Initiatives of ChangeConference CentreCaux, Switzerland

A people-centred approach

CAUX INITIATIVES

The conference, in July 2013, explored the structures and personal qualities which promote ethical, inclusive governance.

The event was above all an interaction between people working for just governance in over 30 countries. This report gives short extracts from speeches. The full speeches and news of ongoing action can be found at www.cauxforum.net

A S H A R E D R E S P O N S I B I L I T YJUST GOVERNANCE

2013 CONFERENCE REPORT

Seeking a governance of integrity

Claude Altermatt

Claude Altermatt Ambassador, Political Directorate, Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, SwitzerlandThe partnership between Switzerland and Initiatives of Change started in 2005 in Burundi, and has expanded and deepened since. The tasks ahead are daunting but I am inspired by this series of conferences. I hope that, thanks to the rich expertise and experience gathered here, and helped by Caux’s innovative methods, these conferences will enable a better understanding of how to advance human security.

Ekuru Aukot constitutional lawyer, Director of the Committee of Experts which developed the 2010 Kenyan constitutionOur new constitution sets out the qualities which society expects of its political leaders, and in its text holds politicians accountable. This is an important step towards just governance. But it will only succeed if we also have genuine drivers of change, agents of integrity. We speak eloquently about change but we allow dishonest leaders to take us almost over the cliff, and we still follow them. Some of us are working for a new model of representation, known as the Group of 47 (G47), whereby more of the nation’s political power is distributed to the 47 counties of Kenya. We believe that this will encourage the growth of leaders who are closer to those who elected them, and so better able to respond to their concerns. And it will enable more young Kenyans to take leadership.

Alexandra Baklanova Nestor Group, Ukraine

Ukraine has a powerful lesson for the world. If you fail to protect your democracy, its freedoms can disappear. Our leaders lack a vision for our country. Some of us decided that civil society could offer this vision, and we created what is now known as the Nestor Group, a self-funded group of experts from many walks of life. The changes we seek require tremendous energy. A vision that inspires, but is realistic, can generate this energy.

For many years the strategy of our city of Lviv, unofficially, was tourism, and more tourism. We said that this would kill the city’s creativity; the priority should be the intellectual and creative services which shape the environment which tourists wish to experience. Gradually associations, clubs, circles of people joined the discussion, and supported this approach. Now it has been voted a city strategy.

Ashraf Rashed Ambassador, EgyptI am a member of the African Peer Review Panel of Eminent Persons. This voluntary mechanism focuses on political, economic and corporate governance, democracy and development. It has enabled citizens to participate in policy debates, fostered service delivery, and increased advocacy for good governance. Currently 33 States are members, and they increasingly feel a collective responsibility to support reform processes in member States.

Clean Election Campaigns have featured in national elections in Ghana, Sierra Leone and Kenya, enabling hundreds of thousands of voters to pledge themselves to ‘shun violence and corruption’. Kenyan lawyer Joseph Karanja initiator of Kenya’s Clean Election Campaigns, led a workshop on the campaign preceding this year’s national elections.

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Trustworthy governance is fundamental to all social progress. Citizen action plays a vital role in establishing this quality of governance.

Ekuru Aukot

Ashraf Rashed

Me Moïse Nyarugabo Senator, National Parliament, Democratic Republic of CongoIn 2006 I was named Minister for the Economy in the Transition Government. At the time a 50 kg bag of cement cost US$30-40. An enquiry showed this was purely due to speculation and it should be US$11. So I took measures to outlaw this speculation. The cement sellers offered me US$300,000 if I would abandon these measures. I refused.

I also took action on the price of food, of water, of electricity. But it was the dramatic fall in the price of cement which caught people’s attention. So, after the transition, even though my home is far from Kinshasa, I was elected to represent Kinshasa in the Senate.

That was a result of my visits to Caux. As a rebel leader in 2002, I was negotiating in Addis Ababa when I met people from Caux, and came here. I decided to give up war, and work instead through argument and discussion. Now I am well known for speaking out publicly, on TV and in the Senate, on corruption.

This is a constant struggle, sometimes with myself, sometimes with family and friends. I am spurred on both by my education and my religious beliefs. And by the corrupt regime dignitaries who leave their children with their millions, but also with a bad name and a fear of appearing in public. You can’t imagine how grateful I am that there are no skeletons in my cupboard.

