Speak up Project "Conversation For Peace"

From 24 May to 12 July 2025, IofC Indonesia hosted a Trust building program with the theme "Speak Up Project: Conversation for Peace."  This project aims to provide young leaders with a safe space to learn and listen to one another to create a new narrative that is a world that is hate-free, fear-free, and greed-free.

There were two circles, one was an online Conversation for 5 meetings between IofC Indonesia and the Philippines team. One participant said we have a lot in common, from corruption, injustice, and broken trust between the religious communities. Another said the conversation we had is so powerful and inspiring that it has connected us as human beings and that we shared similar problems and struggles to create a just world for all.

(Conversation between IofC Indonesia and the Philippines team)

The second circle was in Bandung, West Java, where the team had just launched their new centre, and we kicked off with this project. We had 7 meetings every Saturday for 2 hours. After completing the module with 5 meetings, there were 2 following actions to celebrate the moments we can finish the ANS module, one is by inviting others to join our lunch and share our learnings and reflections, called Botram (lunch) for Peace. Together, we had lunch on banana leaves as our plates.  

The last activity was the Human Library, where people who completed the module shared their story of transformation of new narratives publicly.

(Speakers of Human Libraries: Chintia, Hobbie, Jocaste, Fawwaz, and Huda as the moderaror)

Joe, A leader from Bandung, shared, "From that day, I gained the courage to tell people who I am and how I can be a voice for a new story that I needed to listen to other people and create a safe space and be free from judgments and intimidation."  

Another person said that the story of Leflapa and Jinn was the one that stayed in my heart, and I reflected on forgiveness. 

Writer : Miftahul Huda 

Editor : Ari Budi Santosa

Approval : Peter Heyes