In business, it’s the very small, seemingly inconsequential, steps that have the greatest potential to lead to unethical business practices. The intense pressure in today’s work environment pushes many employees to ‘get the job done’ rather than caring about ‘how the job is done’. At a time when extreme challenges are posed by our interconnected, complex and globalized world, the ethical conduct of an organization and its employees is more important than ever, as stakeholders expect irreproachable business behaviour.

The Caux Forum Ethical Leadership in Business retreat-conference which took place from 29 June to 2 July aimed to offer a range of answers to the question: how to lead business in times of extremes? 56 business executives, academics and social entrepreneurs from 21 countries, gathered in Caux, Switzerland, to take part in this new event, hosted by the CAUX-Initiatives of Change Foundation and its partners.

During the three-day event, they had the opportunity to share experiences, exchange views and inspire each other. They were able to reflect on their understanding of ethics and to deepen their listening and trust building skills. The multisectorial nature of the event allowed them to enhance their professional networks and expand their contacts beyond the traditional business silo. ‘Foster ethical leadership’ was their call to action.

Participants and speakers acknowledged that value-based decisions and actions are vital if businesses are to be credible and sustainable in the long run. In the opening plenary, Sabine Döbeli, CEO of Swiss Sustainable Finance, stressed the importance of responsible decision-making in business and the positive impact of values on the economy.  

Guido Palazzo, Professor of Business Ethics at the University of Lausanne, delivered a workshop on why good managers make unethical decisions. ‘The most important thing to do in order to become a good leader is to know yourself, which means understanding what values you stand for,’ he said and pointed out that everybody should have a daily moment of silence or meditation in order to connect to these values.

Andreas Bomann-Larsen, CEO and founder of the Norwegian investment firm, CARN Capital, affirmed that companies must focus on their core values and core purpose. One of the main components of their set of values, he maintained, should be trust towards all players.

Many examples of ethical business models and value-based decision-making were shared, equipping participants with clearer guidelines to follow as they returned to their own contexts. One subject discussed was the role of business in advancing the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which seek to ‘end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all’ over the next 15 years.

Antonio Hautle, from the Global Compact Network in Switzerland, described the SDGS as a unique business opportunity. He said that businesses, together with governments and civil society, are called to be drivers of change towards a more sustainable world.

The event was part of a broader programme run by the CAUX-IofC Foundation in Switzerland, aimed at promoting ethical leadership in business and organizations.

• Find all the plenary sessions, interviews and highlight videos of Ethical Leadership in Business on our Facebook page.
• Read more about the Official Opening of the Caux Forum 2017.
• Check out Ethical Leadership in Business in pictures and tweets

Senior representatives of governments, parliaments, international organisations, financiers, business, NGOs and media from Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas met on July 11-13 at the Caux Palace Conference Centre - which has a 70 year history of building trust and achieving reconciliation, starting with relations between France and Germany after the Second World War - to commit to transformative action to scale up restoration of the world's more than two billion hectares of degraded land and achieve land degradation neutrality by 2030.

They emphasised the imperative of going beyond sustainability to recover land at scale, for the sake both of its people and of the planet. This is a matter of justice and security. Already about half the world's conflicts in fragile regions and economies stem from battles for resources resulting from environmental degradation, and are often rooted in unjust distributions of land and wealth which began under colonialism but were continued after independence. Loss of productive land and livelihoods – exacerbated by climate change, desertification and population growth – are major drivers of forced migration, which is expected to increase many times over in the coming decades. The area affected by drought since the 1970s has doubled.

Returning the land to ecological productivity increases resources and promotes peace. It is also central to implementing the universally agreed Sustainable Development Goals and to enabling countries to fulfill their pledges under the Paris Agreement. The need and the opportunity are both massive, as is the action required. Much can be done with simple, known, labour-intensive techniques: the most difficult issues are social and financial. Clearly communicating the challenges and opportunities of restoration is a precondition of success.

