2025 IofC Annual Lecture and Trustbuilding Awards
Watch the Livestream recording from our highlight event of the year and join us in celebrating Trustbuilding!
Initiatives of Change South Africa and IofC International are excited to present the 2025 Annual Lecture and Trustbuilding Awards ceremony that took place on 12 November at 12:00pm UTC / GMT at the University of South Africa, in Pretoria, under the theme
Personal to Global: Trustbuilding and Healing Begins at Home
This third edition of the event included
- Inspiring contributions from distinguished guests as part of the IofC Annual Lecture.
- Celebration of three Trustbuilding Award winners
- Launch of a National Campaign and a sustained movement focused on family and community healing though trustbuilding, forgiveness, and reconciliation by IofC South Africa.
Celebrate with us the distinguished winners of the 2025 Trustbuilding awards!
Puppets World [Jordan] - is an organization dedicated to global leadership in edutainment, utilizing interactive puppet theater, engaging workshops, and innovative projects to discuss cultural, emotional, social, and environmental issues, while promoting diversity and inclusivity. It uses puppetry and storytelling to bridge divides among children from diverse backgrounds, including refugees, children with disabilities and marginalized communities.
As Jordan’s first-of-its-kind initiative, we aim to captivate young minds, ensuring every child feels seen, heard, and empowered. Learn more about the winners at puppetsworldjo.com.
Arbe Bonaya Godana [Kenya] - is a passionate community leader, peace advocate, and founder of Nutokuma CBO, a grassroots organization dedicated to promoting culture, gender equity, youth empowerment, and peaceful coexistence in Northern Kenya.
Born and raised in Forole, Marsabit County, Arbe hails from the Gabra community, a pastoralist society rich in tradition but historically marginalized economically, socially, and affected by recurring inter-community conflict. From her earliest days in the village classroom, Arbe saw education not just as personal liberation, but as a tool to uplift her entire community.
Driven by this vision, she founded Nutokuma CBO to confront the systemic challenges women and youth face, including cultural discrimination, gender-based violence, and the effects of climate change. One of Nutokuma’s recent milestones was organizing a powerful African Child Day celebration, which combined advocacy for children’s right to education with acts of compassion, providing basic school supplies to vulnerable students while promoting peace and unity.
Niketu Iralu [India/ Nagaland] - Niketu's has been a voice of moral and spiritual authority and of sanity in a region that has seen great strife and violence. People of every conceivable group, generation and across every boundary trust, respect and turn to him. The part of South Asia - an area of amazing ethnic diversity, but also known for conflict - that Niketu Iralu belongs to, is Nagaland in the Northeast region where India, China, Myanmar converge. Niketu's people belong to the Tibeto-Burmese family of tribes.
"Kerunyu Ki" or "house of listening" - Niketu and his wife Christine's home for the last many years - is the go-to place where all kinds of people turn up to reflect, seek hope, inspiration, encouragement, wisdom and strength for the very difficult situations they come from, knowing that they will be heard, and their pain will be shared.
From the mid-1950s Niketu, who will turn 90 this year, served selflessly on every continent with Moral Re-Armament/Initiatives of Change. While reaching out to humanity, he also remained committed to his own people, their aspirations and identity, and true to his convictions and his conscience.
Revenge-seeking, hatred, prejudice are issues that he has addressed. “Change hate and you change history” – says Niketu, and that is what he has been attempting to do for much of his life.
Niketu, while sharing the struggles of his own people, has also believed that speaking the truth to one’s own side, confronting one's own mistakes, is essential for healing deep divisions, helping build bridges with the “other”.
In an interview with an Assamese daily Amar Asom, Niketu said: "Soon after joining MRA, I came across Gandhi's My Experiments with Truth. I couldn't put it down... I saw that Marxism, though monumentally important for understanding the injustices of history, to change those injustices it needed to include the changing of human nature in its program.
I was deeply challenged by Gandhi's definition of his position: 'The still small voice is the only tyrant to whom I bend my knees' - is the missing factors in revolutions of the left and the right."
Use the links below to learn everything about the event!
MEET OUR DISTINGUISHED SPEAKERS
Prof Sibusiso Vil-Nkomo
Short Bio
Professor Vil-Nkomo was Public Service Commissioner under President Nelson Mandela. He is a member of the Academy of Science in South Africa and the South African Association of Public Management and Administration which has established the Annual Prof Sibusiso Vil-Nkomo Lecture.
He is Chairperson of South Africa's Agricultural Research Council (ARC), Deputy Chairperson of the Water Research Commission (WRC), and Board Member of Subtropico Pty, Ltd, and Chairperson of the Board of Governors of the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection (MISTRA).
From 2011-2012 he was a J William Fulbright Research Scholar in the Department of Economics at Fordham University in the US as well as a Fellow of the Fordham School of Business Consortium in New York City. He is a former member of the Executive of the University of Pretoria and Dean of the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences.
Prof Vil-Nkomo is a member of the Board of Advisors for the School of Public Policy and Administration at the University of Delaware in the US, is a Senior Research Fellow at the Foundation for Energy and Environment (FREE) in Delaware, US. and serves on the Editorial Board of the Servant Leadership Journal Published at Gonzaga University.