At present I am chairing a Senate inquiry into corruption in national aviation. Corruption is deeply embedded in my country. But, particularly in civil society and the churches, men and women are fighting night and day for change. The key to change is within me, where I find the humility and love and forgiveness to keep going. I come to Caux because here I find energy for that struggle. And I come to ask that you in Europe put pressure on your governments and multinationals to be fairer with our people in their extraction of our oil and minerals. We need to work together to fight this scourge.

Shehu Sani President of the Civil Rights Congress of NigeriaDemocracy is the foundation of integrity in governance, and it has to be fought for. Some of us had no option, during three decades of military rule, but to mobilise the citizens and stand against dictatorship. A vibrant media played a heroic role in the struggle. Many were killed, jailed or forced into exile. I was sentenced to life imprisonment, and served four years before we ended military rule in 1999. Now we are working for integrity and transparency in governance. As a nation, we are still struggling to be together as one. And corruption is cancerous. But we are progressing. Just as Kenya, Senegal and Ghana have elected the opposition party into government, this can happen in Nigeria.

Lucienne Munono school principal, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of CongoMany teachers in my country use corruption to make money, and students use it to pass exams. Some school inspectors offer, on payment, to ensure that every student taking their university entrance passes the exam.

A number of educators from DRC have attended Caux conferences, and we have decided to fight this corruption. I am the principal of a private school of 730 students in Kinshasa. When I refused to allow my students to bribe the inspectors, the students and their teachers tried to persuade me to change my mind. I refused, suggesting we should instead give our candidates extra lessons in their weakest subjects. They accepted, and that year we achieved an 80% success rate.

But from then on the inspectors were reluctant to come to our school. And some parents transferred their children to schools which, thanks to corruption, have a 100% pass rate. We had to close some classes. So we decided to go and find inspectors who would respect our stance. It took time, but we have found them. Instead of coming just before the exams, they come at the start of the year, inspect our teaching, detect our weak points and create a programme to help with these.

Lucienne Munono

Alexandra BaklanovaShehu Sani

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Spyros Stephou. Former Deputy Director of Customs, Cyprus

For some years I was District Director of Customs for Larnaka, Cyprus’s main port and airport, a

transit centre for large quantities of heroin. It needs more than courage or discipline to arrest drug couriers when you know the risks. I found

the strength thanks to a decision I took as a young customs officer. Though fighting to free

my country from colonial rule, I was heavily into drinking and gambling, and my wife had decided

to divorce me. A visit to Caux persuaded me to clean up my life. I returned stolen goods to the customs

department. I was honest with my wife, and our marriage was transformed. Together we began to build bridges with

Turkish Cypriots. Today I represent my political party in the monthly talks between Greek and Turkish Cypriot political parties,

a forum vital for our country’s future.

Me Moïse Nyarugabo

It is sometimes necessary to confront opponents. But in many cases, reaching out to those opponents can be a more effective strategy.

Steps towards national reconciliation

Khadiga HusseinBedan Mbugua

Alfred Lokuji

Alfred Lokuji Undersecretary for Higher Education, Science and Technology, Government of South SudanWe sorely need institutional reform in South Sudan. Human rights violations are often absolved on the grounds of community attitudes, and our women suffer especially from this. But violations are committed by individuals, and individuals need to be held to account. When perpetrators acknowledge their wrong, then forgiveness and reconciliation and healing are possible. There may be a role for judicial justice, for amnesty, for reparations, for monuments which state that we will never let this happen again.

We can all help towards a society which offers justice for all. In my position, I’m expected to drive a gas-guzzling Toyota Land cruiser V8. So far I have succeeded in refusing, because every time I go to a village, I see someone who needs money for headache pills, and they don’t have it.

Bedan Mbugua Director, Royal Media Services (Kenya’s largest private media company)I went to the Solomon Islands with Archbishop Tutu in 2009 to help reconcile the factions which fought each other in that country’s civil war. As I talked with the young men of the militias my heart was grieved to realise that this was a war in which victims were killing victims. I reflected on the young people in Kenya who had formed a ruthless militia, known as Mungiki. They had just killed 27 young Kenyans in cold blood. I knew I had to do something.

On return to Kenya I contacted media colleagues, who helped me reach a Mungiki commander. I was taking my life into my hands, but he agreed to meet me at a small hotel. As soon as he and his comrades arrived, everyone in the hotel fled. I told the Mungiki group what I had seen in the Solomons – the children of poor people killing other children of poor people, just as in Kenya. ‘This killing must stop,’ I told them. They listened, consulted among themselves, and then asked me to see their leader, Maina Njenga, who was in prison 200 kilometres away.

