'For Our Future': Global NGO launches landmark report advancing UN Pact for the Future
NEW YORK, Dec. 3, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- International Communities Organisation (ICO) has today launched its flagship report, For Our Future: Best Practice for the Implementation of the UN Pact for the Future, at the United Nations (UN) Headquarters in New York, presenting a practical framework to support UN Member States in advancing the ambitious objectives of the UN Pact for the Future.
The event was co-sponsored by the Permanent Mission of Bahrain, the Permanent Mission of Guyana, the Permanent Mission of Hungary, the Permanent Mission of Kuwait, the Permanent Mission of Samoa, the Permanent Mission of Singapore, the Permanent Mission of Tajikistan, and the Permanent Mission of Uganda.
The launch event brings together representatives from Member States, international organisations, and civil society, creating a dynamic multi-stakeholder platform for dialogue on progressing conflict resolution, sustainable peace, inclusive development, and minority rights protections, underscoring broad international support for the report's findings.
Founded in 2016 by James Holmes, with a mission to promote evidence-based, community-centred reconciliation and peacebuilding, ICO has sustained engagement with the UN for many years, holding Special Consultative Status with the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
The UN Pact for the Future marked a historic milestone, uniting Member States around an ambitious set of shared commitments – from advancing sustainable development and strengthening international peace and security, to transforming global governance so that it better serves historically marginalised communities.
While its adoption marks an important moment of global consensus, the real challenge now is translating the Pact's guiding principles into meaningful action.
Through its 'Best Practices' blueprint, the report distils ICO's nearly a decade of accumulated expertise into a structured, adaptable methodology designed to equip policymakers around the world with the tools they need to implement the Pact's goals effectively.
Drawing on its direct, on-the-ground engagement across regions such as the Middle East, Cameroon, Kosovo, and Cyprus, ICO has developed a distinctive, holistic approach to securing sustainable peace and minority rights that integrates high-level diplomacy with grassroots empowerment, ensuring that the voices of marginalised groups – including women, youth, ethnic and linguistic minority communities – remain central to both conflict resolution and long-term peacebuilding.
The organisation's work is guided and supported by its distinguished Ambassadors, including H.E. Abdulla Shahid, former President of the 76th United Nations General Assembly, and H.E. Ambassador Collen Vixen Kelapile, former President of the UN Economic and Social Council, both of whom bring unparalleled experience in multilateral diplomacy and international development.
Their work with ICO underscores the organisation's commitment to bridging global aspirations with practical, context-specific, and localised action, helping Member States and communities translate the Pact's ambitions into tangible, locally grounded progress.
The report offers actionable frameworks that empower governments, civil society, and local actors to confront the social, political, and economic drivers of conflict with confidence. It demonstrates how inclusive, adaptable, and evidence-based strategies can translate the aspirations of the UN Pact into practical measures while having regard for, and reflecting, the intricacies of diverse local contexts.
The report features a series of compelling case studies that highlight its innovative approach.
ICO has been active in facilitating behind the scenes dialogue in the Middle East region between parties who have held high office in an attempt to support the international community's efforts to find a lasting peaceful resolution and revitalise multilateral cooperation towards that goal.
Across Kosovo, extensive ICO engagement programmes illustrate how marginalised groups can actively participate in, influence, and improve governance through fora for non-majority representation and engagement with government institutions, while in Cyprus, ICO-facilitated projects have strengthened cross-community dialogue and inter-ethnic exchanges in historically divided settings.
In Cameroon, community-led initiatives demonstrate the power of inclusive economic development in delivering capacity reinforcement and capacity building in conflict-affected areas, supporting more inclusive, effective, and transparent governance. This widened participation through new and innovative programmes such as the creation of 'Gender Coordination Committees', within local councils, which brought previously marginalised and disenfranchised women and girls into formal decision-making spaces.
These cases reflect ICO's distinctive model: a careful balance of high-level diplomacy and grassroots inclusion, linking peacebuilding with economic revitalisation, and empowering local communities to address the root causes of conflict through sustained reconciliatory dialogue that had previously remained out of reach for many communities.
"The UN Pact for the Future calls for renewed unity in tackling humanity's greatest challenges. This report demonstrates that lasting peace is built not only at negotiation tables but through empowering communities themselves, ensuring that no group is left behind," said H.E. Abdulla Shahid, ICO International Ambassador and former President of the 76th United Nations General Assembly.
"As UN Secretary-General António Guterres noted at the opening of the 'Summit of the Future' in September 2024, '21st century challenges require 21st century solutions: frameworks that are networked and inclusive; and that draw on the expertise of all humanity.' ICO's report embodies this principle, showing how global aspirations can intersect with local action," he added.
Commenting on the launch, ICO Founder and Secretary General, James Holmes, said:
"Today's event at the UN Headquarters serves not only as the formal unveiling of a transformative report that offers expert insights and best practices for achieving the goals of the UN Pact, but also as a vital forum for continued multi-stakeholder dialogue on accelerating its implementation. It ensures that momentum is maintained, supported by regular accountability mechanisms to monitor and drive tangible progress toward delivering the Pact's objectives.
"Overall, by combining a bold global vision with practical local action, our report demonstrates how inclusive peacebuilding can transform aspirations for a better world into reality. It underscores the importance of sustained community support, deeper collaboration among governments, civil society, and international partners, and the renewal of a flagging multilateral system – providing a clear pathway for the UN Pact for the Future to move from principle to practice."
Note to Editors:
Further information regarding ICO Case Studies can be found on:
- Case study 1: Cameroon: Capacity Reinforcement Project to Anglophone Local Councils in the North-West and South-West regions (Page 11)
- Case study 2: Cyprus: Cross-Community dialogue and programmes (Page 14)
- Case study 3: Kosovo: Creation of the Forum for Non-Majority Communities (Page 16)
- Case study 4: Middle East – Israel and Palestine: Confidential peace agreement facilitation between former leaders (Page 20)
About the International Communities Organisation (ICO)
International Communities Organisation (ICO) is a London-based international organisation with ECOSOC (United Nations Economic and Social Council) consultative status working for peace and reconciliation in divided conflict affected areas with a specific focus on minority rights.
ICO is independent, neutral and dedicated to the protection of human rights and to giving a voice to those who need it. Through the belief that communities can come together and achieve peace, based not on one group's views prevailing over another, but by constructing a shared vision for a better future. In order to achieve these goals, we know that they cannot be imposed from above and that only communities themselves can determine what peace looks like to them.
PDF: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2837661/ICO_For_Our_Future_Report.pdf
PDF: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2837660/ICO_For_Our_Future_Summary.pdf
SOURCE International Communities Organisation (ICO)
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