Ginn Fourie and Letlapa Mphahlele
Short Bios
Ginn and Letlapa form an unlikely pair: a black atheist man and a white Christian woman. One has suffered directly from actions of the other, but both have been victims - and risen beyond their pain. What brings them together is a profound story of tragedy and hope.
They set up the Lyndi Fourie Foundation in 2003 to further reconciliation in in post-Apartheid South Africa. It is named after Ginn's daughter, Lyndi, who was killed at the Heidelberg Tavern Massacre in December 1993, organized by Letlapa, four months before the first free and fair democratic elections in South Africa.
Ginn trained as a physiotherapist and has practiced and enjoyed the profession, culminating in 18 years of teaching at UCT's Faculty of Health Sciences. She took early retirement in July 2003 to dedicate her time and passion her daughter's memory and legacy, by setting up the Lyndi Fourie Foundation, with Letlapa as co-founder.
Ginn explains how mercy was the only possible exit from her tunnel of grief. 'I define forgiveness as a process in which you take a principled decision to give up your justifiable right to revenge.' 'Forgiveness is part of moving from victim to survivor to wounded healer.'
Letlapa is the former leader of the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania and member of South Africa Parliament. Back in 1993 he was Director of Operations of APLA (Azanian Peoples Liberation Army) during #Apartheid and ordered the Heidelberg Tavern Massacre in Cape Town, a reprisal attack in response to the killing of black school children.
He is currently actively committed to healing and reconciliation work with ex-combatants and victims of violence in all groups in post-apartheid South Africa.
He is a published poet and philosopher. His autobiography, 'A Child of this Soil - the journey of a Freedom Fighter', tells his story of armed struggle and exile. 'Matlalela - The Flood is Coming' is a book of his poignant poetry.
‘Getting to know Ginn has been a profound and humbling experience for me. From our first meeting in 2002, Ginn understood me. While others couldn’t understand why these terrorists were still unapologetic, Ginn said that she detected remorse in me.’
‘I have changed since that time and I no longer believe you should meet violence with violence. ... My mission now is to reach out to those who survived, because by meeting together we are able to restore each other’s humanity.’
Beyond Forgiving
The award-winning film ‘Beyond Forgiving’, an Initiatives of Change production, tells the inspiring story of forgiveness and reconciliation between Ginn and Letlapa and their journey to bring healing to their country.
The trailer of the film, 'Beyond Forgiving', can be watched on YouTube.
Cleopadia 'Cleo' Mohlaodi
Short Bio
Cleopadia 'Cleo' Mohlaodi is a community builder, facilitator, coordinator and programme manager with over 15 years of experience driving personal and social transformation in South Africa and beyond. Her work with Initiatives of Change has positioned her as an influential leader in peacebuilding, inner healing, and leadership development.
Cleo has spearheaded impactful initiatives such as youth development camps, the Creators of Peace and Trustbuilding programmers, empowering hundreds of men, women, and youth to heal, grow, and lead positive change in their communities. She is known for her warm, fun, engaging facilitation style and her ability to create safe, inclusive spaces where people can reflect, connect, and discover new possibilities.
With a rich background in education, Information Technology, business, trauma response, community work — and fluent in several South African languages — Cleo bridges cultures and inspires action. Her passion lies in equipping individuals to transform personal pain into purpose, and to build communities (especially families) rooted in peace, justice, development and shared humanity.
Dr. Rica Viljoen
Short Bio
Dr. Rica Viljoen is a well-known executive, author, researcher and facilitator who specializes in integral theory and spiral dynamics.
Due to her contributions, Rica received the prestigious CEO award from the Institute of People Management (IPM), both nationally and internationally. She was further recognized by the South African Board of People Practices for her contribution to the field of study. She is an associate with the Da Vinci School for Business Leadership and Regenesys University. She supervised more than 100 PhDs and Masters Studies.
Apart from her academic endeavours, Rica was the founder member of Mandala Consulting a respected organization dedicated to organizational development and research. She worked closely with the late dr. Don Beck and dr. Loraine Laubscher on geo-political trends and their impact on individuals and the organizations they belong too. She established the Centre of Human Emergence: Africa and has become an international recognized thought leader in spiral dynamics and integral research.
Rica consults to organizations in relation to Inclusivity, Culture and strategic HR issues. She is a sought after Jungian and Integral Executive Coach. Her purpose in life is to listen to untold stories and facilitate healing.
At the 2025 Annual Lecture and Trustbuilding Awards Ceremony, Dr. Rica Viljoen will represent one of our key event partners - World Peace Forum and their own event that will take place during 13-16 November in Cape Town, South Africa.
Learn More
An initiative dedicated to strengthening families, promoting inner healing, and nurturing healthy relationships — building the foundation for resilient and compassionate communities
The family in South Africa has been in freefall for decades, leaving children deprived of a healthy childhood and no cohesive national initiative to address this. The impact is measured in compromised morality and growing community disintegration.
After seven years of listening to the pain and trauma of broken people and their families during Inner Healing workshops, Initiatives of Change realized that a national, non-political campaign, backed by resources, to focus on the inner healing of individuals and the renewing of family life is needed.
Join us on 12 November as we launch the National Family Healing Campaign and learn more!
Event Organizing Team
Event Partners
We are looking forward to a successful partnership and collaboration with
the Fetzer Institute, Guerrand-Hermès Foundation for Peace, World Peace Forum, Building Bridges for Peace and IofC South Africa.
Event Partners
