For a moment, the silence felt unfamiliar, almost intrusive, after days of reading voices that carried loss, urgency, and a quiet insistence on dignity. As a programme officer, I am trained to evaluate: to assess feasibility, impact, sustainability. To remain structured, fair, and consistent. But this year, the task resisted neat frameworks.

The international landscape is going through one of the most critical and turbulent periods in our recent history. We are witnessing a deep fragmentation of the global system, where multilateralism and diplomacy appear to be retreating at an alarming pace.

For Michael Mounzatela, dialogue has never been abstract. In the Central African Republic, where years of conflict, displacement and mistrust have strained relations between communities, the journalist has worked with colleagues to challenge hate speech, counter rumours and support social cohesion across religious lines.

Hani Dawah, Deputy to the Senior Media Counsellor of the Grand Mufti of Egypt, was leading a training session for media students when a young participant raised his hand and asked a question that would shape his life over the next 10 years.

"Why are we afraid of people who are different from us before even knowing them?"

First in-person training of the 2026 Fellows Programme convenes global practitioners in Addis Ababa, home of the African Union