The Caux Dialogue on Land and Security calls on leaders and stakeholders at all levels to:

1. Address the urgent need for systems change - including in governance, investment, employment and conflict prevention and resolution - rather than incremental improvement. This transformation should target reshaping the context of investment in agriculture, not least in providing incentives for farmers to remove carbon from the atmosphere by restoring and afforesting land;

2. Focus action on local communities and landscapes, where much knowledge on managing land exists and where partnerships for change can be forged. It is also here that conflicts are often triggered - and can be prevented or resolved;

3. Give less emphasis to top-down 'capacity building' - often involving the wrong people and places – than to strengthening the capacity of those working on the ground, working in situ and meeting the needs of those directly affected by land degradation, who recognise the importance of restoration.

4. Include women and youth - who are critical agents of change – in all sustainable actions. These should promote leadership and build bridges between local people and policy-makers by tackling gender inequalities that hinder women’s effective engagement and action and by designing land-based jobs that tap into youth's large labour reserve.

5. Increase resilience to drought by strengthening early warning systems, enhancing assessments of vulnerability and impacts and institutionalising preparedness for drought so as to commit countries to effective policies, investment and risk mitigation.  

6. Realise the enormous investment opportunity – with extra returns beyond the purely financial – represented by land restoration, something which businesses and financial institutions are failing to do. Public finance is needed, not only to de-risk investments and bring successful initiatives to scale, but more especially to reward the global services of small farmers who nourish their soils in combating climate change, conserving biodiversity, enhancing food security and water supplies and increasing security.

7. Meet the large finance gap with more private investment. This in turn implies scalable business models that can deliver financial and environmental returns. Public money – including climate finance – is needed to encourage entrepreneurship and the development of new technologies. Public-private partnerships, which can be central, must involve local people and local and central government and expect returns in the medium to long term. Restoration bonds, or similar financial instruments, will be an essential part of the mix to tip the financial equation in favour of investment with transparently measureable ecological benefits.

We owe it to present and future generations to undertake this agenda speedily and at the required scale.

‘We are the first generation who can decide to be the last one’

‘We are the first generation who can decide to be the last generation,’ Kate Gilmore, UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, told guests from all over the world at the Official Opening of the Caux Forum 2017 on 30 June. In spite of progress with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), inequality had become ‘worse, deeper and broader’. She believed that the war on terror had prevented the world from dealing with the human rights issues, which were fundamental to a sustainable future.

‘It is not sustainable that the few should have privilege and the many have despair,’ Gilmore continued. She called on humanity to ‘live generously, in empathy and connectively’ in order to bring peace and reduce inequalities in an interdependent world.

The Official Opening of the Caux Forum 2017 set the tone for the events of the summer, by exploring the links between inequalities and extremism. The event was introduced by the Mayor of Montreux, Laurent Wehrli, and Antoine Jaulmes, President of the CAUX-IofC Foundation. Then participants heard from two speakers, a refugee and a survivor of a terrorist attack, who had firsthand experiences of extremism in a storytelling session moderated by Barbara Hintermann, Secretary General of CAUX-IofC.

‘I didn’t have a destination.’

When Hasan Hawar started university in Damascus, Syria, he never imagined that war would lead him to leave his studies, home and family to seek refuge in Turkey. He found himself on his own in a country where he didn’t speak the language, had no income and had ‘lost trust in everybody’, and decided to move on. ‘I didn’t have a destination,’ he said. ‘I just wanted a safe place, a place to start living again’ After a difficult journey, Hawar was granted asylum in Switzerland where he was able to finish his studies. Now, he said, his dream was to be reunited with his family, still in Syria, whom he hasn’t seen for five years.

