What does it mean to be a peace building club?
Our Rotary club board has agreed that our club will join the Rotary designation of a “peace building” (PB) club. What does that entail?
In 2012, the Rotary Action Group for Peace (RAGFP) was established within the larger Rotary family to encourage individuals and clubs become more effective at advancing the peace-related ideals of Rotary International. The RAGFP does this by connecting clubs and like-minded people with each other and sharing stories and examples of ways that peace is being advanced through Rotary. In 2018, RAGFP developed the PB club program to
enhance Rotary International’s mission of, “advancing world understanding, goodwill and peace” through the promotion of programs and projects that align with our organization’s Seven Areas of Focus – in particular, the first: Peace, Conflict Prevention and Conflict Resolution.
RAGFP, and the PB club program, implicitly recognize that peace is an integral part of the mission and purpose of Rotary International, and that it runs through all of Rotary’s objects and purposes. While peace is one of Rotary’s specific objectives, peace also helps rectify all the other issues that Rotary seeks to better. Peace makes the eradication of disease more likely, development of communities more impactful, education more possible, and improving the environment more sustainable. Peace and the objects of Rotary are not separate and distinct from each other, but rather cross-cutting and intertwined. RAGFP and PB clubs are designed to emphasize this wholistic and interconnected nature of peace within Rotary.
Requirements to become a Peacebuilding club
The requirements to become a PB club are relatively simple, requiring more a statement of intentionality than a new commitment to accomplish many specific new activities. It requires clubs to want to learn more about their peacebuilding potential, understand peace in a broader context both within their communities and the world, and want to become more aware of how peace can leverage the other ideals of Rotary. To date, approximately 10 of over 40 clubs in District 7080 have signed a statement confirming their intent to promote peace in some way more explicitly.
The requirements to become a PB club laid out by the 7080 District Peace Committee, chaired by PDG Kathi Dick, are as follows:
- Form a Peace Committee – Dennis Yanke and Lowell Ewert will be the inaugural committee members;
- Involve youth in some way – as you are aware from our Allocations, most of the projects we fund are youth-related to some extent;
- Plus choose at least two of the following:
- Integrate peace into a club service project and/or partner with groups outside of Rotary – our involvement with restoring the Rotary Peace Park at RIM Park is one example that fits this criteria;
- Submit a prospective candidate for a Rotary Peace Fellowship;
- Participate in peace projects [or related events] with other clubs – our club recently participated in a 5-club event featuring Police Chief Mark Crowell, a great example of what this criteria might mean;
- Join the Rotary Action Group for Peace (strongly recommended); and
- And notify the 7080 District Peace Committee of intention to be a PB club.
As you can see, our club well fits the criteria and our hope is that we will continue to understand our peace role and potential during these interesting days.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact Dennis or Lowell.