It’s often said that charity begins at home, but what if the same could be said for global peace? This question will bring together 26 speakers from 17 countries for a one-day virtual event exploring how cycles of violence begin and how they can be broken by zooming in on where we live, love, and raise each other.
South Africa (15 October 2025) – What if the peace our world so desperately needs can start with each of us, right where we live, love, and raise our families? This is the radical question that will unite 26 speakers from 17 countries in a one-day virtual gathering.
South Africa’s Ela Gandhi, peace activist and former South African MP, and Refilwe Mokoena, Head of the Child Safety & Protection Programme at the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund, will join the dynamic group of speakers from around the world at the inaugural Peace Begins at Home Summit taking place on 29 October 2025.
SA Powerhouses on the Peace Front
Born at the historic Phoenix Settlement in Inanda, South Africa, Ela Gandhi is a renowned peace activist, former Member of Parliament, and granddaughter of Mahatma Gandhi. She devoted over 20 years to child welfare and career education and was a key anti-apartheid activist, serving under house arrest and banning orders from 1973–1982. Today, she chairs the Gandhi Development Trust, Phoenix Settlement Trust, and Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Trust.
Refilwe Mokoena is a development leader with more than 16 years of experience advancing social impact across Africa, Latin America, and Asia. She leads initiatives that strengthen child protection systems in homes, schools, and communities—environments where children live, learn, and play.
Global Experts to Unpack the Impacts of Home Environments
Produced by the Centre for Partnership Systems and inspired by cultural historian Dr Riane Eisler’s Partnership vs. Domination framework, the Summit will reframe peace not as a distant ideal, but as a systems challenge that starts where we live, love, and raise each other: in the home.
The Peace Begins at Home Summit unites global leaders through keynotes, survivor stories, TED-style talks, Indigenous wisdom, and neuroscience to show how patterns of domination learned at home ripple into classrooms, courtrooms, boardrooms, and even war zones.
At a time of rising authoritarianism, climate crises, and lost hope, the Summit combines lived testimony, research, and practical solutions to reclaim a culture of partnership.
Insights from the day will be captured in a Peace Begins at Home Handbook, which will be shared worldwide to drive action and impact far beyond the Summit.
Key themes that will guide the day include: Family and Childhood, Gender Relationships, Economics and Care, Media and Culture, War and Conflict, and Nature and Environment. These meaningful conversations and presentations will culminate in a Solutions Showcase of practical initiatives that can be adopted globally, followed by Voices of the Future, a youth-led segment calling peers and leaders to urgent, actionable partnership.
“This summit is not just about ending violence. It’s about reimagining systems, from families to nations, where partnership, not domination, defines our relationships,” shares Dr Eisler.
Full details and registration are available at: www.peacebeginsathomesummit.org
Sources: Supplied
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