‘We are all the result of the stories we believe to be true about ourselves’

Bjørn Ihler described his experiences on the Norwegian island of Utøya in 2011, when a far right extremist killed 69 young Labour Party members taking part in a summer camp to ‘make Norway a better community’. When Anders Breivik pointed his gun at him, Ihler did not think he would live beyond the age of 20. Surviving the attack led him to question what made someone who had a similar biography to him commit such a violent act. Unlike Ihler, who grew up believing in coexisting in diversity peacefully, Breivik isolated himself from the communities surrounding him and believed that they were a threat to his identity. ‘We are all the result of the stories we believe to be true about ourselves,’ Ihler explained. ‘Extremism is not linked to any particular religion and ideology and we often forget that extremes grow out of every community’. Now part of the Kofi Annan Foundation’s Extremely Together initiative, Ihler aims to bring people from different communities together and to spread the word that ‘my identity is not a threat to your identity’. He noted that he and Hawar were united by their ‘strong power to live on and to fight for the world to be better’. 

Are inequalities fueling extremisms?

 The stories of Hawar and Ihler were followed by a panel discussion on the links between inequality and extremism facilitated by Eric Marclay, Executive-in-Residence at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP). In addition to Kate Gilmore, the panelists were Raphaël Nägeli from the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs and Ramiro Santa, Director of Integral Responsibility at OCENSA. Ms Gilmore pointed out that extremists feed off of despair and poverty, mobilizing the masses by emphasizing their helplessness in the face of the unbalanced distribution of opportunity and material privilege, and suggesting that someone else is to blame.

Nägeli reminded the audience that ‘inequality has always existed and we have to find a way to cope with it’. An inclusive peace process must reach out to everyone, including terrorists, he maintained. Respect for human rights should be at the basis of any peace agreement: there was significant evidence of violent extremisms in repressive societies where human rights are not respected. He took a pragmatic approach, acknowledging that states had national interests and that it was important to be honest and self-critical. From a governmental perspective, he believed that building bridges lay at the heart of the solution, but that these bridges – whether narrow or wide – needed to be controlled. 

Ramiro Santa spoke from the point of view of the private sector. He maintained that the role of business in fighting against inequality was to ensure transparency, generate possibilities and to educate communities about their rights. In Colombia, over 50 years of war had led to the exclusion of many remote communities. One way of becoming more inclusive, he said, was to provide women with opportunities, as they were the most effective way to reach out to their communities.

‘Be in dialogue with your great great grandchildren’

In a world where the population is larger and younger than ever before, Kate Gilmore said, ‘Fear, privilege, anxiety is old and aging. Despair, poverty, hopelessness has never been younger.’ Wars in Yemen, South Sudan or in the Central African Republic were childrens’ wars. Against this backdrop, what could be done to engage the young generation in decisions? For Ms Gilmore, one of the answers was to generate intergenerational dialogue to ‘transfer opportunity, wealth and participation’ to future generations.

Intergenerational dialogue and youth empowerment is a central part of the Caux Forum through its many training programmes. ‘Initiatives of Change encourages leaders to commit themselves to tolerance and to ethical principles and high standards,’ concluded Cornelio Sommaruga, Honorary President of the International Association of IofC. ‘Academic discussions are not enough, we must all work for action.’

·  Missed the Official Opening? Check out our video footage on our Facebook account here

·  More information about the Caux Forum here

Photos: Jonty Herman

Photo Jonty Herman: Michèle Bächtold-Goetze and Sonia Hauser performing Lieder composed by Johannes Brahms and Richard Strauss. 

Gwendoline and Azain Raban, an Australian-Sri Lankan couple based in Melbourne, decided to step up to the environmental and sustainable challenges in their local community. Their contribution is simple: pairing up people with innovative ideas, but without the resources, knowledge and network to implement them, with experienced and well-connected professionals, who can help bring them into fruition.

The couple, who have a background in these fields, launched the Sustainable Impact Mentoring Programme after attending the 2016 Caux Dialogue on Land and Security, part of the Caux Forum which takes place every summer in Caux, Switzerland.

‘Caux really provides a unique experience,’ Gwendoline explained to us during an interview. ‘There is an atmosphere of trust, dialogue, sharing and community, which is beneficial for anyone who attends.’ They were particularly inspired by the Emerging Leaders Programme, a mentoring element of the Caux Dialogue on Land and Security.

