FAQ

We don’t see ourselves as a NGO, although there are many similarities. We function independently from any government. We are also independent from any religious or political view, in order to operate and connect freely. MasterPeace is registered as a Foundation in the Netherlands, which means that we work ‘not for profit’, although we don’t like this terminology; we aim for social profits. Our salaries are also closer to the NGO standards than to the corporate world. Actually our salaries are even lower than the average western NGO is providing its employees.  

Major differences with the average NGO are: we work with another financing structure, another work attitude and another ‘starting point’. MasterPeace and its Clubs didn’t start because a pot of money was available, which is a starting point for many NGOs, but as an initiative of social entrepreneurship. A vast group of people (among others the founder and managing director) started MasterPeace by investing a lot of time, passion, knowledge and sometimes even private money voluntary, without any guarantee for success or future income and only social profits. We aim to cover our costs with mainly (in kind) sponsoring and donations by funds or normal people as you. In 2011 less than 40% will be covered by governmental subsidies. The working attitude can be compared with the business sector too: no 9 to 5 mentality and a constant aim for as much professionalism as possible.  

To cover the basic budget we mainly work with the involvement of Founding Partners who donate at least 75.000 Euros per year each. For more information on the Founding Partners click here.

No, not at all. We use a very strict code of conduct on the acceptance of donations, that will be shared with you on request. Bottom-line: we don’t collaborate with companies known for or related to weapon export or weapon production, money laundry, child labor or other violations of human rights or destruction of the environment. In case of doubt we are allowed to involve the research department of our Founding Partner the Triodos Bank. 

By June 2011 we had 5 employees at our Central Office in Cairo (Egypt), constantly supported by 6 interns and volunteers and the same amount of employees and interns at our EU Office in Utrecht (Netherlands). At the offices of our Founding Partners one employee is appointed to support MasterPeace part-time. At the offices of our media partners, a.o. Mortierbrigade, Wefilm and WvH Communication, there are also part-time employees working on MasterPeace. Of course we soon expect a gradual growth of the teams in Cairo and Utrecht.

In the Middle East we have our Central Office in Cairo (Egypt) because this country has been active for decades to support peace and stability in the region and we hope it will continue to do so in the proximity of several old, possible or current conflicts. The country can also play a mayor role as chain between ‘west’ and ‘east’ in the coming years. With the help of these offices tasks and leadership of MasterPeace are equally shared by ‘east’ and ‘west’, to create a powerful combination of thoughts, (social, cultural and religious) background, experiences and network. 

Of course we do, co-creation is our goal. To name a few peace organizations within the current MasterPeace network: IKV Pax Christi/Pax Christi International, Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflicts (GPPAC), Desmond Tutu Peace Centre, Cordaid and Mayors for Peace. But there are more experienced peace organizations involved in developing MasterPeace and defining our messaging, as Founding and Collaborative Partners. Please have a look at the ever-growing list of Partners on our website. 

We can’t repeat enough that we are totally independent from any political opinion, government, NGO or religious background. Most of our activities aim to bring opposites together and we think you can’t do this properly if you team up with only one of those opinions. We feel attracted to dialogue and the idea that there’s always more than one truth.

We are focusing on 2020 at least for this MasterPeace journey. In that year we aim for a second apotheosis with a huge global peace concert in Hiroshima (Japan), 75 years after this city was destroyed by the A-bomb, 75 years after the end of the Second World War.

By 2014 then we expect millions of people worldwide to be actively involved in MasterPeace. MasterPeace Clubs will exist in almost all countries of the world, the International Day of Peace is known by the world’s majority and hopefully we can celebrate a treaty signed by the whole world to get rid of all nuclear arms. In order to make this happen we must start now and continue to work with dedication, hopefully supported by you and thousands of small and large activities. By 2015 we will evaluate to see if we are making enough progress. If yes, we will continue after 2014!

These countries and regions include: North/South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Colombia, Iraq, Israel/Palestine, Pakistan/India, Afghanistan, Kosovo/Balkan Area, North/South Korea, China/Xinjiang Area or Tibet, Russia/Chechnya, Turkey/Kurdish area, USA/Iran, Nigeria/Delta Region, Kenya, the ‘Horn of Africa’ (Ethiopia/Eritrea/Somalia ). Focus countries/areas might be changed in the coming years due to developments. Our content experts amongst the Founding and Collaborative Partners of MasterPeace will be actively involved in this decision. 

We selected these areas after consulting several content related partners, such as IKV Pax Christi and the Global Partnership for Prevention of Armed Conflicts (GPPAC), because these partners already work in these areas for years and are capable of judging how and if our work would add value or not.

