Rotary Community Heroes of Hope
Introducing "Rotary Community Heroes of Hope" - a podcast dedicated to showcasing the profound impact of Rotary in District 5330 and beyond. Join us as we explore the remarkable stories of rotary heroes and initiatives that are transforming communities and creating hope around the world.
Rotary Community Heroes of Hope
Episode 40 - Engaging Communities in Global Peace Efforts with Rotary
Discover the transformative power of the Rotary Peace Centers and the Rotary Peace Fellow Program as we sit down with Vicki Pullitz, past District Governor and Vice Chair of the Rotary Peace Centers Committee, and Peace Fellow Christina Chang. Vicki unravels the core elements of the Peace Centers, including notable partnerships with leading universities and the provision of fully funded master's and professional certificate scholarships. We discuss Rotary's expansive vision of sustainable peace, emphasizing the crucial role peace builders play in conflict resolution and community development. Christina shares her personal journey as a Peace Fellow, illustrating how the program empowers individuals to cultivate peace initiatives on both local and global scales.
Join us as we delve into why peace is more than just the absence of war, exploring how it begins at the family level and encompasses community development and mental health support. We highlight the Rotary Peace Activation programs, providing clubs with opportunities to engage with Peace Fellows and make a tangible impact. Vicki and Christina also offer a detailed look at the evolving Peace Fellow program, including its new one-year structure, application process, and eligibility criteria. With a focus on leadership potential and alignment with Rotary's mission, this episode is essential listening for anyone eager to contribute to global peace efforts through Rotary's initiatives.
Welcome to the Rotary Heroes of Hope podcast. I'm your host, judy Zolfakar, proudly serving as the current district governor for Rotary District 5330. Co-hosting with me is Jamie Zinn, our esteemed immediate past district governor. Heroes of Hope brings to light the remarkable stories of impact from Rotarians within our district. Our episodes shine a spotlight on transformative community projects taking root in our region and extend their reach to initiatives making waves on a global scale. Each story is a testament to the profound influence Rotarians exert on the lives of individuals and communities we are committed to serving. Join us in this inspiring journey. Dive deeper into the world of Rotary with us and witness firsthand the extraordinary ways in which Rotary touches lives, and witness firsthand the extraordinary ways in which Rotary touches lives and reshapes our world. Welcome to the Rotary Heroes of Hope podcast, where hope takes center stage and the heroes are the Rotarians among us, turning vision into action. Well, we are into our new year. Immediate past district governor, jamie, welcome to our Heroes of Hope podcast. How's it feel like being immediate past district governor?
Speaker 2:It's a great feeling. It was a fabulous journey and I'm excited about being here for you this year and supporting you in all your endeavors and seeing our district continue to move forward.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it is definitely a good journey. We were just talking about how amazing it is the process of being a district governor and to that we are very excited about the guests that we have here, also a past district governor and past zone director, vicki Pullitz, who is joining us, as well as a Peace Fellow, christina Chang. So, vicki, can you please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about why you're here this morning? Can you please introduce?
Speaker 3:yourself and tell us a little bit about why you're here this morning. Well, hello everyone, and thank you, judy and Jamie, for having me with you today. It's always a pleasure to be with you, to chat with you, and so, yes, it's fun. You know, the Rotary journey doesn't end right. There's no destination in our Rotary journeys, it's a continuous process. Destination in our Rotary journeys it's a continuous process. And so, after being Rotary International Director, I've now been appointed as Vice Chair of the Rotary Peace Centers Committee, and so I was mentioning that to Judy, and she thought it might be an interesting topic for everyone on the podcast, and so I'd love to tell you a little bit about the Rotary Peace Centers and our Rotary Peace Fellow Program, if I could.
Speaker 1:Well, we're happy to have you here so that you can do that. I really want to tell people about these peace centers. There's quite a few around the world. Jamie as well, I know that you were very involved with the Peace Fellows. Can you tell us a little bit about that before we have Vicki explain her role?
Speaker 2:Well, there are several of them around the world and, as a matter of fact, we have a new one that's opening this year and I'm sure Vicky is going to be in attendance over there. So, of course, our international president, stephanie Urchik, is very excited about having everybody go over there, and, if I'm not mistaken, it is in Turkey, correct, vicki? It is Istanbul. Yes, istanbul, yep. And so, with our Peace Fellows, that's one of the areas within our district that we're trying to increase the participation and have our clubs understand what it is. But with having Christine here today, she's going to really explain to us how exciting it is to be a Peace Fellow and how you can take that experience and bring it back to your community and really help move forward the issue of peace, because I think that people think that peace is strictly let's end the wars. That's not what peace is. Peace is a much greater faction than that. So I'm excited to hear what Vicki and Christine have to say and educate our folks here on the podcast and get them interested.