The four-month mentoring programme Gwendoline and Azain have helped establish and run at Initiatives of Change Australia, is all about exchanging stories and experiences, as happens in Caux. Six participants have been selected after a competitive process, in which each presented their own idea.

The ideas being incubated include transforming solar energy technologies, creating collaborative spaces to link sustainable businesses, encouraging people to stop using plastic bags, raising awareness through the arts, developing a means of electronically mapping the underground sewerage system in Victoria, Australia to make maintenance more sustainable and reduce environmental pollution from leakages, and alerting the younger generation to their responsibility for small-scale environmental change.

People may have an idea, but they don’t know how to develop it into a project - Azain Raban

‘We want to empower individuals, who have good ideas and want to create positive impact, but still do not have the means of doing it by themselves and are in need of advice from experienced professionals,’ said Azain.

Through a series of workshops and one-to-one mentoring sessions, participants are helped to consolidate their ideas as part of a collective effort which includes stakeholders and beneficiaries. Gwendoline pointed out that project design is ‘about looking at what end-users need and not about what you think what people may need’.

‘Our vision is to grow this programme in Australia and expand it to Asia Pacific,’ added Azain. They also want to inspire others to create similar platforms in their own countries. ‘Since Initiatives of Change is all about being a changemaker,’ said Gwendoline, ‘maybe the impact will grow and we will meet people in Caux who want to apply it somewhere else in the world. It’s all about exchanging ideas, learnings and visions. You never know what can happen just by people coming together with some ideas.’

The proponents of the best developed ideas within the Sustainable Impact Mentoring Programme will participate in this summer’s Caux Dialogue on Land and Security from 11 to 15 July.

To learn more about this and other events taking place during the Caux Forum this year, visit www.caux.ch

Around 40 people gathered in the UN library on 4 May 2017 to participate in the latest edition of CAUX-Initiatives of Change Foundation’s (CAUX-IofC) human library on ‘Youth Breaking Barriers of Exclusion’. This was CAUX-IofC’s third collaboration with the UN library as part of its Enriching Encounters series.

“Give young leaders a voice”

Barbara Hintermann, Secretary General of CAUX-IofC reminded the audience of the importance to involve young leaders and give them a voice as “the young generation is the world’s future and strongest resource”. CAUX-IofC aimed to do just that by providing a space for young leaders to tell the inspiring stories of how they turned their concerns and ideas into constructive action.

Readers were invited to choose from a range of young human books with stories of self-initiated projects aiming to build bridges within their communities and take steps towards inclusive change.

Salome Schmid and Flore Portmann were aiming to break barriers of exclusion in Switzerland when they co-founded La Red, a house in Fribourg which aims to enhance contact between people of different cultural backgrounds and to foster exchanges at eye-level. When the young founders of La Red had the idea to create this intercultural space, they didn’t know each other at first. This proved to be a real strength, as it allowed them to expand their network and reach out to a diverse community. The house and the activities on offer are now entirely self-managed by young volunteers.

Another successful story of intercultural exchange is the one of Sprachcafé Basel, an organization which invites people to practice German for greater integration in a café in Basel. As a German teacher, co-founder Anita Ruggiero is convinced that speaking the language is the first step towards integration. Together with Jessica Eggeschwiler, they had the idea of creating an open space for language exchange and made it happen. Every week, the Sprachcafé welcomes newcomers, refugees, expats and locals in a laid-back atmosphere for meaningful exchanges, games or light conversation.

“I needed to understand why someone wanted to kill me, how someone who grew up similarly to me ended up being so different to me”

After surviving the 2011 terrorist attacks on Utøya island in Norway, Bjørn Ihler was determined to study and understand how perpetrator Anders Breivik became a terrorist. Often depicted in the media as a monster, the man Bjørn saw in court turned out to be “just another human being, not so different from myself”. This led him to realize that all extremists have their humanity and that for him to move on, he needed to “reconcile with the past and accept what had happened”. He now focuses on deconstructing the victimhood narrative, in which violent extremists believe their identity is threatened by others and feel this position of victimhood justifies violent action. To counter these extremist narratives, there is a need to empower people, value their humanity and “give them a sense of value, a positive identity teaching them means other than violence for their agenda’. Bjørn Ihler is now a member of the Kofi Annan Foundation’s Extremely Together, a group of ten young leaders active in preventing and countering violent extremism. He is also the co-founder of Omelas, a company using technology to challenge extremists.

