History

Where we come from:
«exCHANGE FOR PEACE »

In 2008, CASPEA Foundation emerged from exCHANGE FOR PEACE, an association which stopped its activities after 7 years of commitment for peace promotion.

exCHANGE FOR PEACE was founded in 2002 by former Member of the Swiss Parliament Mr. Roland Wiederkehr. By doing so, he gave a frank statement against the so called “axis of evil”, heavily publicised during that time in international relations. From his own political experience he knew too well that there are people in every country who commit themselves to the promotion of non-violence and to peaceful coexistence. It was his aim to empower these people and to support them in striving to influence their home countries’ policies.

To reach this goal, every year 40 young peace promoters from conflicting or war-torn countries were invited to come together in Switzerland for two weeks of networking and knowledge enhancement. They had the chance to meet with international organisations based in Switzerland and committed themselves to capacity building for peace promotion.

Sport as an instrument for peace promotion was introduced during that time and developed to become the area of expertise. More and more specialized training modules could be offered.

exCHANGE FOR PEACE enjoyed great popularity and support all over Switzerland. Not only was the exCHANGE FOR PEACE patronage constituted out of high-class specialists and politicians, also for three years the forums were financed publicly by SDC (Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation).

We are happy to state that the friends and supporters of exCHANGE FOR PEACE remained loyal to its succeeding organisation, CASPEA Foundation.

CASPEA thanks all former friends, donors and supporters. Special thanks go to founder Roland Wiederkehr, who resigned from his presidency when transforming into CASPEA Foundation. Only with his personal commitment and his proactive idealism our today’s work can be done.

Thank you very much!