Rotary, and the Role of Rotary Peace

Fellows

Brief overview of the Rotary Peace Fellowship

The Peace Fellowship aims to identify and invest in peace-builders globally in order to:

• Empower

• Educate, and

• Increase capacity of peace-builders.

How does the Fellowship work?

• Choose one of six excellent universities (not in your home country) for Masters degree

• Professional training.

• There is also an ‘Applied Field Experience’ component for three months prior to writing the dissertation.

How does the Fellowship contribute to building peace?

• Build the skills needed for Peace Fellows to act as leaders and catalysts for peace and conflict resolution.

• Bringing professionals together to network and share experiences.

Who are Rotary Peace Fellows?

Who are the Peace Fellows? (cont.)

Class XII at University of Bradford:

• Country Representative for German Red Cross in Haiti

• A qualified medical doctor from Nigeria who has dedicated herself to public health promotion

• The first judge in India to preside over the new special courts in Bombay related to prosecution of sex trafficking cases.

Who am I? • Sharon Edington

• 31 years old (29 when I was a Fellow)

• Have worked in Papua New Guinea, Sierra Leone, Chile, Republic of Georgia, Palestine, Lebanon, Bosnia, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia and Kenya.

Why was I selected?

Professional Experience

Ministry of Education, Atacama Desert, Chile (6.5 months, 2006)

Youth Movement for Peace and Non-violence, Sierra Leone (3 months, 2007)

Deputy Project Manager, Agriculture sector, Papua New Guinea (4 years, 2007-2011)

ActionAid Palestine, West Bank (2 years, 2011 – 2013)

CARE International, Tbilisi, Georgia (2013)

Why was I selected? • Service to my community:

• Refugee support (2002 – 2011)

• Rotary support in Papua New Guinea

• Indigenous Australians (Aboriginals-Torres Strait)

• Leadership skills• Founded a charity• Professionally and personally

• Language skills • Some Spanish, plus very basic Arabic

• Public-speaking• Agency representative for ActionAid Palestine for the

Humanitarian Country Team Advocacy Group and the Association International Development Agency

Will I return Rotary’s investment?

Yes, I will.

• Made the most of the Fellowship through:

• Linkages

• Volunteer work

• Professional development

• Syria crisis refugee work in Beirut

• British Red Cross

• UNHCR placement in Sarajevo

• Shelterbox

Generally, do Peace Fellows really make a difference?

Yes

Example 1: Richelieu Marcel Allison

• Studied at University of Bradford, 2012 - 2013

• Has designed and obtained funding for a three-country project (Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea): Focuses on youth empowerment and engagement with government to enhance accountability

• Also Rich’s organisation ‘West Africa Youth Network’ is running the Nigerian component of a million dollar National Endowment for Democracy project running 2014 – 2015 (2 years)

Example 2: Gavin Raymond• New Zealander

• 11 years in the NZ army including in the Middle East

• Now works on security sector reform

• Transparency International’s Defense and Security team in the UK

• International Christian University Rotary Alumni from 2012

• Now a social entrepreneur, she founded and a month ago launched Refugees on Rails in Berlin – a coding school for refugees – initial intake of 49 students, with volunteer teachers and mentors.

Example 3: Anne Kjaer Riechert

Are Fellowships a good investment for Rotary?

• The Fellows already have strong experience so what is the point of the Fellowship?

• Most countries don’t have universities with strong peace programs (eg. Canada or developing countries)

• Bringing fellows together to form a network of people who will help each other advance Rotary’s goals.

Peace Fellowships

Supporting peace-builders to be the change you want to see in the world.