Actually it didn’t. If you include our ‘home-country’ Egypt and realize that the ‘Kurdish area’ is also covering north-east Syria you can see that we already included 7 so called ‘MENA’ countries in our selection of focus areas. We’re not yet considering to add new MENA-countries, because we expect that most of the extreme turmoil in several countries will last for a maximum of two years. If not this could absolutely be a reason for changing the current selection of focus countries.

No, not at all. Before 2015 we aim to set up 200 MasterPeace Clubs in at least 50 countries all over the world. Those Clubs obtain permission to use name, logo and concept to locally mobilize people for peace-building initiatives, especially on the International Day of Peace. At the Central Office of MasterPeace in Cairo (Egypt) there is a special team working on starting these MasterPeace Clubs, supported by AIESEC interns and UN-Volunteers. We already have contact with potential organizers of MasterPeace initiatives in Uganda, South Africa, Iran, Georgia, Japan, Kenya, Colombia and many other countries. Please feel invited to join too by sending an email to clubs@masterpeace.org

 Egypt and especially Cairo (the largest city of Africa) will be the host for the MasterPeace Concert in 2014 and many other MasterPeace activities, so it’s logical and efficient to have the Central Office in this city. 

More important is the question: ‘why will so many important MasterPeace activities take place in Egypt?’

The first reason is that the Middle East and Northern Africa never hosted such a huge global peace-building event, while the many conflicts in this region make it a very logical home-ground for MasterPeace. Besides this, there’s very special bond existing between the Dutch MasterPeace founder Ilco van der Linde and the Egyptian Managing Director of MasterPeace Mohamed Helmy. In 2006 Ilco (as co-founder and global CEO of Dance4life) and Mohamed (as Dance4life project leader Egypt) first worked together during the development of dance4life, a global campaign raising awareness for HIV/Aids. In 2009 they started to develop MasterPeace. Since 2006 they share the opinion that Egypt will play a crucial role in developing the social, spiritual and economic collaboration between ‘east’ and ‘west’. In Egypt millions of modern, connected and educated young people like to play a role in developing a secular, democratic society with respect for its own values and history. If those young people feel invited they might inspire millions of other young people too, especially in countries that lack democratic developments. 

First of all we admire the guts of the young generation. They showed the world that social change is possible with dedication, perseverance and social media. The so called ‘Facebook-generation’ of Egypt (both Muslim and Coptic) was already forming the MasterPeace team in the Middle East since our preparations started in 2009. Several team members were among the first on the Tahrir Square. The developments in the MENA countries require our constant commitment, especially on difficult topics as dialogue and peace-building. General insecurity and all the challenges for young democracies will bring new tensions in the region. All peace-building energy needs constant support.

We believe that all parties in any conflict should at least always respect human rights. We also believe that violent interventions alone will never bring sustainable solutions. For the rest our stand is reflected in the first sentences of our Passion Statement: MUSIC above FIGTHING, DIALOGUE above JUDGMENT, BREAD above BOMBS, CREATION above DESTRUCTION.

We believe that non-violent ‘instruments’ (dialogue, music, art, positive energy, media attention), combined with a reduction of (nuclear) weaponry, increased involvement of the global civil society (instead of ignorance or indifference) and additional focus on common ground (‘bread’, as metaphor for the Millennium Development Goals) will create opportunities for positive contact between ‘opponents’. And only through contact we could find ways forward in each conflict.

We believe that the world has enough parties spreading harsh opinions and judgments already. Adding one more won’t be of much added value. Especially regarding the toughest conflicts, we need more parties who dare to build bridges between people instead of creating gaps. Parties who dare to say that there is always more than one truth and put contact above their own specific personal opinion. In addition, strong opinions on specific conflicts would make it harder to overcome those gaps and build these bridges. Bridge-building requires other priorities, such as a focus on dialogue, respect, common ground and inclusiveness (no judgements on specific groups).

Probably both parties would claim that this is the case, what in itself proves that we are clearly not choosing. But more important: we are not as much interested in governments as we are in people. Governments can change if people change and silent majorities raise their voices and get heard. If we stop to invest in contact, the exchange of ideas (innovation) will stop, trade will diminish, chances for improvement will get overruled by demonization. We believe that minds are like parachutes; they work better if they’re open.

