Katya
From left to right: Polina carving wood. A projection on the ceiling showing one Katya's photos. Sveinung playing during the performance. (photos: Kateryna Tretiakova)

 

At the arts installation there is a also video where we can see you in a glass container in the water. What made you think of this idea - of being in the water but nevertheless visible?

Polina: I actually wrote a long article about this. I was mainly thinking of the attack to a power station in Ukraine and I was thinking of different meanings. The glass container could represent part of a Museum of Anatomy and I was in there, like an object or like an expression, trying to imagine what it could be like to be in cold water. It was very cold and I stayed for 85 minutes in all. I hadn't really thought before how long I would stay in the water. Originally I wanted to do this performance at a different place but then I chose this one because I really liked it.

 

Katya, tell me about your role in the arts project.

Katya: There was this project I did with a friend back home. She is a photographer and artist and she has been to different places and she was also visiting military. She has been at the front line and I thought it would be interesting to talk about this and express through her story what other people might go through. In the "HOME?" arts installation we projected some of my photos onto the ceiling and I read out aloud our personal views about home to the audience.

 

While you are in the theatre as a spectator, you ask them to write down what you feel.

Katya: Yes, I ask some people who come in: "What is home for you? Can you please share and also your feelings when you think about this." Some of them shared, but others decided to keep their emotions to themselves. 

 

Polina and Katya: SVeinung playing credit: Katya
Sveinung and Polina (photo: Kateryna Tretiakova)

 

There is a contradiction when you are in the room – the light and the music made you feel like a cocoon, it felt...nice. On the other hand, the topic is definitely not "nice". Was the way you prepared the setting deliberate?

Katya: Probably it’s what you felt personally. I am actually happy that you experienced it as nice to be there, even though the topic was so difficult. Some people who came just felt bad in general. But everyone has a right to their own feelings.

 

Do you think there are limits of what art can do, for example in a situation like back at your home in Ukraine?

Katya: My answer is short: Art has no limits!

 

What encourages you most as an artist? What makes you tick?

Polina: For me, art is a type of reflection of what is happening inside and outside of me.

 

Polina and Katya stakes photo: Sveinung Nygaard
After the show: the stakes set up in the Caux Palace gardens as symbolic protection (photo: Sveinung Nygaard)

 

What is currently on the horizon for you as an artist?

Katya: I hope that I can use photography and my knowledge in psychology in order to help people to build up the confidence they lost through traumatic events in their lives and I would like to support people with PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) to come back to life.

 

Do you think your arts installation has its place here in Caux, that it is important to be here? What is your hope for this installation at the Caux Palace?

Polina: After the attacks when something really terrible happened I realized that the world wasn’t paying much attention to it. When I came here with this performance I was hoping to share about this and I hope that in Caux there are people who will see and notice it. Another reason for bringing the project here was also because it is a way to express what I feel.

Katya: I feel it definitely plays a huge role here, especially for people who don’t know much about what is happening. We didn't only do several performances during the Caux Forum but we wanted to go even further in making people think. So after Polina had finished carving the wooden sticks into pointed stakes, we went into the Caux Palace gardens and stuck them into the ground, like a fence, as a symbolic protection for Caux.

 

This is your first time at the Caux Palace. How does it feel to be in this environment with so many people from all over the world?

Katya: It’s very exciting, I must confess. I have met and talked to people from countries I have never been to and which whom I have never managed to talk to before. It’s very interesting for me to hear opinions I might not always share, but just to see and hear the difference.

 

Image
From left to right: Kateryna Tretiakova, Polina Kuznietsova, Sveinung Nygaard. (photo: Kateryna Tretiakova)

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

About the artists

Polina

Polina Kuznietsova was born in 1985 in Kharkiv, Ukraine. She graduated from the Kharkiv Art Academy of Design and Arts at tje Faculty of Fine Arts, specializing in easel painting. She has has been engaged in fine arts since 2008, has taken part in international exhibitions and her paintings are part of private collections in Ukraine, the US, Estonia, China, and the Philippines. Her art has been described as "magical realism." and her paintings often show the space of dreams rather than time and reality. Polina prefers to combine volume with decorative elements rather than perspective. In her texts and paintings, she reflects on external events and internal personal processes and since February 2022, she has been focusing all her creativity and thoughts on raising awareness to the events in her country. As it is not easy for her in current circumstances to dedicate a lot of time expressing herself with painting techniques, Polina has also been engaged in media art and performance where she appreciates the technique of quick and immediate reaction to events. 

