Naga peace activist Niketu Iralu has been conferred the Initiatives of Change (IofC) 2025 Lifetime Achiever Award at the Initiatives of Change Annual Lecture and Trustbuilding Awards Ceremony held on November 12 at the University of South Africa, Pretoria.
The event was organised by Initiatives of Change International and hosted by IofC South Africa under the theme “Personal to Global: Trustbuilding and Healing Begins at Home.”
In his acceptance message, Iralu expressed appreciation for the recognition, recalling his first encounter with the ideas of Initiatives of Change—then known as Moral Re-Armament—during his university years at Madras Christian College in 1955. He said he was captivated by its aim “to remake the world by accepting the needed changes in oneself.”
Iralu said he realised the greatest service he could render to his people was to dedicate his life to God for guidance and transformation. “With trepidation, yet with clear conviction, I decided I would do what I felt needed to be done in the crisis that had started to divide my people, not looking for success or recognition,” he stated.
Highlighting the complexity of the region, Iralu said Northeast India, bordered by China (Tibet), Myanmar and Bangladesh, is home to about 220 tribes and ethnic nationalities whose aspirations often overlap across boundaries drawn by the British without their knowledge. He cautioned that unless stability for common good is created, “the killing fields of Southeast Asia could extend into our whole region.”
He said efforts in trustbuilding were beginning to take root and that nurturing this trust was key to addressing shared crises. “Our work has taught us that restitution and reconciliation become possible when we go beyond seeing only where others have hurt us, and are ready to see where we too may have provoked them,” he said.
The IofC Awards aim to recognise and promote individuals and organisations working to build trust and create a better world.
A resident of Zubza in Kohima district, Iralu is a veteran peacebuilder who has spent decades fostering reconciliation across political and ethnic divisions in Northeast India through personal transformation and relationship building.
Speaking to Nagaland Post, Initiatives of Change member Robert N. Solo expressed disappointment that Iralu could not attend the ceremony due to a visa denial. He said, “It is disheartening that a man awarded by the world was denied a visa. This lifetime achievement recognises over 40 years of his dedicated work for change.”
Initiatives of Change is a global network committed to building trust across divides through personal change and reconciliation.