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Peacebuilders from across Asia and the rest of the world meet in Salzburg to promote peace in innovative ways
At the beginning of September, program participants convened at Schloss Leopoldskron for the Asia Peace Innovators Forum. This Salzburg Global Seminar – The Nippon Foundation initiative saw Fellows from across Asia and the rest of the world meet for the first time in person since the pandemic.
The Asia Peace Innovators Forum brings together mid-career professionals to promote peace and reconciliation through initiatives across the region. Launched in 2020, the Forum connects innovators for peace across sectors through a transboundary network to exchange experience of community-driven approaches and best practices at practical workshops online and in both Salzburg and Asia.
“I am delighted to see you finally in this beautiful Schloss; it took two and a half years! You were selected out of 1300 applicants, which was a positive surprise and reminded me about the importance of the issue. We truly hope that the discussion in the next few days and ideas generated from this group will go beyond this beautiful building and give solutions to the serious challenges that we face,” said The Nippon Foundation senior director Masato Seko, welcoming Fellows at the opening session.
Charles Ehrlich, Salzburg Global program director of the Forum added: “This feels like a homecoming. I know some of you have been to Schloss Leopoldskron before, but for many of you this is the first time. We spent the last two and a half years getting to know each other and it’s so great just to see so many of you here. If it is a homecoming, that means you have a home to come to. Not just today or this week, but always.”
During these two and a half years of online collaboration, Salzburg Global Fellows came up and started implementing various projects across Asia.
Some of the projects include:
Participants went back and forth, offering ways on how to improve the different projects, either through teaming up, or through connecting each other with their wider networks. That mix of helpful feedback, cooperation, and friendly atmosphere is what makes Salzburg Global Seminar a unique Think Tank that not only results in concrete impactful projects, but also creates lifelong connections amongst Fellows.
The week-long program consisted of project presentations and feedback, informal networking sessions, cultural activities, conflict transformation cafes, and table mapping exercises. All of these various activities had the aim of not only allowing participants to share and exchange ideas about the projects they had been working on for two years, but also to get to know one another as peacebuilders in their respective countries, and as individuals, barring all profession and status.
“[This week has been] amazing, and tiring, because there was a lot of intensity in terms of meeting new people, having very in-depth conversations both about work as well as sort of the larger geopolitical issues that are affecting our countries and regions, as well as getting to know people at a personal level. […] But I think it's just been an amazing experience, given the two years leading up to it, where we consistently engaged virtually. […] Sometimes you have new ideas just because of the fact that you are in person, in a room and in a setting where ideas are flowing to you, and having that physical connection with the other person, that's really important,” reflected Manjula Dissanayake, the founder of Educate Lanka and participant of the Asia Peace Innovators Forum.
Salzburg Global Fellow Jamila-Aisha Sanguila, Founder of Women Empowered to Act for Dialogue and Peace, echoed Manjula’s sentiment in a LinkedIn post: “For the past two and a half years, the program was shifted online due to the global pandemic, and we became accustomed to seeing and meeting Fellows – engaging, discussing and tackling global peace issues via Zoom. […] Not all of us has a stable connection but we managed to remain active. […] The program also opened opportunities for collaboration, networking, and turning ideas into action. With this, I had the privilege of leading two initiatives (K-BARMM and Peace to Peacebuilders) […] from project conceptualization, coordination, implementation, and promotion phase.”
Benjamin Glahn, Salzburg Global Vice President and Chief Operating Officer addressed the participants during the session’s closing: “You’ve all engaged in different ways throughout these two and a half years, culminating of course in this meeting here in Salzburg. […] The expansion of ideas, the creation of new ideas, the improvement of ideas, the cross fertilization of ideas between countries, that’s really only possible in a place like this. I really want to say thank you for your engagement with us, with one another, for the spirit of open mindedness and creativity and resilience.
“You are now all Salzburg Global Fellows, you have been for two and a half years and now you have this experience to remind that you have a place here always, that your Fellowship is a lifelong Fellowship with this institution. It does not end today, even as this cohort comes to some sort of closure. You are part of a growing network of peacebuilders around the world.”
What’s next for the first cohort of the Asia Peace Innovators Forum?
“Getting some sleep! But also, I think we actually have clear actionable plans […] for the project. […] We created the project so that it could sustain beyond the Fellowship, so that it would have a house and a place and a continuation beyond the program. […] I'm sure there will be opportunities for us to reengage with Salzburg Global Seminar in terms of the Fellowship, so while looking forward to those opportunities, we are also going to go out there and execute the next actionable steps,” concluded Manjula.
Kate Ramil, Vice President of NGO YMCA Rinali of Laguna and program participant also summarized her experience: “I met some of the most inspiring leaders in peacebuilding and human rights. More than resilience, I reckon that what keeps them going is the belief that good can win, that peace can win, and that there are more like them – wishing and working for a better world. […] The path to peace may need to start from within, from the self, but it is never a lonely one. I have gained a network, more friends and a family in this Fellowship.”
To be part of the next cohort of the Asia Peace Innovators Forum, apply here.