Enriching Encounters

In a multicultural and ever-changing society, trust building through storytelling is essential to transforming unlikely encounters into enriching ones.

Initiatives of Change Switzerland launched the Enriching Encounters series in 2016 for its 70th anniversary and will now continue this series throughout the year. Join us for these events to become inspired and learn from someone else’s story.

 

Upcoming Events

Geneva Peace Week:  Peacebuilders – Voices from local communities

Wednesday 7 November 2018, 12:30 – 14:00

Part of Geneva Peace Week, this event brings to you personal and professional stories of individuals promoting peace in local communities.

 

 

Each story is unique and shows the importance of working towards building relationships and understanding as key steps for peacebuilding processes. Given the interactive nature of this event, you will be able to choose two stories from the human library to listen to, will have the chance to ask questions to a human book personally, and share your experience with other participants in an inviting setting.

This Human Library event is organised by the United Nations Library Geneva and Initiatives of Change Switzerland. It is part of our Enriching Encounters series.

Co-organized with the United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG) and in collaboration with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), The Network for Religious and Traditional Peacemakers, and the Kofi Annan Foundation.

 

Location:

Palais des Nations – UN Library Geneva Events Room (B.135)

 

Access:

To access the event, you will need valid UNOG ground pass. If you do not already have one, you can register before November 7th via the UNOG registration system-INDICO here. This badge will be valid until the 9th of November 2018 for all Geneva Peace Week events.

 

Human Books:

 

Mimoun Berrissoun is one of the 10 Young Leaders of the Extremely Together initiative of the Kofi Annan Foundation, which helps young people to take action against violent extremism. He is the Director of 180° Wende, which practically means “to turn someone´s life around for the better”, a German NGO that focuses on preventing youth crime and radicalization.He has developed a network of local mediators embedded within vulnerable areas of Cologne to connect with the city’s youth and swiftly react to emerging signs of radicalisation

 

Amina Dikedi-Ajakaiye is currently the president of Creators of Peace (CoP) International, a women’s initiative launched in 1991 as an Initiatives of Change programme. CoP is a global network of women in 51 countries using Creators of Peace Circles, workshops, personal encounters, community building activities and international conferences to affect change. After going through a story of change, herself, Amina became actively involved in 1982 with Initiatives of Change empowering women in many countries and running leadership programmes in Africa.

 

Martine Miller is the Director of Inclusive Peace (global), Asia and Libya (lead) for the Network for Religious and Traditional Peacemakers. She is a committed mediator and conflict transformation specialist with over 20 years of experience providing direct peace support to communities, inter/national non-governmental organizations, academic institutions, governments, regional bodies and UN agencies. In her current position, she provides direct inclusive peace support with a focus on positively transforming fluid identity conflict fault-lines to contribute to more durable peace within communities, countries linking to regional and global levels. 

 

Jennifer Pro is a Senior Emergency Coordinator for the International Organization for Migration. Over the past fifteen years she has worked in refugee camps and displacement sites, most recently managing humanitarian response operations in Somalia, South Sudan and Syria. Prior to working in the field of emergencies, she worked extensively on refugee resettlement programs in refugee camps and settlements in Nepal, Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Jordan.

 

Fabrice Roman is an anthropologist and the director of La Roseraie, a community center aiming to enrich and improve the living conditions of migrants in Geneva. He also directed and participates in development projects focusing on migration processes and communities in vulnerable situations in rural and urban areas in Switzerland and West Africa.