Rotary has a long history of peacemaking. PDG Chris Offer was the club’s speaker on Dec. 10th. He explained how Rotary is using the Positive Peace model to assist clubs and districts to expand their peacebuilding capacity.
Negative Peace is the absence of violence or fear of violence. It is used as the definition of peace to create the Global Peace Index —the world’s leading measure of national peacefulness.
Positive Peace is defined as the attitudes, institutions, & structures that, when strengthened, lead to a more peaceful society. Positive Peace describes an optimum environment for human potential to flourish.
Positive Peace is not only associated with higher levels of peace, but it is also associated with stronger macroeconomic performance, as the factors that sustain highly peaceful societies also provide a framework for robust economic development.
He compared Rotary’s six areas of focus to the eight pillars of Positive Peace.
Our speaker outlined Rotary’s rich 99-year history of peacebuilding and collaboration with the UN and Rotary’s new strategic partnership with the Institute for Economics and Peace.
District 5040 was one of the sponsoring partners for a large Rotary Global Grant in Colombia to support peace initiatives. He talked about his participation in a project fair in Cartagena that celebrated the success of the positive peace projects in Colombia.
He concluded with an invitation for Rotarians to take the free Rotary Positive Peace Academy online training www.RotaryPeaceAcademy.org and to look for local and international service project opportunities to build peace using the Positive Peace model.
.jpg) |  |
 |  |
 |  |
 |  |