Antonin Lechat

A self-taught director, Antonin Lechat began his film career in Central Asia, immersing himself into the region for more than 5 years, including 3 years in Kyrgyzstan, thus considerably broadening his artistic experience. In the course of his cinematic exploration, Antonin has made several short documentaries that have been shown at festivals around the world, including "Du Sang pour les Chevaux" (Blood for Horses), which was self-produced and presented in competition at the FIPADOC festival in Biarritz.

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Sarah Noble: Building networks with International Geneva

01/03/2024
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We are delighted to welcome Sarah Noble who joined our team as our new Head of Global Engagement in International Geneva.

Sarah has dedicated her career to peacebuilding for a better world and is passionate about leveraging the power of storytelling to build peace among individuals and for the planet as a whole. In her TEDx talk, Storytelling is Our Real-Life Superpower, she invites us to embrace this ability to confront the existential issues of our time and create a better future.

Prior to joining our foundation, 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. Sarah is also co-founder and Curator of the Peace Talks and has hosted over 20 editions of the event in more than 8 countries, with a cumulative audience exceeding 8,000 attendees. 

In her new position, Sarah will play a key role in strategic and highlevel representation of the Caux Foundation at the United Nations, external events, high-level working groups and through partnerships. Building and leveraging networks and alliances, she will help strengthen the impact and outreach of the Caux Foundation within International Geneva, and solidify the role of the Caux Palace as a Centre for Inner Development Goals.

 

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Q&A with Sarah Noble

 

Tell us about your background, Sarah.

My background is in the peace and security sector. I worked for many years in a peacebuilding organisation and also in the non-profit media space.

 

What are you passionate about in your work?

I am really passionate about the role stories play, how we understand the world and how we make change. Change, starting with each one of us, is one of the core elements of Initiatives of Change and I am therefore excited to be part of the Caux Foundation team. 

 

What inspired you to join the Caux Initiatives of Change Foundation?

I was inspired to join the Foundation because of its mission to promote a more just and peaceful society. That’s the kind of world I want to live in and I want to spend every day that I can ensuring that me and my children and all of us can live in a more peaceful world.

 

What is your favourite place at the Caux Palace?

It’s the Main Hall where the Caux Forums take place each July, like the two forums coming up this summer on the Inner Development Goals and on democracy. It's not only the beauty of this room with amazes me, but I am also in awe of all those important peacebuilding moments which have taken place right here, like the reconciliation between Germans and French after World War II, the dialogues to promote peace in the Great Lake Region in the early 2000s, or the launch of the international women's initiative Creators of Peace.

 

Welcome to the team, Sarah, and all the best for this new adventure!

 

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Topics
Team Peacebuilding International Geneva
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Marie Gillet

Marie Gillet joins the Alps from Belgium. Marie fell in love with the Caux Initiatives of Change Foundation and arranged to join us for 3 months, offering her working time during a break with her employer.  Marie will be responsible for managing a three-month project to develop processes for recruiting, training, motivating and supervising volunteers within Caux Initiatives of Change, as well as activating the action plan. This work is carried out in collaboration with the department/activity managers. 

Nathalie Rognon

Originally from Montreux, Nathalie Rognon grew up between Switzerland and Guatemala, her two countries of origin, which gave her a multicultural outlook. Career-wise, Nathalie chose a commercial path. She then worked as an assistant manager in a private clinic on the Riviera for 5 years.

In 2011, she became a mother and was lucky enough to look after her son full-time for four years. As soon as her son started school, she took up her old position as assistant manager again until June 2023.

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.

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A tribute to Cornelio Sommaruga: "We are not alone in this world."

19/02/2024
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It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Swiss humanitarian, diplomat and former president of the Caux Initiatives of Change Foundation, Cornelio Sommaruga. After a distinguished career as a Swiss diplomat, he served as President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) from 1987 to 1999.

Cornelio Sommaruga took over the presidency of the Swiss Caux Foundation at the end of his mandate as the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in 2000. Following the change of name from ‘Moral Re-Armament’ to ‘Initiatives of Change’ in 2001, he initiated the creation of the IofC International Association, based in Switzerland.

 

Cornelio Sommaruga K Annan M Sahnoun
In Caux with Kofi Annan (left) and his good friend and successor as president of IofC International, Mohammed Sahnoun (centre)

 

Cornelio Sommaruga brought a new visibility to the movement and his great humanity helped in bridging differences to enhance Initiative of Change’s reconciliation and peacebuilding efforts in the Great Lakes region of Central Africa, Sierra Leone, and other situations.

His commitment to Initiatives of Change and the Caux conferences, especially those related to human security, led many in international circles to re-evaluate the work of the movement. Several times in Geneva, people were overherad saying: ‘If Cornelio is involved, I will need to take another look!’

 

Cornelio Sommaruga and Christine Beerli at Caux
In discussion with Christine Beerli, former president of Caux Initiatives of Change

 

After serving as president of the Caux Foundation, he became the founding president of Initiatives of Change International, the federation of national IofC bodies, in 2002.

Initiatives of Change was important to Cornelio, and he remained an honorary life-president of IofC International. He called IofC a "wonderful international network of motivated people" and he enjoyed coming to the Caux Palace where he could be seen in the dining-room, serving ice-cream and laughing with conference participants.

 

Chatting with friends in Caux

 

Cornelio was charismatic, warm, pragmatic and loved to greet everyone with "Grüss Gott", explaining that the greeting, typical in Austria, Bavaria and eastern Switzerland, invokes a third presence in every encounter. "We’re not alone in this world," he used to say. He had friends on every continent and was deeply convinced that each of us has "an ethical responsibility to work for reconciliation through forgiveness and justice", starting with ourselves.

Our thoughts and heartfelt condolences go out to his family and friends.

We will miss him in Caux.

 

Read more: https://www.iofc.ch/stories/2001-cornelio-sommaruga

 

 

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Cornelio Sommaruga Obituary
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