GENEVA, September 4 — Seventeen fellows and representatives from the International Geneva Peace Fellowship Programme visited the World Council of Churches on 4 September, part of a community-building initiative and a series of visits the cohort has been conducting since the programme kicked off on 1 September. The visit was described by fellow Wendyam Hervé Lankoandé, who will work at the WCC, as a courtesy and learning visit.
He said the cohort was impressed and exposed to the WCC’s programmatic work, including peacebuilding across different jurisdictions in the Middle East, Latin America, Africa, and Europe.
A ‘just peace’ with Christian roots
Lankoandé reflected that the WCC values the concept of “just peace,” which he noted has Christian roots. As a young international Geneva peace fellow placed at the WCC, he said contributing to the establishment of an “Ecumenical Just Peace Network” in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and building resilient societies, is all about the pursuit of just peace. He said he was proud to see the WCC fully embodying this prophetic voice.
The fellows will all work at different organizations in international Geneva this year. During the visit they received an introduction to the WCC, after which a panel of WCC staff led a discussion on the work of the WCC.
First encounter with the Council’s work
Peace fellow Minsa Salime, whose work relates to women, peace, and security, is posted at Interpeace. She said that although she has lived in Geneva for two years she had never really heard about the World Council of Churches, making this her first time interacting with its work.
Salime said she was very interested to see how faith is at the centre of the WCC’s work, how present it is in different parts of the world, and how it covers a wide range of topics, from health, to climate, to children, to women and men, to gender parity. She also noted that WCC staff were very much engaged in their work, and said it was interesting to see how faith can contribute to peacebuilding, leaving her with further food for thought.
Peace fellow Nathan Thomas said the goal is to come to international Geneva and have the chance to contribute to peacebuilding in different fields and learn from different organizations. He said the programme allows fellows to see different organizations and help cross the divides. Thomas said he comes from an area of the United States that is very religious and grew up in a Southern Baptist Christian household, and that he definitely saw the work his church was doing in the world.
He said hearing the broad range of initiatives the churches are bringing together — fighting against racial discrimination, fighting against disinformation that might be related to vaccines or to climate change, fighting for peace, and fighting against environmental degradation, all in line with Christian values — was not something he saw growing up.
What to watch
The International Geneva Peace Fellowship Programme is a partnership between Interpeace and the Geneva Graduate Institute, with support of the Foundation for the Adaptation of International Geneva, and fosters the next generation of leadership in peace and humanitarian diplomacy. The WCC is based at the Ecumenical Centre, Kyoto Building, Chemin du Pommier 42, CH-1218 Le Grand-Saconnex, Switzerland, and invites the public to sign up to receive news and updates by email.