Bjørn believes in storytelling as a tool to make a change. “The stories we believe in shape how we perceive the world, how we behave. By changing these stories, we can change lives.” Storytelling is central to CAUX-IofC’s approach and Bjørn Ihler will be sharing his story at the Official Opening of the Caux Forum on 30 June 2017, a public event exploring the links between inequalities and extremisms.

“Determination and commitment”

It all started when four young people concerned with the social economic integration of refugees in Geneva put their heads together and secured seed funding to implement their innovative project. Their idea: organize a reverse job fair, where refugees could share their skills and professional background with potential employers. A conference on the integration of refugees and an online job portal connecting refugees and employers soon followed. This is how THRIVE (Towards Holistic Refugee Integration through Valuable Engagement) was created.

The road wasn’t always easy, explained THRIVE coordinators Lisa Godde and Abdullatif Alabdullah, but with determination the young team overcame challenges such as building a network from scratch, securing funding and juggling internships and studies on the side. There are now 40 volunteers at THRIVE, 6 refugees have found job opportunities through the platform and the network is expanding.

The human books had plenty of tips for those who want to initiate a social project: Apply for funding as much as you can to secure financial support, be determined and committed, motivate each other, learn from your mistakes and be flexible as not everything will go according to your initial plan.

After sharing with each other the compelling stories of change they had just heard, participants summed up how they felt after the human library in one word: inspired. “I have learned about different ways to implement change and how important it is to make local connections”, said a participant. “It is up to the civil society to fill the gap. And this has inspired me to do just that”.

Missed the human library? Get inspired this summer at the Caux Forum! The Caux Forum is an inspirational platform aiming to develop the human potential for global change through its main events, training programmes and dialogues. 

In light of the current wave of extremes and intolerance of many kinds that the world is facing, we recently had the opportunity to talk with Professor Rajmohan Gandhi after a public presentation he held in London. We asked him about his impressions on how to better deal with this troubling context, the keys to building trust and the role of Caux.

Listening to Professor Rajmohan Gandhi is a once in a lifetime experience. Not only because of the legacy he carries with him being one of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi’s, known as Mahatma Gandhi, grandchildren, or his most renown, accurate and balanced biographer. It is also because of his own worldview and ideas about today’s world challenges.

About 350 people gathered last Thursday 20 April in London for an event convened by Initiatives of Change to listen to the 81-year old professor, who in a humble and simple way shared his perspectives about the issues affecting the UK, Europe and the world.
Listening to each other, acknowledging that no group is better, or realizing that hatred must be addressed in all circumstances were only three of many recommendations he offered during his speech. It all seemed simplistic and yet so meaningful and relevant in the context of extremes that we are living in nowadays. It is hard to believe at first sight that listening or dialoguing would be effective measures when dealing with violent extremism, war, forced displacement, polarization, exclusion, discrimination, just to mention some of the current phenomena. But these should be first steps.

“I don’t think that there can be a switch that we can turn on and we hope that these problems will be quickly solved", argued Professor Gandhi with a good dose of realism during an interview with us the day after his public intervention.

"That is not likely, he continued, but I think we should promote a culture where everyone is free to hold whatever view they want to hold, but we don’t encourage them to impose their view. A culture of tolerance, of non-coercion, of giving the other person complete freedom. If we can promote that, if we can practice that, that would be one way of countering this tendency of extremes in the world”, he stated."Hatred kills us, it doesn't kill the enemy". Professor Rajmohan Gandhi. London 20 April 2017
He also advocates for a world free of hatred. "Hatred kills us, it doesn't kill the enemy", convincingly asserted to the multifaceted audience the day before. However, during our interview he went beyond this argument, explaining that there is a necessary distinction to make between anger and hatred.