Six months before our launch on the International Day of Peace (21 September 2011) a woman from South Caucasus (part of the Russia –Georgia confict) heard about MasterPeace and wrote to us:

‘I am living in a country heavily affected by conflicts and hardly anyone in the world seems to care. This was absolutely depressing me. Since I know about MasterPeace it gives me positive energy and now I like to get involved.’

We think this mail is the most important answer to this question. First of all we give thousands of people the motivating feeling that they are not alone and forgotten. This is really fulfilling a basic need. Without (social) media and the world’s involvement, the people on the Egyptian Tahrir Square would have never been that successful. Secondly MasterPeace is providing you simple, attractive options to get involved. It’s very easy to start a grass root MasterPeace Club and become an honored member of the global MasterPeace family. Next to this we developed our user friendly 2.0 platform on which you can easily start or support peace-building initiatives, locally or globally. It will bring like-minded people together, no matter social, cultural, religious or geographic ‘borders’. 

We will never claim that MasterPeace alone will bring peace. First of all, we need to strengthen and support the individuals and Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) who work for peace on the ground. MasterPeace aims to do this by recruiting new volunteers and funds for them, by showcasing their achievements through social media and providing other media attention.

Secondly the active involvement of companies and civil society – and their social media – could bring new partners ‘around the table’. For that reason MasterPeace is actively reaching out to them. We do this by providing them attractive Corporate Social Responsibity (CSR), action opportunities, and by rebranding ‘peace-building’ as something positive and modern. And last but not least, please don’t underestimate the decisive role artists and musicians can play in ‘social change’. Nelson Mandela often states how crucial songs, statements and concerts of artists were in breaking down the Apartheid system, just to give you one example. Involving more global and local artists in peace-building therefore is another added value MasterPeace can bring. If politicians, diplomats, media, civil society, companies, NGOs, artists and musicians will built new and strong coalitions a breakthrough in several peace processes could become reality. Therefore our slogan is “MasterPeace. Creating peace. Together”.

We believe these themes are hugely interrelated. Global heating is mainly the result of the lifestyle and economies in ‘the west’, while they hardly feel the consequences; it is mainly affecting the people who life in ‘global south’. Draught for instance will bring for them the destruction of eco-systems, new poverty and hunger. Peace-building on the other hand means emphasizing all values and concerns people share. It means that we actively try to connect people. And you can’t mobilize people to take care for the environment and reduce CO2 emission if they don’t feel any emphaty with people in other countries who are affected the most. Sustainability is much more than only acting ‘green’. It will never work without cultural and social sustainability. Togetherness and connectivity are a basic need, this also counts for the environment.

Having said this about our priorities: of course we aim to reduce our own CO2 emission as much as possible by compensating our fligts (via greenseats), preparing a low footprint event for 2014 and using accounts of our Founding Partner the Triodos Bank (awarded by the New York Times in 2009 as the most sustainable bank of the world).

Poverty reduction is extremely important for a safe and fair future to each and every person. The best way to reach this is by economic development and education. War, chaos and conflict are always bringing economic decline. Stability, peace and social cohesion are the economy’s best friends. Companies dare to invest, people dare to study and exchange ideas and governments dare to reduce their expenditures on weapons in order to invest in people and education. Thus we think the best way to help poverty reduction is to invest in stability, peace and social cohesion.

And you know what? There’s money enough in the world to feed and educate all. All governments together, including those of less developed countries, spend a yearly ever growing amount of dollars on weaponry. According to Stockholm International Peace Reseach Institute (SIPRI) research in 2010 showed that no less than 400 billion dollar is spend on weaponry. We shouldn’t accept this any longer. Nuclear weaponry alone costs the world till 2020 one trillion US Dollars. We need to come to a global mindshift so these millions will be invested differently. More about it in this article by Richard Branson: http://english.alrroya.com/content/trillion-dollar-question

Many governments already support treaties on arms control and a total ban on nuclear weapons, others consider joining. Many governments reduce their expenditures on weaponry, others consider to do so. Many NGOs aim to reach a nuclear weapon free world by 2020 or later, such as Global Zero, No Nukes (by IKV Pax Christi), Mayors for Peace. All these governments and NGOs will only be successful if they can get mass support by civil society: artists, musicians, sportsmen, cities, companies, normal people, you. So that’s why we decided to be that wind beneath their wings by putting our focus totally on mobilizing the MasterPeace movement. As soon as MasterPeace and its supporters are recognized as a strong movement of some millions of like-minded people in east and west support our case by 2014, our power will be great influential relevance!

