Who are we and how should we live together? During the current election campaign in the Netherlands the issues of diversity and intercultural tensions play a key role. What can the Netherlands learn from the situation in Nigeria? This was the central question during the first filmnight in the series ‘African solutions for European problems’ in the centre of Initiatives of Change in the Hague.

Every month the International Student Chaplaincy Delft with chaplain Waltraut Stroh organizes an event called Global Meeting Point. The January one was organized together with Initiatives of Change (IofC) and shaped as a game. IofC trainer Christiaan Groen took the participants through a negotiation game. Salma Berrada, student of architecture at the TU in Delft, experienced it as ‘an incredible emotional journey within an evening time’. Read her personal reflection.

The documentary 'Silent Land: the fight for fair food' premiered in the presence of the two main characters on October 11th during a festive and well attended event in the Tuschinski Theatre in Amsterdam, in the run-up to World Food Day. The world premiere was co-organised by Initiatives of Change Netherlands (IofC). Furthermore, IofC organised a special screening of the film on the 14th of October in a film theatre in The Hague.

Diana Damsa shares her personal story online after sharing it at the 'Living Peace: Celebrating 25 years of Creators of Peace' conference 2016. One of the insights that informs the approach of Creators of Peace is the awareness of the power of the story that every person, every woman lives out of, that shapes her world view, her values and relationships, that she passes on to her children and grandchildren. The stories that shape who we are and how we think. And we have the power to change the stories; from hurt to healing, from frozen to forgiving, from callousness to compassion.

Merel Rumping from The Netherlands has had a passion for travelling from an early age. She gained her master’s degree in international relations in The Netherlands and studied political science in France before working in the Dutch embassy in Morocco. She has worked with street children and child soldiers in Colombia. There she became involved with a micro-financing agency, Banco Mundial de la Mujer. Through this she discovered the potential of social entrepreneurship.

Following decades of worsening tensions, new possibilities are emerging in Järva, a multi-cultural area of Stockholm. Since March 2016, 'Hope in Järva' has run several dialogues in the community, plus two learning festivals, with the focus on inter-generational trust building.

Inspired and uplifted I step into the street. Uplifted because of the many conversations, the sharing of Syrian, Indonesian and Surinamese food, and especially of hope. Willem Jansen of Initiatives of Change (IofC) describes dialogue as a magic word, a medicine. I experienced how true this is during an evening on April 28 in the IofC-centre in The Hague on the theme: ‘My story, your story - is there a story we can share?’

'24 heures', a Swiss local paper, has written about the 70th anniversary celebrations of Caux, the Initiatives of Change international conference centre in Switzerland. The anniversary celebrations have kicked off with a photo exhibition that reveals some extraordinary stories.

Miftahul Huda and his wife Nenden and their young son Damai recently returned from a Trust Building Camp in Jaya Pura Papua, which had provided a safe space for young Muslims and Christians to get to know each other.

In this times of turmoil, religious beliefs are often held accountable for disagreement, tension and conflict. However, religion, despite being portrayed as the source of divisions, can also serve as a tool for creating connections. On the 15th of March the Society for International Development (SID) organized a debate to explore the ways and conditions under which religious beliefs foster mutual understanding. Willem Jansen (Initiatives of Change), Mahardhika Sadjad (ISS) and Ilyaas Sherally (MashriQ) shared their personal experiences to trigger discussion and open up avenues for new insights on religion as dialogue.