Climate change is a reality that is knocking on our front door. And although many people rise up asking for awareness, others want to take concrete and tangible action and have no clue how to do that. Kirsten van Reisen asked herself this question as well and found a way to contribute. She decided to work to restore a highly degraded piece of land in Spain as part of a team of volunteers at the first project of Ecosystem Restoration Camps (ERC). On May 29, she shared her experiences at the center of Initiatives of Change Netherlands together with ERCs director Pieter van der Gaag.

More than a hundred scholars contributed to a recently published book with the rather intriguing title Wereldgeschiedenis van Nederland - A world history of the Netherlands. In over 750 pages they describe Dutch history, starting with the Neanderthal man 70.000 years ago.

One of the chapters in the book is about the Oxford Group. The author, Peter van Dam, a lecturer of Dutch history at the University of Amsterdam, says that “the history of the Oxford Group is not a footnote. It is essential for understanding The Netherlands in the twentieth century”. He writes about the success of an “undogmatic renewal movement”. It broke through existing barriers and connected people who would not normally meet.

Asia Plateau, the Centre for Initiatives of Change in India, celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2018. As well as running national and international conferences and training programmes, Asia Plateau has roots in rural India. The work of Grampari, IofC’s rural development and ecology programme, sustains livelihoods and strengthens the resilience of the communities surrounding Asia Plateau. Run by a dedicated team, it is part of a global Initiatives of Change vision for 'land, lives and peace’. These photographs celebrate Asia Plateau's engagement at local level with issues of global significance.

In the beginning of November, I travelled to Kyiv to follow a training on nonviolent communication (NVC) organized by my colleague Lena Kashkarova from Foundations for Freedom, the IofC-based NGO in Ukraine. It was the perfect opportunity to get to know my colleagues and the work in Ukraine better, learn about the history of the country first-hand and follow an NVC course by trainer Yoram Mosenzon. In total 30 people participated in the training and almost all participants had a Ukrainian and/ or Russian background. Given the recent developments in this region, it was very special to be a part of a safe space where participants from these different backgrounds had the opportunity to connect.

During the annual Interfaith Conference over 130 international students and participants from all over the Netherlands explored the relationship between science and religion, each from his own faith or world view. The conference was organised by Initiatives of Change in collaboration with Haastu and the International Student Chaplaincy and took place at the International Institute of Social Studies. 'Religion and science can complement each other, for example with regards to environmental questions.'

During my visit in Kyiv for a non-violent communication training I was grateful to have some time to explore the city. On a morning I decided to walk to the Orthodox Lavra monastery. On my way I passed a beautiful tower in a small park which caught my attention, so I decided to go there first. Little did I know that this beautiful tower with a museum underneath, is the place for remembering all the people who died and suffered during the man-made famine in Ukraine called Holodomor.

Lovely food, meeting and reflection; these are the ingredients of the 'community dinner' that IofC and De Luisteracademie organised for young delegates from the One Young World Summit. During the summit in The Hague 1900 participants from 196 countries followed an intens program packed with speeches and networking opportunities. The dinner at the IofC-centre was a moment of quiet and inspiration, talking with fellow changemakers.

This fall the fifth gathering of the initiative Faith in Green, in Dutch ‘Geloven in Groen’, will take place in The Hague. Muslims, Hindus and Christians gather around their common beliefs of taking care for and protecting the earth and inspire and connect to take (joint) action to make their faith community more sustainable. Initiatives of Change Netherlands (IofC) coordinates and facilitates the initiative that kicked-off in August one year ago.

Suresh Vazirani from Mumbai, India was unanimously appointed by Global Assembly of the International Association as the new President for IofC International.

What is the role of a journalist in a country at war? With many of his compatriots thinking that journalists should be information warriors, finding the answer to this question is an everyday struggle for Ukrainian journalist Oleksiy Matsuka. ‘Some of our readers expect us to defend our country. But we want to protect our independence as journalists. How can we make sure we don’t fall prey to propaganda as journalists in the middle of a war? How do we keep presenting information without bias?’