Signing this statement means you understand that we can only achieve our goals if we all become actively involved in peace-building. We say MasterPeace is the ‘Just Do It’ Campaign for peace as peace-building is a verb. Your profile on the website allows you to share, support, like, see an ever growing amount of inspiring peace-building initiatives and artistic creations (virals, films, cartoons) and add yours, to obtain the support you need. Join this unique MasterPeace platform as soon as possible! This will also enable you to finally earn your invitation for the MasterPeace Concert in 2014.  

Tickets for the aimed MasterPeace Concert in 2014 are not for sale. If you become an active MasterPeace supporter you can earn your invitation. Subscribe the MasterPeace Statement by creating your profile on the MasterPeace website. MasterPeace will track your activities and you will earn points for each contribution you give or project you start. Now you are ready to gather your needed points by doing several supportive activities to finally receive your invitation. If all our preparations turn out to be successful you will be informed in 2014 how to have your invitation upgraded into a real ticket.

There are many ways that will provide you direct invitations. 1. If you get actively involved in setting up a MasterPeace Club and run peace projects helping your community 2. If you were successfully involved in one of the MasterPeace Educational Programs 3. If you develop a MasterPeace activity (a concert, dance event, art project, talkshow, sport event, all positive activities to promote (Master)Peace are welcome!) that is raising 2014 Euro to support all MasterPeace works in 2014 (including the Concert). See “2014 for 2014” Action  4. If you will travel as green and eye-catching as possible towards Cairo by 2014, you will also earn your invitation directly. Think about traveling by boat, horse, bike or feet, meanwhile reaching hundreds of thousands of people by blogs, Twitter and interviews; an inspiring MasterPeace this will be for you and many others! We expect above 10,000 of MasterPeace travelers doing this from all corners of the world. See “MasterPeace Journey – The Alchemist Alive”

The “Inspired by MasterPeace” logo is available for everyone to use. Partners who join the “2014 for 2014” action can obtain the same right. Founding partners of MasterPeace have their own logo and all other partners of MasterPeace, whether they are Funding, Collaborative, Media or Business Partner or Friend, obtain the right to use our special “Teaming up with MasterPeace” logo. Please send an e-mail to info@masterpeace.org to ask for the logo

First of all: subscribe the MasterPeace Statement and design your own MasterPeace Profile on our website. After this you can develop or support several peace-building activities, that will also provide you the opportunity to gather points to finally receive your invitation for the MasterPeace Concert in Cairo by 2014. More about the things you can do to earn this invitation you find under question 2 above.

Second of all: you can also support us by sharing all our news on your social media, following us on Twitter (MasterPeace2014), join us on Facebook (MasterPeace2014) or offer your service as a volunteer, intern, co-organizer or artist to the teams in The Netherlands or Egypt or in one of the areas/countries with a MasterPeace Club.

 At this moment we talk with more than fifty social entrepreneurs, artists and activists from several countries/areas around the world to set up a MasterPeace Club. At our Central Office in Cairo a small team is guiding all interested people. Here you can get a manual with guidelines and advises, including the first ten steps to start a MasterPeace Club. If you succeed in setting up 1 and 3 year plans and budgets you might obtain the license to officially start a club. So if you think you can do it: go for it and mail the expansion team (clubs@masterpeace.org).

MasterPeace Clubs have the ultimate freedom to design their own program to support (Master)Peace. Their members are in the position to decide what kind of activities can work in a certain area and this is also a principal choice: it starts with YOUR ideas and commitment.  Concerts, dance events, fundraising initiatives, art projects, talkshows, educational initiatives, dialogue initiatives, community projects, all is fine.

Having this said, we provide three general guidelines and one strong request : organize a celebration of the International Day of Peace, the 21st of September. The three general guidelines are: 1. use the four MasterPeace values (positivity, walk your talk, ownership, co-creation), 2. focus on dialogue, connection, bringing together of ‘opponents’ within your country/area and 3. use arts, music and social media as much as possible.

You don’t have to create a profile on our 2.0 platform. If you only want to read our texts, be our guests. But as soon as you like to actively share, support, develop and co-create a profile is needed. And by doing so you can earn your invitation for the MasterPeace Concert in 2014. So join and create the content of this website yourself!

As active Masterpeacer it’s no longer an issue if you’re the only peace-builder within your community, neither is your social, financial, religious or cultural background of any relevance. The MasterPeace platform provides you the opportunity to get connected globally with likeminded peace-builders. Start or show your own peace-building initiative, small or large, artistic or other; or like, share, support a peace-building initiatives of another MasterPeacer. Write songs or poems, design ads, posters or virals. Raise or donate funds, become a volunteer or recruit him or her for your initiative.