“Sometimes anger is a very necessary thing, I don’t think it should be a permanent thing, but it can be necessary when something terrible is happening”, he explained.

"We don’t want to soften the world; we don’t want a comfortable world. Yes, we want angry people to lose some of their anger; but we certainly want bitterness to go away”, he added. “Many of those who have become free of this hatred, still continue to fight for their convictions, to fight for justice, for equality”, he said.

"When we want to promote goodwill, compassion, love, forgiveness, we should remember that the justice component is also very important". People in different parts of the world or on different issues, he continued, have waited a very long time for justice. “We must recognize this reality and we must have the courage, when needed, to name an injustice. Naming an injustice is necessary to remove it”, he affirmed.

When asked about what it takes to build trust in the world, he replied emphatically:  “Listening is step number one, step number two, and step number three; we can never overdo listening to the other side, or to stories and issues, and relate them to what I am carrying in my heart”.

“If I listen to the sorrow, the pain and the longings of the world, that is the start of some kind of trust building”, he underlined. 

"Caux means hope"
As a former President of Initiatives of Change International (2009-2010) and linked to Caux since 1956, we asked Professor Gandhi what Caux means to him.

“It means hope. Hope that at least some steps will be taken that will bring us closer to some solution, to some healing, to some reconciliation; not hope that everything will become perfect, but hope that the next step is being found”.

“It also means the world; generally people of all kinds gather there", he said. Every summer since more than seven decades, hundreds of people from different backgrounds, origins and walks of life gather at Caux to discuss, share and reflect on topical issues. Last year more than 1'500 participants, from more than 100 countries attended the Caux Forum.

"When I think of Caux, I also think of how it was started by ordinary Swiss people and families that came together (in 1946) and through their sacrifice created this beautiful place”, recalled Professor Gandhi.

“There is now a tradition of frankness, people listening to other points of view, everybody feels comfortable there, nobody feels threatened, people can speak out without any embarrassment, without any fear. Caux plays a very helpful role in creating this atmosphere of non-coercion but also of friendship, of good expectancy from one another”, he explained. 

“Again and again in Caux, I’ve been reminded of the decisions that I made. It has always been a time of discovery about myself, of my shortcomings; but above all, Caux gives me perspective and renewal”, he concluded. 

The Caux Forum, formerly called the Caux Conferences, provides a safe and privileged space to inspire, equip and connect individuals, groups and organisations from around the world to engage effectively and innovatively in the promotion of trust, ethical leadership, sustainable living and human security.

This summer, the Caux Forum seeks to develop the human potential in global change and all of its events will focus this year on addressing extremes of all kinds.

Learn more at here.

In the context of a drought that has put three million people in need of emergency food aid and killed millions of livestock, the second annual ‘International Dialogue on Land and Human Security in Kenya’ was held in an effort to mitigate conflict and reverse environmental degradation in the region.

This Dialogue comes at a critical time, when we face challenges of insecurity caused by resource scarcity,’ said H E Alex Tolgos, Governor of Elgeyo Marakwet County. ‘Scarcity of food, pasture and water has resulted in a brother turning against a brother. ‘We have lost 100 lives in the last year due to conflict [in this County]’, Governor Tolgos continued. ‘We cannot afford to continue as before. We need a mind-set shift to address the problems in a sustainable way.’

Governor Tolgos was one of many speakers at the event, hosted by the County Government and inspired by Initiatives for Land, Lives and Peace. Fifty participants, including national agency and county government officials, traditional elders and civil society representatives, gathered to address the theme of ‘Conflict mitigation through sustainable development’.

Member of the International Initiatives for Land, Lives and Peace (ILLP) Steering Committee Dr Alan Channer shared that, ‘These Dialogues were started because we know that the vicious cycle of environmental degradation and conflict can be reversed. Reviving degraded land, improving water management, restoring trust between people – these can heal entire ecosystems and give life to communities and the Earth in all its fullness.’

All the participants lit candles in memory of the lives lost due to ethnic clashes and cattle rustling in the region.

