Building Global Resilience: A Geneva Vision for the World – Honoring Ambassador Theodor Winkler

Geneva, April 2025 – The Global Challenges Forum Foundation is pleased to announce the upcoming launch of Building Global Resilience: A Call to Action, a bold new book rooted in the values and legacy of International Geneva. The official launch honor Ambassador (Ret.) Theodor H. Winkler—celebrating a lifetime of visionary leadership in peacebuilding, democratic governance, and ethical global engagement.

A Geneva Book with a Global Mission

Authored by Dr. Walter Christman, Building Global Resilience is the result of over a decade of international collaboration and multigenerational dialogue. The book’s call to action supports a Global Resilience Compact and its Covenant of Mutual Obligation—a shared ethical framework for cooperation across borders, generations, and institutions.  It will officially launch on 21 September 2025, the UN Day for International Peace.

Drawing on the legacy of Denis de Rougemont, the renowned Genevan philosopher and federalist, the book advances the concepts of Connected Sovereignty and Reciprocal Freedom as the foundation for reimagining leadership in a world of mounting complexity. Offering a practical and values-driven roadmap, it outlines a strategic blueprint for the 21st century rooted in:

• Knowledge Curation – Making meaning out of complexity
• Connectivism – Linking people, institutions, and ideas
• Action Learning – Turning insight into transformation

Honoring the Legacy of Ambassador Winkler

Ambassador Winkler’s decades of public service—including his leadership of the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF) and his role as a senior advisor to the Swiss government—have left a lasting mark on the global conversation around foresight, security sector reform, and democratic resilience. His influence is woven throughout the pages of this book, which stands as both tribute and continuation of his work.

From Geneva’s Origins to a Global Initiative

The journey that led to this book began next to the Alabama Room of Geneva’s City Hall on the UN International Day of Peace in2009, during the initial organizational meeting of what would become the Global Challenges Forum—an event organized by Ambassador Winkler. This dialogue continued with the 2010 launch of the Global Challenges Forum at the Château de Coppet on the UN International Day for Tolerance, where Chinese Ambassador He Yafei delivered a landmark inaugural speech calling for a “new global partnership.”

These foundational moments led to the Geneva Declaration of 2015, co-developed with the UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), which commissioned Dr. Christman to lead a Global Resilience Readiness Initiative. That initiative culminates now in this publication and in a set of ambitious, interlinked programs spearheaded by the Global Challenges Forum Foundation:

• The Global Resilience Consortium
  www.globalresilienceconsortium.org
• One Million Youth Leaders for Sustainable Development Beyond 2030
  www.1M2030.org
• The forthcoming Global Resilience University, launching in Delhi, India on 2 October 2025, . the anniversary date of Mahatma Gandhi’s birth.  https://globalchallengesforumindia.org/

Looking Ahead

Building Global Resilience is both a reflection of Geneva’s enduring contribution to global ethics and a forward-looking call to action. It is written for policymakers, educators, and above all, for the next generation of global changemakers who must lead with courage, creativity, and conscience.