The next morning I went to the prison. I discovered that the prison commandant had known me when I was imprisoned in 1988 for exposing in my newspaper the rigging of the Presidential election. He greeted me warmly, and gave me his office to meet with Njenga. We talked the whole day, and Njenga was moved by my stories. When I urged him to accept cleansing by a church leader, he agreed. A week later a Bishop came to the prison and baptised him. By then Njenga had sent orders to Mungiki to stop the killing. In the four years since then, there have been no killings by Mungiki.

Khadiga Hussein Former Minister of State; founder, Sudanese Mothers for PeaceSudanese Mothers for Peace has worked for women’s development for 25 years, training in literacy, skills for income generation, and advocacy throughout Sudan. We are also working to expose human rights abuses and resolve conflict. Recently we collected 8000 signatures from Sudanese women who are appealing to all sides to end the killing.

Cornelio Sommaruga. Honorary President, Initiatives of Change

International, and former President, International

Committee of the Red Cross, pointed out that one third of the

world’s people still live in poverty. ‘We need a globalisation of

responsibility,’ he said. ‘That is up to each of us, and is the first step

towards just governance.’

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Ashraf Ali

Osman Jama Ali Former Deputy Prime Minister, SomaliaAs a former Minister under the dictatorial regime of President Siad Barre, I have asked my people’s forgiveness for having failed them. I am now chairing the Somali Initiative for Dialogue and Democracy (SIDD) in London. Together with Initiatives of Change we have organised courses to enable the British Somali community to overcome mistrust and conflict between the generations, to contribute to our host society, and to help rebuild Somalia. Now Somalia has a new Government. The extremists are being defeated and large numbers of the diaspora are returning to Somalia. Our new leaders have encouraged SIDD to urgently move the focus of our work to Somalia and we are seeking funds to do that.

Diana Damsa from Romania, working with ‘Ukrainian Action - Healing the Past’This project started with two young women who came from different parts of Ukraine, and whose views of their national history clashed. This caused resentment until they opened their hearts and minds to each other’s point of view, and apologised. They realised that Ukraine needed what they had found, and this was the start of a programme which has published books and a documentary film, and is conducting dialogues in various parts of Ukraine. Teachers, journalists and historians are working with us to present history differently. In many parts of Eastern Europe, politicians use a distorted nationalistic history to win votes. We believe our work can help people withstand this manipulation.

Ashraf Ali President, FATA Research Centre, PakistanPakistan faces many challenges, but the priority is to overcome bad governance and corruption. These two issues widen the gap between the state and society. Most people feel excluded from the political process because, in their view, it benefits only the elite. You in the West could help us. If the money spent on drone attacks in the Tribal Areas was spent on developing the region, support for the militants would drain away.

Inderjit Bhogal Leader, Corrymeela Community, Northern IrelandA peace agreement was signed 15 years ago in Northern Ireland. But reconciliation is harder work than peace. We need to create spaces in which people can meet and hold difficult conversations. Like Caux, Corrymeela is engaged in that work. Our mission is to embrace difference, heal division, enable reconciliation.

Maggie Hodgson First Nations Canadian working nationally and internationally on justice and healing initiativesHow do you restore a society which has been devastated by decades of destructive Government policies? Canada’s Indigenous people have been overwhelmed by problems of addiction. We are restoring ourselves through our ceremonies. The rituals and practices handed down from our elders strengthen identity, language, belonging. They emphasise a person’s responsibility to his community. Since 1980 our people have run treatment programmes which place ceremony at their heart. We launched National Addictions Awareness Week, and programmes such as ‘Keep the Circle Strong’. These are more effective than the Government programmes, and cost half as much. Now we see a massive increase in the number of our people attending post-secondary education. And in our community elections, sobriety has become an electoral asset. In Alberta, 80% of our leaders are abstainers. That is an important step towards healthy communities which are justly governed.

Alex Wise Founder, American Civil War Centre, Richmond, USAIn Richmond, Virginia, we have had peace since the end of the Civil War in 1865, but we haven’t had reconciliation. So in 1997, we started to create a museum which told the story of that conflict from three sides – from the Union side, the Confederate side and the African American side. We opened it in 2006 and it is, I think, a place where anyone can go and feel that the truth is being told. Museums can be places of authority which help towards healing and reconciliation.

Osman Jama Ali

Nigerians Chidi Odinkalu (left), Chair of the National Human Rights Commission,

and political scientist Hakeem Baba-Ahmed led a session on ‘Responses to Political Violence’.

Diana Damsa

Maggie HodgsonInderjit Bhogal

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Overcoming the ‘resource curse’

In many countries the extraction of natural resources causes conflict and corruption. What will enable extraction to fund good development?