 

Katya right-facing

Kateryna (Katya) Tretiakova was born in Kremenchuk, Ukraine. She is a photographer and currently studying for a degree in psychology. Her favourite genres in photography are portraits and body image. For her, the camera is a tool which helps her freeze a moment in order "to catch a little thought in a person's eyes". Katya is passionate about combining her two activities in order to be able to help others overcome trauma and difficult times in their lives: "They may seem like very different fields, but in my mind, they are very close. (...) Both, conversation and photography, may heal if the listener/viewer is attentive, tolerant and open-hearted."

 

 

Sveinung Nygaard

Sveinung Nygaard is from Norway and works as a professional composer, with MA in Audio Production from University of Westminster. He has composed music for world handball championship in Qatar, the TV series Freej in Dubai and has his own musical project called FLYT which explores how music can unite a mosaic of cultures. Sveinung believes in telling stories with music and connecting people. Sveinung gave several performances last year during the Caux Forum 2023, including the Opening Ceremony and the arts installation "HOME?".

 

 

 

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

At Initiatives of Change, the arts have always played an important role in connecting people and in creating bridges across our world's divides. Our concept of Hospitality for Change is not only about providing the best possible welcome and service at the Caux Palace, but also about recognising the power of artistic expression to promote understanding, trust, peacebuilding and positive social change. We are therefore delighted that the Caux Palace theatre continues to serve this purpose and look forward to offering more inspiring events.

 

Interview & video by Ulrike Ott Chanu

 

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09 July 2024

 

Join us for the Opening Ceremony for the Caux Inner Development Goals Forum in the heart of International Geneva.

 

  • Venue: Maison de la Paix, Chemin Eugène Rigot 2, Geneva, Switzerland  
  • Time: 14:30 - 17:00 CEST 
  • Attendance: free

 

About the Caux IDG Forum Opening Ceremony

The Opening Ceremony for the Caux Inner Development Goals Forum will be held at the Maison de la Paix in Geneva. Bringing together 200 participants and distinguished speakers drawn from the Inner Development Goals and Initiatives of Change communities, civil society, government, youth movements, academia and business, the ceremony promises to be a vibrant convergence of ideas and perspectives.   

Following the ceremony, attendees will have the opportunity to network and engage further during a coffee break.  

Full details of this event, including the agenda and featured speakers, will be announced in the coming weeks.  

 

Maison de la Paix (photo: IHEID/Maison de la Paix)
Maison de la Paix (photo: IHEID/Maison de la Paix)

 

How to register for the Opening Ceremony

The participation at the Opening Ceremony on 9 July at the Maison de la Paix in Geneva (14:30 - 17:00 CEST) is free!  If you wish to attend the Opening Ceremony only without registering for the full Caux IDG Forum, please register here! You can also join us online!

 

Useful Information 

 

QUESTIONS?

For any further information, don't hesitate to reach out and contact us by EMAIL.

 

 

REGISTER HERE FOR THE EVENT IN GENEVA

 

REGISTER HERE AND JOIN US ONLINE

 

 

_________________________________________________________________

 

Please note that if you have already registered or are planning to register for the full residential Caux IDG Forum at the Caux Palace, you do not need to register separately for the Opening Ceremony as it is part of your package. 

The Caux IDG Forum will start with the Opening Ceremony in Geneva on Tuesday, 9 July (14:30 - 17:00 CEST). Attendees who have signed up for the full residential Caux IDG Forum are encouraged go straight to Geneva and travel up to Caux following the Opening Ceremony. Information on transportation from Geneva to the Caux Palace will be communicated to all confirmed participants prior to the event. For those who prefer to check in earlier or drop off luggage beforehand at the Caux Palace, our reception in Caux will be available from 10:00 CEST on 9 July, 2024. A safe luggage room will also be available at the Maison de la Paix in Geneva.

 

 


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