ROTARY SERVICE and ENGAGEMENT

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Rotary Service and Engagement news

February, 2020

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Creating a more peaceful world

Through service projects, peace fellowships, and scholarships, our members are addressing underlying causes of conflict, including poverty, inequality, ethnic tension, poor access to education, and unequal distribution of resources.

During February, which is Rotary’s Peacebuilding and Conflict Prevention Month, you can build peace and mitigate conflict:

Incorporate conflict resolution and mediation into service projects that involve local schools, orphanages, workplaces, and community centers.
Support groups that are at risk of violence or persecution by providing relief to those who have fled areas of conflict.
Participate in fellowship and service activities with Rotary clubs in other parts of the world to promote greater international understanding.
Recruit candidates for a Rotary Peace Fellowship. Up to 100 peace fellowships are offered each year at Rotary Peace Centers at universities around the world.
Support your district’s participation in the Rotary Youth Exchange program, which sends students ages 15 to 19 abroad to live in another culture and build international bridges.
Join your district’s Rotary Friendship Exchange program to experience service, fellowship, or a profession in a different country while making new friends and fostering international awareness.
Start an Intercountry Committee: a network of clubs or districts in two or more countries that strengthens global goodwill and service.

Below are some resources to help you get started.

Take action

Bring your project ideas to life with guidance from a Rotary Action Group:

The Rotarian Action Group for Peace gives Rotary members resources and support to advance world peace and turn ambitious ideas into life-changing realities.
The Rotarian Action Group for Family Safety: Breaking the Family Violence Cycle helps clubs and districts implement programs and projects that aim to stop domestic violence.
The Rotarian Action Group Against Slavery supports anti-slavery and anti-trafficking projects, programs, and campaigns.

Get support for your initiatives from these partners, too:

The Institute for Economics and Peace, an independent think tank, helps Rotarians, Rotaractors, and Rotary alumni address the causes of conflict and create conditions that foster peace. Use IEP’s Rotary Peace Academy — a free, online learning platform that includes interactive lessons and tools — to learn how to apply new peacebuilding methods and mobilize communities to address underlying causes of conflict. Learn more and contact the Rotary-IEP coordinator to get involved
Mediators Beyond Borders International works with clubs, districts, and Rotary alumni to build a more stable future by improving a community’s capacity to heal from conflict, reconcile differences, and prevent the escalation of issues. MBBI trains Rotarians, Rotaractors, and alumni to be peace facilitators and project leaders who can assist clubs with community assessments and peace projects and connect them with peacebuilding resources. Learn more (PDF) and contact MBBI to get involved.
Peace Corps provides opportunities for Rotary and Rotaract clubs to work alongside U.S. Peace Corps volunteers, training in humanitarian development to empower communities and connect them to resources that can brighten their future. By working together on water and sanitation, economic and community development, or basic education and literacy projects, Rotarians, Rotaractors, and Peace Corps volunteers lay the foundation for peace, stability, and prosperity. Read the Rotary-Peace Corps partnership fact sheet and inspirational stories of Rotary members who have been affected by the partnership.

Join the conversation in a peace-related discussion group and post your club’s completed project on Rotary Showcase.

Building Positive Peace in Venezuela

Through real statistics, Positive Peace helps identify the factors that make societies peaceful, prosperous, and resilient. As a professor of law, Mauricio R. Pernía-Reyes, president of the Rotary Club of San Cristóbal Metropolitano in Táchira, Venezuela, saw this as an opportunity to use data and tested procedures to start building Positive Peace in his community.