CFOR's purpose

CFOR believes that together we have the capacity to meet the conflicts and changes we face in our societies. Each individual, organisation and community makes a difference, and contributes to perpetuating and falling into cycles of conflict, or to conflict resolution and creative change.

Our tendency to just go silent, to think it’s nothing to do with us, or to be easily polarized, by our personal and collective histories and loyalties can lead to cycles of hopelessness in organisations and communities and manipulation into violent conflict. We are all too easily swept up into disinformation campaigns designed to polarize us further. Interactions can be facilitated within community just at the point communication usually breaks down or escalates. These are points where conflict repeats and escalates, but also points of potential transformation and extraordinary deepening of contact.

With this kind of awareness, people recognise their own participation and leadership, and are not so easily susceptible or swept away into dramatic polarizations and wide scale violence. There is a chance to connect to something beyond our differences, able to facilitate all points of view and experiences and discover that our diversity in multi-cultural societies can lead us to a creative future. These experiences make a difference in building creative collaborations, and leadership potential across sectors of society.