Speaker 3:So, vicki, take it away, ok. So I thought I'd provide just a little, maybe, background and foundation for the discussion, because you're really going to want to hear from Christina, and so I'll just give you a little bit of the background there. The Rotary Peace Centers are a key program of our Rotary Foundation and through the Peace Centers, the Rotary Peace Centers, we provide Rotary Peace Fellowships, which are fully funded scholarships, either master's degree or professional certificate scholarships, in partnership with renowned universities around the world, and I think, jamie, you mentioned there are a number of them. There are five universities for the master's degree program and now currently two for the professional certificate program, and that program continues to grow. So I think we'll see some additional certificate programs in the future.
Speaker 3:But let's start with why. I've told you a little bit about the what, but let's start with the why. And so the vision of the Rotary Peace Centers is sustainable peace, encompassing a network of peace builders and community leaders. So it includes Rotary members in our community as well, dedicated to preventing and resolving conflicts. So the Rotary Peace Fellow Program actually identifies and then helps develop, helps bring skilled peace builders to go out back out into their communities and back out into the world and to carry forward sustainable peace initiatives within our communities.
Speaker 3:And, if you think about it, peace really is a cornerstone of our Rotary organization, of our mission, and what I think is most interesting is that peace is not an abstract concept for Rotary members. As people of action, through our leadership and service, whether it's at the community level, through youth programs or in the international forum, really bringing peace through all of our club, our district and our zone initiatives, we help create peace through all of our activities, and peace and conflict resolution is one of our areas of focus, isn't it? And one of the significant ways that together we can create a lasting impact, create lasting change in the world. So the Peace Centers and the Rotary Peace Program is an incredible way that we can build peace. It started in 2002. And today we have over 1,700 peace fellows working around the world in 140 countries, bringing peace, building peace, creating peace and helping us be part of that. And so Christina Chang is one of those Peace Fellow graduates, and so I think it'd be great to hear from her at this point, if that works.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. Christina is joining us from Singapore. Christina, can you introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your journey as a Peace Fellow?
Speaker 4:Yes, thank you for this invitation to join you this evening. It's such a privilege to be here and I'm really excited to share a little bit about what it means to be a Peace Fellow. I actually fell into it by chance. I was invited to the International Peace Conference in Singapore, california, in 2016 by one of the rotary chairs and at that time I knew very little about the piecework that was being done by Rotary. I think it's the best kept secret in the world, and when I went there, I was absolutely astonished by the wealth and depth and the breadth of all the work that was being done by Rotary. And I said to the peace chair after I left the two days I said it's restored my hope in humanity, because it was.
Speaker 4:We saw, you know, not only the director of the peace corps, you know, to politicians. There was even a little nine-year-old Ethan from Australia, and he was advocating not only to his local community but to the Australian Defence Force to bring soccer balls, containers of them, to Afghanistan, and so these were amazing projects that Rotary was involved in, and I also got the opportunity to meet. You know, I had never known about. You know, people called Peace Fellows, but there were two speaking, and I was so impressed by what I heard, not just about the content, not just the type of work they were doing, but the heart and the sacrifices that were being made in the name of peace, and so this was in 2016.
Speaker 4:So I actually applied. Let me think six years later and, yeah, it was just such a privilege and so humbled to be chosen as a Peace Fellow. So I'm actually from the Chulalongkorn University, the Bangkok program. I'm one of the certificate, professional certificate recipients, and so we do a shortened course. It's a three month program compared to the master's, which is a two years. However, for us, because we're in the middle of COVID, and so we had the opportunity to have a two year you know, two year fellowship together with my cohort.
Speaker 1:Oh wonderful, and tell us about what that fellowship was like and how many were in your cohort, if you remember, yeah so we had a really unusual experience because I'm class 32.
Speaker 4:Yeah, so we had a really unusual experience because I'm class 32 and, because of COVID, two classes were brought together, so it was a unique opportunity to have up to 35 countries together in one room. And so when we met each other for the first time after being on Zoom for the last two years, it was like finding your tribe of like-minded people. You know, it's like we all go through certain challenges in the work that we do and many of the times when we're on the field, we get to witness certain human rights violations and atrocities and traumas, and it's very difficult to be able to share that with the normal person off the street. But suddenly you find yourself in this huge family, the tribe, as I mentioned, and we're able to share professional practice and learn from the best professional practice, because Rotary was so generous in flying in practitioners and experts from all around the world for us to be able to have conversations and learn from every single week. So I would say it's a life-changing experience for all of us.
Speaker 2:So obviously you were in a classroom setting. Can you give us a little more idea about what types of things you did within the classroom setting? And then did you go out into the field and actually apply some of those things that you had learned or you know, or to gather more information to continue your journey of understanding?
Speaker 4:So I speak from the professional certificate cohorts because there's two types, as I mentioned. For us, because we tend the shortest term experience is five years, up to 20, 30 years experience in the field. So we're all in the professional practice already. It wasn't as theoretical as for the master's program. There was a lot more application and this sort of application, because it is a short three month period, you know, face-to-face, we had a lot of case studies and a lot of role play. You know get all sorts of practical applications.
