The best companies embrace a commitment to quality and a shared purpose, say speakers at a forum on ‘productive collaboration held on 19 April 2012.

‘The film One Word of Truth is like a prophecy of what is happening in Syria,’ said Syrian writer and blogger Wassim Al-Adel, speaking at a Greencoat film show in the UK Initiatives of Change centre in London, on 8 May. The film was introduced by its producer Patrick Colquhoun from Anglo-Nordic Productions and was followed by a testimonial by Al-Adel, who explained how the film’s message had helped him overcome his despair at the current situation in Syria.

The Nairobi Chamber Chorus is in Britain to perform in the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Pageant at Windsor Castle, 10-12 May. On 6 May the Chorus performed in Slough, hosted by the Kenya Society. Among the speakers at the event were former Kenyan Attorney General Charles Njonjo, former British High Commissioner to Kenya Sir Jeffrey James, Mayor of Slough, Sukhjit Kaur Dhaliwal, senior Commissioner at the Kenyan High Commision, Dr Joe Sang and Dr Alan Channer from Initiatives of Change's FLTfilms.

We would like to say a special thanks for all the encouragement and support you gave us as we put on the fundraiser held on 31 March for the School for Change Makers. The money raised has totalled more than £800 and we’re so grateful.

‘Anyone can take initiatives of change’ was the theme of a public event that took place on Saturday 21 April at the Initiatives of Change centre in London. The event included three presentations and three workshops providing practical experience on how to develop good skills to promote changes which can benefit oneself and the community.

Pastor James Wuye, Imam Muhammad Ashafa and British filmmaker Dr Alan Channer were invited to Chad by the United Nations from 24 March – 2 April. Their visit, under the theme ‘Media and Mediation’, was part of a bid by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to build skills in mediation and peace-building amongst a newly-forged network of Chadian mediators.

Eighty people gathered at the Karimia Institute in Nottingham on 20 March for an interactive discussion on ‘Reaching out to the other – turning hatred into friendship’. It was initiated by Imam Musharraf Hussain al-Azhari, Director of the Institute, who invited Initiatives of Change workers John Bond and Mary Lean to facilitate the discussion. Film clips from Australia and Nigeria launched an evening of lively discussion.

In Oxford and Edinburgh, local Creators of Peace teams went to meet other women and discover their concerns at events to mark International Women’s Day on 8 March.

Not long ago the market in Burnt Forest, in the west of Kenya, was divided into three parts, corresponding to the area’s three main ethnic groups. In 2008 Burnt Forest witnessed unprecedented violence, following Kenya’s presidential election in 2007. The town was the epicentre of nationwide inter-ethnic violence which left over 1,000 dead. Five years later, the Burnt Forest market is now unified and the relationship among neighbours has been transformed. Initiatives of Change brought this example of trust-building to its London centre, at an event entitled ‘An African answer to conflict’ on 28 February.

Helping young prisoners choose a different future.