IKV Pax Christi
A Vigorous Peace Movement

 

Despite its being fresh from the drawing board, the new IKV Pax Christi partnership already has a long history. For some time now IKV and Pax Christi have worked together during the annual Peace Week. The two peace movements also regularly joined forces during other events. Moreover, they both work in the same way: they both always start by looking for local partners working on peace in areas experiencing conflict. As you can see, the new partnership did not appear out of the blue.

 

The first steps toward merger were set in 2004. Straw polls of IKV and Pax Christi show that both organisations have garnered sufficient support for the new partnership. Moreover, interviews with important stakeholders, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, show that the outside world shares this view.

 

In 2005 it became clear that the inclination to work together was taking a firm shape. A more thorough assessment followed the brief review. After confirmation that closer ties would produce only advantages, IKV and Pax Christi signed a declaration of intent regarding the partnership. The majority of Pax Christi's members also supported this declaration.

 

In 2006 it was decided to combine forces in a joint work organisation. This became the IKV Pax Christi Partnership Foundation. The new partnership will operate as a single organisation in implementing peace programmes on behalf of Pax Christi and IKV. It will have one Supervisory Council and one Management Board.

 

IKV's and Pax Christi's physical integration be completed in 2007. From the very first day in January the two largest peace movements in the Netherlands began operating as one organisation and, of course, there will be only one combined history in the books and this history will have as many peaks and valleys as there were in the dozens of years that the two organisations operated independently.

 

Several 'old' peaks attained by IKV and Pax Christi are found in separate historical surveys. You can see a more succinct or a longer version. The following links show the way:

 

History of IKV: A bird's-eye view or with extra background info.

History of Pax Christi: A bird's-eye view or with extra background info.