Initiatives of change
The Initiatives of Change ( English Initiatives of Change , French Initiatives et Changement ; International Abbreviation: IofC ) has been an international movement since 2002, which emerged from the former Oxford group on the former movement Moral Re-Armament (MRA) . The non-governmental organization has a special advisory status in the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations and participant status in the Council of Europe .
history
In the late 1920s, a few students at Oxford University formed an "Oxford Group". The founder is Frank Buchman (1878–1961), who in 1938 called for a "moral and spiritual armament" as an antithesis to global war armament.
After 1945 she developed a program “for the moral and spiritual reconstruction of the world”. The MRA was based in Caux, Switzerland, in the Grand Hotel Caux Palace . Wealthy Swiss citizens bought it in 1946 and gave it to Buchman. In 1960 Buchman opened an international conference center there . The MRA used popular means (amateur theater groups, choirs, public confessions of sins) to organize mass campaigns and, at the same time, to organize cadre training ( democratic training ) for people who were supposed to take on leadership roles. The group received political support. In June 1948, for example, the Hessian Minister of Education Erwin Stein (CDU) took part in the MRA World Assembly in California. On the agenda was the development of “ideological weapons” in the emerging Cold War . As a congress participant in Caux this year, Konrad Adenauer declared that he recognized the “great importance of Caux for the battle between good and evil”. The later West Berlin CDU politician Peter Lorenz took from there strength for “the fight against communism in Berlin” on the way back. In North Rhine-Westphalia, Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg and Hesse, an MRA propaganda theater toured with the musical piece Der gute Weg at the request of the governments . More than 3000 Germans and 2000 French came to Caux. After Frank Buchman's death, the British Peter Howard took over the management of the MRA in 1961, but he also died in 1965.
A reorientation followed, with the result that the Up with People project split off as an educational program after a common "basis of trust" no longer existed. With the economic and political collapse of communist states, a new phase began for the movement that expanded into Eastern Europe . Clean election programs have been initiated in Taiwan , Brazil and Kenya . In 2001, Cornelio Sommaruga (* 1932) and Rajmohan Gandhi (* 1935) announced the new name “Initiatives for Change”.
organization
The movement operates in 60 countries around the world; in 44 countries it has independent sponsorships that have joined Initiatives of Change - International . The IofC is headquartered in Caux and was founded as an association in 2002 . The office there represents the international movement at the United Nations , the Council of Europe and other international organizations. In Geneva it maintains the Office of International Trainings Service , a training center that coordinates and mediates all international training and further education. The largest centers of “Initiatives for Change” are in Switzerland, Great Britain , India and Australia .
Structure and structure
The supreme body of the IofC is the annual general assembly, which is chaired by the president. The global assembly elects nine to eleven members to the International Council. A four-person management team is elected from this, consisting of the President, the Vice-President, the Treasurer and a Secretary . The management team is responsible for business operations and management ; further council members can be assigned to it. Standing committees whose members do not belong to the International Council are available to the management team for further support . The president is Omnia Marzouk.
literature
- Philippe Mottu: Caux. From the "Belle époque" to moral armament . Caux-Verlag, Zurich 1970.
Web links
- Official website IofC
- Website IofC Germany
- Watson news portal of October 17, 2014: Glenn Close in Caux
Individual evidence
- ↑ Philippe Mottu: Caux. From the "Belle époque" to moral armament . Caux-Verlag, Zurich 1970, p. 56.
- ↑ Philippe Mottu: Caux. From the "Belle époque" to moral armament . Caux-Verlag, Zurich 1970, p. 59.
- ↑ All information in this section, if not otherwise stated: Hagen Rudolph: Die misstenten opportunities. The forgotten history of the Federal Republic. Hamburg 1979, pp. 204-209; Historical overview: Initiatives of change from the beginning until today ( Memento from June 28, 2017 in the Internet Archive ).
- ↑ Peter Howard .
- ↑ Dr Omnia Marzouk from Egypt and UK is elected as the new President of Initiatives of Change International