The purpose of the RAGFP Education Mission is for the Rotarian Action Group for Peace board to learn about the various aspects of the conflict by respectfully listening to and learning without judgment from engaged citizens as well as leaders on both sides to hear their perspectives on the current status and the future of the peace process. 

This educational mission is set to establish a citizen diplomacy approach to conflict where people are learning from people. The group will meet Israeli and Palestinian Rotarians to hear from them about the current challenges and how RAGFP can assist them to advance understanding, goodwill and peace on the ground.

This mission is not to show an affiliation to any group or party. It is simply to identify and collaborate with peacebuilder Rotarians, Rotaractors and Rotary Peace Fellows in the region who can advance peace on the ground. 

By Eve Conway, March 4, 2019, Rotary International

The launch of the Indus Peace Park Project comes at a time when tensions between the two neighbours have been heightened over the disputed region of Kashmir. The project is designed to bring the peoples of Pakistan and India closer together in harmony. The aim is to create an international peace park on the border of India and Pakistan by August 2022 to promote lasting peace, goodwill and collaboration and to put a stop to loss of life across the border. The Indus Peace Park Project is an initiative being led and supported by Rotary members from around the world, including leading Rotarians in India and Pakistan who were behind the start of the project.

By Summer Lewis, February 22, 2019, Published in Rotary International

When you think about peace, do you think about actions, like how peace is lived and practiced? Are you seeing images of violence and war and thinking peace is the “opposite” of that? Actually, there is no one right way to define peace. There are many ways to work towards it. That’s why Rotary has partnered with the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) to lead the conversation to define what peace is (and isn’t), how peace is measured, and how peace is practiced. IEP is an independent think tank and leader in the study of peace and conflict, dedicated to providing research and tools to help shift the paradigm of peace by making it a tangible and concrete measure of human well-being and progress.

By Keri B. Lynch, February 19, 2019, Published in Rotary International

In 2011, Kiran Singh Sirah turned 35 — “halfway through our life’s journey,” he says, citing Dante’s Divine Comedy. The UK native had been living in Edinburgh and Glasgow for a decade, working on a variety of cultural endeavors. “I felt I had done everything I needed to do and learn in Scotland. It was time to take my experiences and move them to the next level.” That’s when Sirah heard about the Rotary Peace Fellowship. Since the program began in 2002, more than 1,200 peace fellows have received fully funded scholarships to study at one of six peace centers at universities around the world. 

February 19, 2019, Published in EmpowermentSquared

Join Empowerment Squared and partners, including the Rotary Club of Hamilton, for a public conversation with 2011 Nobel Peace Laureate Leymah Gbowee - peace activist, social worker and women’s rights advocate. She is best known for leading a nonviolent movement that brought together Christian and Muslim women to play a pivotal role in ending Liberia’s devastating, fourteen-year civil war. This historic achievement paved the way for the election of Africa’s first female head of state, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. 

By Reem Ghunaim and Mike Green, February 13, 2019, Published in Rotary International

We launched our Peacebuilder Clubs Program at the Rotary International Convention in Toronto. Peacebuilder Clubs were pioneered eight years ago by past Rotarian Action Group for Peace (RAGFP) Board Member and Past District 5100 Governor Mike Caruso as a way of building support for the six Rotary Peace Centers around the world. With the support of RAGFP, District 5100 registered 21 Peacebuilder Clubs in Oregon and Washington, USA. Last year our RAGFP leadership team was determined to champion this program in Rotary clubs worldwide as an essential call to action for Rotarian peacebuilders.