For 22 years Rotary International has sponsored post-graduate education of more than 1,700 people in peace building and conflict resolution in 140 countries.
These Rotary Peace Fellows have founded their own organizations or serve as leaders in governments, nongovernmental agencies, education and research
institutions, peacekeeping and law enforcement agencies, media and the arts, and international organizations such as the United Nations and the World Bank.
They are improving the lives of refugees and displaced persons, young people, women and children, and those affected by conflict and poverty.
They are doing that through mediation, diplomacy, racial justice, human rights law, gender-based violence prevention, youth protection, healthcare access, economic development, environmental conservation, and disaster response and more.
To administer this Peace Fellowships program Rotary has developed partnerships with renowned universities that host the Rotary Peace Centers in the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, Argentina, Australia, Sweden, Uganda and now, as of this month, Turkey.
Among the wide range of global causes it supports, The Rotary Foundation – with funds donated by Rotary members worldwide -- allocates $5 million every year to the Rotary Peace Fellowship program, in the belief that today's Rotary Scholars will be tomorrow's community and world leaders.
Each year 50 fellows are sponsored to participate in a master’s program of 15 to 24 months. It is intended for those who are in the earlier stages of their careers in peace and development.
Another 80 fellows are sponsored to participate in a one-year postgraduate certificate program of 11 weeks at one of the universities. This program is intended for mid-career peace and development leaders with at least five years of relevant work experience.
Every year, many thousands of candidates apply for these 130 post-graduate study opportunities. They are trying to make life better for their own people or those in other countries. Whether they could be accommodated by the program, or not, the courage and vision of these people, some risking their lives is inspiring.
FOUR EXAMPLES, OUT OF 1,700, OF ROTARY PEACE FELLOWS AT WORK IN THE WORLD
One Fellow, a Canadian, is Head of Emergency Operations for International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said the knowledge he had gained from my peace and conflict studies was essential in the work of analyzing disaster situations and designing initiatives.
Another Fellow had a dream to support rural areas in Colombia by resolving the social conflict in that country by improving the quality of life of farmers and, in turn, to achieve a more responsible use of nature and the ecosystem services it provides. She aimed to contribute to the development of projects that would spur economic and social recovery in areas that sorely needed it. Over 10 years she and the organization she founded with others have connected with 4,500 farmers. The Rotary Peace Fellowship started a chain of positive impacts which she has been able to continue and bring to the farmers. Rural people have gained access to knowledge and been trained in sustainable practices in very remote areas of Latin America. Some of the farmers have already been certified in existing sustainable standards. Without the Rotary Peace Centers program, this would not have been possible.
A Fellow from the Vancouver area applied her learning in Sierra Leone. On one occasion she mediated a dispute between blacksmiths and farmers in a rural village still recovering from civil war. She reached an agreement that resulted in improved food production, as well as community harmony. She also built networks and research expertise which contributed to enhance the ability of citizens in Sub-Saharan Africa to hold their governments to account for how they spend HIV/AIDS resources. Among various pursuits, she is teaching a course on the Politics of International Peacekeeping at the Surrey campus of Kwantlen Polytechnic University.
Having been chased with her family out of home and community in Zimbabwe another peace Fellow became acutely aware of how privileged she was to live safely in a more peaceful country after losing everything and being stripped of one’s identity. She has witnessed that those who were granted refugee status in various countries were often treated like criminals and had to endure further hardship. As an experienced educator she advocates for asylum seekers and refugees to help diffuse conflict and encourage peaceful solutions. She has a passion to help the millions of displaced children with education and tools to help them survive on their journey to secure a livelihood, if they're trapped in makeshift refugee settlements or even if they are not lucky to be resettled at all. Her focus on these disadvantaged children has been on building innovative education tools to help them directly as well as to help the world understand their plight.