Deputy Governor Dr Gabriel Lagat, whose vision had first brought the dialogues from Caux (the Initiatives of Change conference centre in Caux, Switzerland) to Kenya, concluded the gathering by urging participants to adopt 30 recommendations. These include strengthening the role of Councils of Elders so that they can help mediate disputes and making the ‘Dialogues on Land and Security’ an annual event rotating in the affected counties of Kenya.

Highlights of the Dialogue were broadcast on national television primetime news.

The Dialogue was funded by the Elgeyo Marakwet County Government, the National Land Commission, Kenya Commercial Bank and Transnational Bank.

This article is an excerpt from a full report written by Dr Alan Channer & Simon Thuo.

The CAUX-IofC Foundation is sorry to announce the passing of Pierre Spoerri, one of its former council members, in Zurich, on 22 February 2017.

Pierre Spoerri was the son of Professor Theo Spoerri, one of founding fathers of the Caux conference centre, famous for his public involvement with the Gotthard League in the 1940’s.

Pierre Spoerri, who was born in 1926, first studied medicine at the universities of Geneva and Zurich but gave up his studies to start working ‘full-time’ with Moral Rearmament in 1946. He travelled extensively Asia, the Middle East and Africa, writing, reporting for European newspapers and working with Moral Re-Armament/Initiatives of Change. Later, for many years, he and his German wife, Fulvia née von Hahn, settled down in Bonn to serve and inspire the German politicians in the spirit of further developing peacebuilding and reconciliation efforts initiated by MRA after WWII.

At the same time he and his wife were for many years among those responsible for the international conferences of Initiatives of Change in Caux, Switzerland.

His published books include Keine Zeit für Stille Zeit, Dynamik der Vergebung, Die Kunst mit dem andern zu leben (with his father, Theophil Spoerri), Rediscovering Freedom (with Dr. John Lester) and Mein Vater und sein Jüngster. And just last year, Frank Buchman and the Germans.

He will be remembered as a man of great intelligence and dedication, deeply committed to make the world a better place through the dynamics of personal and global change, and by many as an insightful mentor, example and friend.  

The Farewell Service will be Thursday 9 March, 2pm at the French Reformed Church in Zurich, Switzerland.

The Caux Conferences are now the Caux Forum, offering an enhanced Caux experience and providing more space for training and dialogues.

Through its events, training programmes and dialogue, the Caux Forum, formerly known as the International Caux Conferences, is a platform for change. It is a unique place where ideas flourish and where people from different walks of life are brought together to find inspiration, to connect with one another and to themselves. The new visual identity of the Caux Forum, through its amorphous shapes and the way they are combined together, symbolizes growth, bloom, harmony and the idea of coming together. All of the colors represent the different events taking place during the summer, as well as all the different partnerships and diversity of the Caux Forum.

The Caux Forum aims to develop the human potential in global change and all of its main events will focus this year on addressing extremes of all kinds. 

Registration for the Caux Forum 2017 is now open!

The only constant is change!
Caux Winter Gathering 2016/17

Most people will agree that the time between Christmas and New Year is special. Not only because of candles, decorated trees and gifts, but also because it’s a time that naturally seems to invite each of us to look back on what has been, to touch base with what is important in our lives and to prepare ourselves for the new  year to come.

So what happens when 85 people from 16 different countries, 4 continents, various backgrounds and all age groups come together to take time and reflect on change and its impact on their lives?

This year’s edition of the Winter Gathering in Caux offered presentations, discussion groups, daily art projects, music, times of quiet and moments of fun while glorious sunshine provided the perfect setting for breath-taking views on Lake Geneva.

The reflection times and plenary sessions each morning set the tone for the day, giving input and food for thought that was picked up again in the lively community groups which met every afternoon. These groups were precious moments for all participants – adults, teenagers and children- to get to know each other, work together, share personal stories and exchange ideas.

2500 years ago the Greek philosopher Heraclitus stated: « The only constant is change. » If that is true - where does that leave us, as individuals, a part of society, our nations and the world? How do we deal with these constant changes, whether we want them or not?

