A story about stepping into rooms full of hatred, asking for weapons to be left at the door, and what 25 years of peacemaking reveals about the conversations we have every day.

Violent conflict is at its highest point in decades. Antje has spent more than two decades facilitating dialogue between adversaries in Tunisia, the DRC, Ukraine, Yemen, the Caucasus, Indonesia, and beyond — working alongside the EU and the UN. Her research focuses on the blind spots in conflict work: what gets overlooked precisely when the stakes are highest.

At its heart, mediation is an act of intercultural dialogue — the art of speaking and listening across the deepest human differences. True intercultural dialogue doesn't begin with technique; it begins with the willingness to be changed by what you hear. Antje has spent her career in that space, and what she's learned there applies far beyond the negotiation room.

She shares what it took to ask armed men to leave their weapons at the door. She talks about the early mistake of trying to take emotion out of a room — and what she learned when nobody called her back. And she maps three blind spots in peace work: the illusion of neutrality, the obsession with process over relationship, and the pressure to reach a solution before the dialogue has done its work.

Her two drops for the rest of us: peace doesn't start in a negotiation room — it starts in how we show up. And the next time someone says something that stings, ask not what they said, but why.

🔗 LINKS & RESOURCES Antje's podcast:

Masterpeace

👤 ABOUT THE GUEST Antje Herrberg has spent over 25 years at the intersection of conflict mediation and political transition, facilitating dialogue between adversaries in some of the world's most complex conflicts. She has worked within and alongside the European Union and the United Nations, and her research focuses on the blind spots in conflict work — what gets overlooked in moments of tension and decision. She shares these insights through writing and her podcast, Masterpiece.

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The Hummingbird Collective is co-produced by the Caux Initiatives of Change Foundation, supported through Sarah Noble's participation in the Youth for Peace: UNESCO Intercultural Leadership Programme (2025–2026). Guests speak from their own experience and perspective, which may not reflect the views of the show or its partners.

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

What does it take to keep fighting when everything has been taken from you?

Over the past two decades, Afghanistan slowly built something new. Girls went to school. Women went to work. Women were elected to parliament. And then in 2021, it was erased. No school for girls. No work. No voice. Within hours of the Taliban's return, Afghan women broke open the locks of their schools anyway. They are still fighting today — inside Afghanistan and across Afghan communities in exile — and their fight sits at the frontline of the global struggle for women's and girls' rights.

This episode asks what that fight looks like from Geneva, from exile, from a late-night tram ride home from the library — when you realise you are safe, your daughters are safe, and more than 20 million women are not. It asks what intercultural solidarity actually requires. And it asks what it feels like — in your body — when your rights are taken away, and when they are given back.

Our guest is Bahishta Nothani. She grew up in Afghanistan under the Taliban, went to school in secret, and eventually made her way to Geneva where she became a dentist and co-founded the Afghanistan Women's Rights Association (AWRA). She speaks not from a distance but from lived experience — of what it means to have your rights stripped away, and to refuse to stop fighting regardless.

BE THE CHANGE

Talk about the situation of women and girls in Afghanistan — in your meetings, your gatherings, your everyday conversations. Wherever you are, whoever you are with. Bahishta's ask is simple: do not let the world look away. The energy of human beings, she says, is something no force can match. Keep the conversation going.

🔗 LINKS & RESOURCES

Afghanistan Women's Rights Association (AWRA): https://awra.ch/

👤 ABOUT THE GUEST Bahishta Nothani grew up in Afghanistan under the Taliban, where girls were forbidden from going to school. She went anyway — in secret, across borders, and at great personal risk. Evacuated and granted refugee status in Switzerland, she trained as a dentist in Geneva, learned French, and built a new life — one defined by the same refusal to give up that carried her through childhood. Today she is a mother of two and the co-founder of AWRA, which supports underground schools, health clinics, and shelters for thousands of women and children inside Afghanistan. She speaks not only from expertise, but from lived experience of what it means to have your rights taken away — and to keep fighting regardless.

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Five questions.Your responses help us understand what's shifting — and make the case for more stories like this one 👉https://forms.gle/mf8MVX3cUsqYECrL9

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Subscribe for more stories of everyday courage

The Hummingbird Collective is co-produced by the Caux Initiatives of Change Foundation, supported through Sarah Noble's participation in the Youth for Peace: UNESCO Intercultural Leadership Programme (2025–2026). Guests speak from their own experience and perspective, which may not reflect the views of the show or its partners.

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

A solo episode about one the most powerful tool any of us has — and why how we tell our stories determines whether people freeze or fly.

Stories aren't just entertainment. They're the original metaverse, ancient survival technology, and the difference between fear that contracts and hope that expands. When you hear a fact, two areas of your brain light up. When you hear a story, your whole brain activates through a process called neural coupling — you don't just listen to the hummingbird, you become the hummingbird.

This solo episode unpacks why storytelling matters for peace, what science says about emotional contagion, and how the way we frame a narrative can either shut people down or open them up. It's about asset framing vs. deficit framing, the danger of a single story, and what it means to tell stories for good — with care, consent, and dignity intact.

Sarah reflects on her work with the Peace Talks and the Caux Initiatives of Change Foundation, where people share real stories of trust, reconciliation, and ethical leadership across divides. Not institutions. Not policies. People. Because when someone stands up and tells a true story of rebuilding what was broken, something shifts: if they can do it, so can I.

This is not about naive optimism. It's about deliberate hope — the ability to imagine a different reality and believe it's possible. Fear freezes us. Hope is a survival instinct. And in a world drowning in doom, we get to choose what we amplify.

The bigger animals will always say the fire is too big and your wings are too small. Tell the story anyway.

🔗 LINKS & RESOURCES

Caux Initiatives of Change Foundation: https://www.caux.iofc.org

The Peace Talks: https://www.peacetalks.net/

SHARE YOUR REFLECTION Five questions. Your responses help us understand what's shifting — and make the case for more stories like this one. 👉 https://forms.gle/mf8MVX3cUsqYECrL9

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Share your drops of water: #HummingbirdCollective Subscribe for more stories of everyday courage. —

The Hummingbird Collective is co-produced by the Caux Initiatives of Change Foundation, supported through Sarah Noble's participation in the Youth for Peace: UNESCO Intercultural Leadership Programme (2025–2026).

Guests speak from their own experience and perspective, which may not reflect the views of the show or its partners.

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.