Rama ManiBenjamin Phelan

Tadesse Meskela

Rama Mani Senior Research Associate, Centre for International Studies, Oxford University; Member, World Future CouncilWho has sovereign rights over the land where minerals are discovered? The people of that area? The citizens of the country? The Government? The mining companies? How do we balance the rights of human beings with nature’s ability to replenish herself ?

These are crucial issues. Over five million people have died in the Democratic Republic of Congo in a war that is entirely about the grab for minerals. And these wars are going on in many places. How do we raise global awareness, not just shaming the wrongdoers, but also putting forward solutions? When are we going to realise that there are limits to economic growth, that there are more important measures of our society’s welfare than the Gross Domestic Product?

Hakeem Baba-Ahmed Visiting Lecturer in Political Science, Usumanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, NigeriaMost of the problems Africa faces – conflict between communities, religious insurgencies – are rooted in the competition for scarce resources. There is a massive disconnect between the system and the basic needs of the people. Here I have discovered people with the passion and commitment to put these issues on the table. I hope that people can leave Caux and find ways of networking and sharing experiences and pushing. Because in Africa, these issues can’t wait.

Tadesse Meskela General Manager, Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union of EthiopiaIn 1999 the price of coffee reached a 30-year low, and the farmers were suffering. Why don’t we organise these farmers into a cooperative, I thought, so that we capture more of the value chain? That was the start of a process whereby today we have 240 cooperatives with more than 240,000 members, exporting their coffee to the international market. And we are also Fair Trade certified. The farmers are getting 250% more per kilo of coffee. They now have good houses and motor bikes. And with the Fair Trade premium we have built 40 elementary schools, 10 high schools, more than 100 clean water supply points, and much else.

Benjamin Phelan Head of Innovation and Technology, Future Brilliance, Afghanistan Afghanistan has vast mineral deposits, including gemstones, which will inevitably be mined by large companies. We are training artisans, both men and women, in the skills of jewellery making, to ensure that the gemstones are then converted into jewellery, providing employment and income, before being exported.

We are also introducing solar powered computers to rural areas, enabling e-learning and services to develop small businesses. This is empowering communities across Afghanistan, enabling them to voice their concerns.

Omnia Marzouk President, Initiatives of Change International; Associate Medical Director, Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, UKThe aim of Initiatives of Change is to inspire, equip and connect people to work for a just, peaceful and sustainable world. We believe that a leadership culture based on integrity, compassion and selfless service is central to good governance. And this is too important an issue to leave to our leaders. As a teenager, I was angry at the corruption I saw around me. Was I prepared to do something about the small dishonesties in my own life? A test of personal integrity is whether my decisions stand scrutiny against absolute values of honesty, purity, unselfishness and love. So my interest in governance is about this daily search for a value-based leadership that is at the heart of my professional medical life.

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Acuil Banggol Secretary of the SPLM, South Sudan’s ruling party

Farai Maguwu Director, Centre for Natural Resource Governance, ZimbabweIn 1884 a few European states gathered in Berlin, and partitioned Africa between them. For nearly 100 years, Africans were alienated from their land and resources. Today a second partition is taking place. African leaders are colluding with powerful interests outside Africa, and again, Africans are being alienated from their land and resources. Western countries, China and India are all involved.

My organisation is part of the Kimberley Process certification scheme. Over the past four years, the Kimberley Process, which is dominated by powerful nations, has lowered its minimum standards, and now says that less than 1% of diamonds entering global markets are conflict diamonds. But many of these diamonds from Africa are mined in a culture of extreme human rights abuses, and the proceeds are strengthening dictatorships.

In Zimbabwe our ruling party sent the army to take control of the diamond fields in 2008, and over 200 people died. We stood up as an organisation and said, ‘What you are doing is wrong.’ They raided my home. When I came out of jail the media attention meant that I found myself a spokesman for transparency and respect for human rights.

There is much to be done. Over 4000 families are being moved from the diamond fields, and are now being accommodated on much smaller plots in semi-urban areas. They receive inadequate food distributions, and poverty and starvation is growing.

We give these communities training in monitoring, research, advocacy, human rights. Our objective is to build a national movement which enables our natural resources to genuinely benefit our people. Now other civil society organisations give priority to transparency and human rights in the diamond sector.

Wherever we are – Zimbabwe, London, USA – the moment we speak out about these issues, we take a step towards just governance.