In rapidly changing societies intercultural communication is more important than ever. In her keynote speech on day 1, Sylvia Agbih (Germany), PhD candidate in a research project on health care for refugees in Germany, challenged the audience to reflect on the question of personal identity, awareness of others and how we deal with the clash of different concepts of culture in the society we live in. She underlined that even if human nature tends to simplify life in order to digest and interpret an overflow of information, we can learn to step back, reflect and let people tell their story in order to understand them better. Her conclusion was positive: We CAN change!

Her husband Paul Agbih (Nigeria/Germany) also gave a valuable lesson in intercultural understanding. He first shared negative experiences of his life as a Nigerian in Germany, only to interrupt himself saying: « But I do not believe in one-sided stories. They demonize the other and it limits us. You need the other side of the story to get the full picture of what is going on. » He then went on giving examples of positive encounters, leaving smiles on everybody’s faces.

The second day addressed change from a more personal angle based on the assumption that if we are all “children of our time”, we are not only shaped by society but also by the family we grew up in. Ragna Reuter, a doctor from Germany, said about communication within her family: « Misunderstandings start very easily.  It usually takes much longer to solve them."

The plenary session on day 3 opened with a challenge: « How many planets does it take to support your lifestyle? » After the participants had taken a test to find out how sustainable their current lifestyle actually is, positive examples of recent projects and start-ups showed how ordinary people can do extraordinary things to change the world they live in. « We need to improve people’s knowledge on what they can actually do to make things change!» underlined the facilitators Dafne Manzano (Spain), Martin Healey (Germany) and Diego Vargas Diaz (Mexico).  Christoph Keller (Switzerland), facility manager of the Caux Palace, explained how, according to CAUX-IofC’s commitment to sustainability, the building’s new heating system (80% wood / 20% fuel oil) has managed to reduce the building’s carbon footprint substantially.

Day 4 explored the challenge of making room to enable change. Participants were divided into groups tackling a series of tasks in various parts of the building. The results were then “translated” into daily life, like the question “How do we know when enough is enough - or even too much?”, using the example of an empty glass the participants had to fill with water with their eyes closed, without spilling water or making it overflow.

On 31 December it was time to look back – and also ahead. A slideshow on the main world events 2016 reminded the audience not only how much and how quickly we actually forget. It also pictured clearly that the world we live in changes all the time.

2016 came to an end with every participant handing over a self-made party hat especially made for another participant. 85 different hats for 85 different people – a perfect way to show diversity at its best!  

Lauren Beckwith (USA), a student in international studies, about her first experience in Caux :
“The topics were great and made me reconsider my personal perspectives. I learned much about myself through my reactions to other people.

I loved being part of a team. We served breakfast and I was pleased that I was free after that. But I also learned to be thankful for the service other people did in the house so that I was able to enjoy the rest of the day. In Caux I felt people were listening to me and that what I said really mattered. It feels really good to have people who listen to you. I now feel very motivated.”

Marie-Christine Nibagwire (Rwanda/United Kingdom), a Church of England minister and founder of “Saferefugerwanda”, came to Caux as a single mother with her children:  
“I had to leave Rwanda in 1994 because of the genocide where I lost my home and many family members. I came to Caux because every year my children would say: ‘How come we are on our own on Christmas Day? What was Christmas like when you were a child in Rwanda?” In the end they were becoming so frustrated for not having many family members on Christmas that even a Christmas tree did not mean much to them. 

When I heard of Christmas and the Winter Gathering at Caux, I felt it would be an answer to our prayers. We came, hoping to be part of the Caux extended family and our dream came to pass.  We were about 60 people from more than 15 nationalities.  We did the Christmas tree together, sang carols, played games and exchanged presents.

My children and I came back home full of joy, thanking everyone who organised the event and all those who embraced us and made us feel like members of their families.”

Winter Gathering, Caux

Report: Ulrike Ott Chanu

Photos: Diana Topan