Kivu retreat/Introduction
From Never Again
Retreat at Lake Kivu
Introduction - Programme - Discussion - Participants - Press - Blog - Virtual retreat
Contents |
Never Again International invites you to our first virtual retreat
February 2006
Wherever you are, join us to:
- Remember the victims of genocide and collaborate on practical ideas for peace
- Reflect and share ideas about the issues that face us
- Celebrate our common humanity, create connections and build friendships
To join the retreat, sign up for a user name and then follow the link to Participants
Aims
Think differently
- Encourage people to think from their own individual perspectives reflecting their own backgrounds, experiences and how they have adapted with or reacted against them.
Exchange
- Broaden our knowledge, understanding and sensitivity to a range of perspectives and insights about the world and about our work.
Retreat
- Take a break from the fast pace of everyday life to have time to think, reflect and develop our own outlook and understanding as individuals.
Understand
- Gain a greater understanding of the forces which are changing things in the Great Lakes Region and in the world and how we are part of those changes.
Friendship
- Consolidate friendship and partnership between young people from different parts of the world.
Grow
- Expand Never Again's global network and generate new activities in different places driven forward by new people.
- Invite other people to influence and help develop the thinking of Never Again and interest others in Never Again's thinking and practise.
Create change
- Generate ideas and a design a strategy to work to place humanity more firmly at the centre of conflict prevention, development and international politics.
Grow
- Expand Never Again's global network and generate new activities in different places driven forward by new people, invite other people to influence and help develop the thinking of Never Again and interest others in Never Again's thinking and practise.
Create change
- Generate ideas and a design a strategy to work to place humanity more firmly at the centre of conflict prevention, development and international politics.
Introduction
Since its inception, Never Again has sought to connect grassroots and high politics in a variety of ways. Our network has taken off most rapidly in the Great Lakes Region and now a concentration of our members are highly active Never Again clubs in schools, universities and among graduates across Rwanda, Burundi and the DRC; while we continue to develop our network of young people across the globe. We have facilitated meetings attended by the youth of the Great Lakes region and the President of the World Bank; we gathered prominent intellectuals, policymakers and activists from Europe, the US and Rwanda in London for the 10th anniversary of the genocide and drafted a submission for the UN Millennium Review Summit on the Responsibility to Protect proposals during seminars held in Kigali.
However, rather than trying to replicate the work of existing campaigning organisations, think tanks or other lobbying NGOs, Never Again has operated as a network of well-placed and committed individuals who are now, and will increasingly be, in positions to advance the aims of the organisation through their full-time roles in politics, the media, academia, education and business, from New York to Beijing, from Goma to Bujumbura. In the coming year, Never Again will be substantially scaling-up its activities, and has an ambitious set of plans for work in the Great Lakes region that will be run from a new Peacebuiling office in Kigali.
We are hoping to complement this regional expansion at the international level, extending our global network and thinking about how we might be able to look with fresh eyes at the major political, intellectual, social and economic themes that will impact on our work in the coming years. From the development of global governance to the rise of new great powers; from the potential of communications technology to the development of a global civil society; from public attitudes to humanitarian intervention to the relationship between international law and national policy; from new currents of thinking on political campaigning to human prejudice and local senses of common humanity; from geopolitical injustice to attitudes to development, international trade and education.
To address these themes, we are planning to hold a small 'international retreat' at Kibuye, on the shores of Lake Kivu. This personal gathering will be joined by the first 'virtual retreat' that Never Again has attempted.
Running for a few days, the retreat will gather a range of people who share the objectives of Never Again and are interested in advancing them both intellectually and practically in the years ahead. While the discussions are intended to be wide-ranging, they will be focused clearly on exploring the implications of these developments for how we, both as individuals and as a network, can best contribute to achieving positive political change in the years ahead. The aim is to start with a virtually blank sheet of paper. We believe that, while drawing on successful previous examples, we should have a far-reaching rethink of the way politics of this sort is going to be conducted in future, what the determining/influential forces are likely to be, and where our efforts should be concentrated to achieve maximum impact. This gathering will be the first of its sort and will include individuals from a range of different backgrounds, including existing Never Again international members, the most dynamic of the new generation of young leaders from the region, and a select group of new invitees.
Before the retreat we will arrange a day of interactions in Kigali with people who were present during the 1994 genocide and people who are now working to move the country forward towards peace.
Either side of the retreat, participants will also be welcome to take part in meetings with some of the leading political figures in Rwanda and to join a democracy conference in the Eastern Congo that will involve young activists from all over the DRC in preparing to support the country's first elections in nearly fifty years.