Bedan Mbugua Director, Royal Media ServicesOur development policies are based on a wrong paradigm. We believe that everything depends on money. So when we discover minerals we allow everything because it will give us money. We pay little attention to environmental degradation, which could be devastating, displacing people in their millions. In Kenya many of us have prayed that we would not discover oil or gold. But now we have discovered oil. We will only use it well if we change the culture which values money far too highly.

Chidi Odinkalu Chair, National Human Rights Commission, Nigeria Land is a natural resource. In Nigeria, in negotiation with the then President in 2007-8, we reached agreement that communities affected by mining or oil extraction would be party to natural resources contracts, and would receive a percentage of the royalties. Now we need to compel extractive companies to be quoted on the Stock Exchange where they are working. That will heighten transparency about their operation.

Neil Buhne Director, Bureau for Conflict Prevention and Recovery, UNDPIn many places, extractive industries inspire a mania of greed. Yet where there is good management, these industries have laid the base for infrastructure, education, human development. There must be laws and norms governing extractive industries, and checks and balances on those industries, nationally and internationally.

There is a growing understanding in the developed world that extractive industries often exploit developing countries. So we see the growth of Fair Trade. And here in Switzerland, in the region where the mining giant Glencore Xtrata has its headquarters, many residents argue that some of the taxes they receive from the company should go to charities in countries suffering the consequences of mining. This growing recognition could help create a fairer system.

Farai Maguwu

Amit Mukherjee former Administrator of TATA Tinplate, led a workstream on The Heart of Effective Living, a course developed in India for industrial managers, the public service and NGO leaders, which explores ethical foundations for policy decisions, and the personal qualities which enhance leadership.

Neil Buhne

Acuil Banggol, Secretary of the SPLM, South Sudan’s ruling party

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Workshop on natural resources

www.cauxforum.net

Just Governance Conference Secretariat c/o Initiatives of Change InternationalRue de Varembé 1, CH-1202 Geneva. Postal address: PO Box 3, CH-1211 Geneva 20, SwitzerlandPhone +41(0)22 749 16 20 Fax +41 (0)22 733 02 67 Email humansecurity@cauxforum.net

Caux conferences respect confidentiality. Everyone quoted in this report has approved their contribution.

The next Caux conference on ‘Just Governance for Human Security’ will take place on 12-17 July 2014.

See www.caux.ch for further details.

JUST GOVERNANCE

This conference is one of a series aimed at extending and strengthening the network of people across the world working to improve governance. News comes constantly of initiatives by conference participants. A conference was held in Harare in late July 2013, and another will be held in Kiev in November.

On 10-14 January 2014 a dialogue on ‘Learning from Democracy’s Journey’ will take place at Asia Plateau, the Initiatives of Change conference centre in Western India, which will deal with crucial questions:

After oppression, struggle. After struggle, victory. After victory, disappointment. In recent years, too many countries have experienced this sequence of toil, thrill, and tears. What went wrong? Can we get it right? Are there common lessons? Is it possible to keep competing egos out of debates on competing agendas, and enable bitterly divided groups to dialogue? How can street movements mature into systems whereby citizens help ensure just and effective governance? How can our governing institutions be supplied with integrity in leadership, transparency, and accountability, the absence of which provoked the cries for change in the first place?

All are welcome. For further information, see www.makingdemocracyreal.org

THE YEAR AHEAD

Learning from Democracy’s Journey

Katherine Marshall

Senior fellow, Georgetown University, Washington DC; former Senior Advisor, World Bank

The biannual International Anti-Corruption Conference is planned for Tunis, 21-24 October, 2014. It focuses on critical governance issues linked to human security. The challenge will be how to connect with ethical and religious movements, and there are people here at Caux who could help with that. I am a member of the Advisory Council, and would welcome ideas.

Mohamed Sahnoun

Ambassador, former Special Advisor to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan; Chair, Caux Forum for Human Security

As an Algerian active in the struggle against colonial rule, I experienced torture at the hands of the French. So I understand those who bear the scars of a past of trauma, grief, uncertainty. We cannot change history. But we can work for healing. That is why we are at Caux. To find the strength, the courage, the inspiration to look ahead and work for a better future. Improving our condition is within reach. It depends entirely on the solidarity, empathy, compassion which each of us is able to show. Let us seize the opportunity and help deliver our better world.

Rajmohan Gandhi

Historian, former politician, biographer of his grandfather Mahatma Gandhi

Every country faces the enormous challenge of overcoming corruption. When you take on this fight, you face serious risks. It is crucially important to stay united. If you can keep your team united, you will help find the answers we all need. I think of Nelson Mandela, a man for all people, who kept turning enemies into allies. His message to us is ‘Never give up.’