Global Network of Change (GN4C)
Molenmeers 46
8000 Brugge
بلجيكا
- Democracy and community development
- Gender
- Human rights
- International/Cultural relations
- Media
- Research
- Youth and education
Structure of the organization: President, Board of Advisors, Board of Directors, Executive Committee. Amount of employees: 4 Budgetary resources available in a year: € 80,000 - €120,000 Sources of funding: crowdfunding, private funding, foundations Modalities of action: dialogue projects, workshops, webinars, summer academies, debriefings Main partners involved in the organization's projects/activities: The Imagine Center for Conflict Transformation
Vision GN4C strives for peace through empowerment of human beings and their social cohesion in conflict-‐riddled regions. Mission Through the organization of inclusive dialogues, GN4C creates the space and time for genuine people-to‐people communication and cooperation. Through the organization of capacity‐building workshops and conflict transformation trainings, GN4C provides insight, expertise and resources to local peace-builders and other conflict related actors according to locally determined needs and priorities. Through the support of educational and research activities, GN4C ensures a neutral flow of information contributing to the plurality of perspectives on the conflict. Through networking, partnering up with and supporting other organizations and associations, GN4C maximizes the synergetic potential among organizations that share a like-minded vision. Through the participation in and promotion of public discussions, GN4C works towards contributing to progressive and socially constructive policy change that alleviates the debilitating effects on civil societies immersed in conflict. By engaging in these activities in an inclusive, conflict‐sensitive, locally-led, peaceful and respectful way, GN4C answers to local demands expressed by anyone in a conflict or post‐conflict zone who may also be member of any kind of organization, government, institution or company.
Currently, GN4C is working to realize three projects: Supporting Civic Dialogue in Syria: the aim of the project is to develop a sustainable network of activists across Syria with a shared vision and action plan for initiating the transformation of the conflict in Syria. The specific objectives of the proposed project include: • to develop an inclusive network of peace activists across Syria; • to equip the network members with mutual trust, good working relations and conflict resolution skills; • to create space for sustainable cross-region and cross-sectarian collaboration focused on civic dialogue and conflict transformation. Winter Academy in Armenia: Conscious Conflict Transformation: this project aims to set up a one-week program for peace builders, educators, conflict resolution professionals, students and other people interested in conscious conflict transformation. The winter academy aspires to study and practice concepts, such as awareness, energy fields, transformative mediation, yoga practices, mindfulness, nonverbal communication, etc to constructively transform conflicts. Communication for Stabilization (CoS): This project undertakes public diplomacy as a tool for conflict prevention, reconciliation and peace-building. Objective of CoS will be to develop and implement communication for stabilization in conflicted regions. Understanding the importance of strategic communications & public diplomacy in conflicted and post-conflict regions to prevent violence and help reconciliation, the project will focus on various approaches to strategically use communications tools for stabilization in the conflicted societies. A potential peace educational project is in the pipeline in the region of Israel-Palestine but is not yet confirmed.
GN4C aims to empower local actors in conflict regions and support community building and for the moment we are active in Syria, and, potentially, Israel-Palestine. By sharing our work in these regions with the ALF Network, GN4C can contribute to the work of the Network of promoting, restoring and building of intercultural dialogue in these regions. Further, being established in Belgium, GN4C can contribute to the Belgian Network to provide an informative and educational platform to whomever is interested in the recent developments in the field of conflict resolution and transformation. In addition, as GN4C works closely with people from the field, it can bring the expertise of the field closer to analysts and decision-makers who are mainly working in Brussels through webinars, workshops, debriefings, trainings and debates. The GN4C employees furthermore often travel to conflict zones and keep in touch with the reality on the ground and, thus, ensuring the credibility of its work. GN4C believes that by adopting such close-to-the-ground approach and by sharing its expertise and experience with the other members of the Network, the Network can directly benefit from the work of GN4C.
First, GN4C believes in the strengths of intercultural networks and cross-border relationship-building in order to achieve its objectives, i.e. rebuild the trust among actors in conflict zones and re-humanize conflicts to ultimately constructively transform local communities, and also in education, culture and media as important nonviolent tools to reach these goals. GN4C sees that these elements are equally valued by the ALF Network and, to that extent, GN4C is convinced that joining the ALF Network is a perfect way to put these ideas and resources together to strengthen and support its activities and those of the other members of the Network. Further, GN4C sees ALF Network as a supportive voice, tool and platform to promote and restore intercultural dialogue, whereby perceptions are shared, awareness is raised about stereotypes and misunderstanding are clarified. As these objectives are also pursued by the ALF Network, GN4C sees great value in joining ALF Network for mutual support.