Speaker 4:And then we actually went out to the field, to a different part of Thailand, in which we did a lot of analysis, a lot of conflict transformation work. And I think the most important thing is, you know, in that classroom it enabled the perspectives of many cultural and international perspectives, because I actually teach in the field of systems change and systems thinking in a Singapore university and one of the most important things is to be able to view the same situation from many diverse perspectives, because many times we can be very blinded and biased in our perception of what is right and what is wrong. And in the area of peace it's so important because, you know, it's not just from us as practitioners, we need to be able to view it from all the different domains.
Speaker 1:That is so true and that's such a big part of what we are in Rotary in general right the worldwide aspect and the way we have world teams that come back and forth between Rotary clubs in different parts of the country to get to know each other and to get to know that other perspective. It makes sense that it would carry forward in the peace program. From what you have learned in that program, where have you taken that in your practice now?
Speaker 4:One of the things which was very useful for all of us, because we tend to be very, we go very deep into our specific area, so I work in particularly in the area of conflict transformation, and so, you know, enabled us to during the period.
Speaker 4:There were many, many different disciplines of practice and so we were able to step outside our usual comfort zone and explore, you know, different areas and we can bring different sorts of disciplines. So for myself, I would never have said worked in, say, gender equality, you know, because I do a lot of work in, for example, in Myanmar, with some of the minority tribes there. Or, you know, we were able to leverage on each other's strengths and up to today, I graduated in 23, but we still maintain weekly, if not monthly, contact with many of the Peace Fellows and also the lecturers and teachers, because many times it's just a phone call away and we just text what do you think about this? And so we share a lot of the challenges. So it not only was the application, what was in the classroom, but it's a never ending journey of learning for all of us and being able to, you know, use the experiences that we shared.
Speaker 2:How would you encourage any of our podcast listeners to become involved in this program and to explain to them, or have them really understand, the importance of peace and continuing to develop that within your own community?
Speaker 4:I think that's one of the challenges, I would say. I've met some of the Rotary clubs in Singapore and also around the region and many times they're not so familiar with what we do as a Rotary Peace Fellow, with what we do as a Rotary Peace Fellow, and they seem to think, you know, we only get involved in very frontline sort of work, which we do, you know, whether it's the frontline of war in Myanmar or in Ukraine or wherever it is. But however, peace is a concept, as Vicky was speaking, it starts from the home. It starts from families and marriages and all of us. And so many times when we look at the International Peace Index, which is what we talk about, positive peace all the time, we're always thinking about, okay, how to strengthen the structures.
Speaker 4:But when we see developed countries, for example I live in Singapore and we have some of the, you know, in terms of economy and in terms of you know, some of the best education, healthcare in the world. But yet when we look at other factors, you know, if we look at, for example, mental health in children, mental health in youth, it's astonishing that the top countries in the world are correlated in terms of economy and positive peace. We also take the most antidepressants. So these are statistics that can be seen everywhere. So peace has to start from the you know, the family unit, you know from the very, and so I think it applies to everybody.
Speaker 4:And I think, for those you know, particularly in Rotary clubs, sometimes they see the work that we do is too far removed and how do we get involved? But now, with the peace activation programs which are going on all around the world by Rotary, I think it's an amazing initiative, an amazing way for any club to, you know, just say hey, you know, I'm interested to get involved. You know, can we meet up with some peace fellows? Throw around ideas. It's not necessarily to get involved in the particular projects that we're involved in, but, you know, all of us are so happy to share more as to what positive peace means and, you know, really start introducing this idea to both developed and developing countries.
Speaker 1:And that's why we're so excited that you're here today, because that's part of the podcast, and the reason and the why behind the podcast is to really get the word out, not only to our Rotarians in our clubs but also to our community. I mean, you're absolutely correct. I don't think that this message has gotten out, even in our clubs and definitely not in our communities, of the level of intricacies and what the level of the depth of the work that we're doing in this area around the world, district 5330,. We have done this for years. We sponsor a Peace Fellow every year. Can you walk us through who is eligible to become a Peace Fellow and kind of the process that it takes for someone to be considered?
Speaker 3:Great, I'd love to do that and Christina can weigh in on it. I'd also like to just tag on to what Christina was talking about and share that our Peace Fellow program evolves as our needs change, as our cultures and our societies change, and, talking about the certificate program that Christina was talking about, it is now a one-year program, as opposed to the three-month program that she participated in. It is now a one-year program where it's 10 weeks at the university, at the Peace Center, at either currently either Macquarie, which is in Uganda, or the new Peace Center for Professional Development that'll be in Istanbul, where the Rotary Peace Centers are looking for an additional site in Asia, and it looks like that's narrowed down to a site in Korea and India at this point in time, and so that will be something that's announced later. What I wanted to bring forward, though, is the fact that it's 10 weeks in person at the Peace Center, and then there's actually nine months where the Peace Fellow initiates a social change initiative in their home country oh wow. And then they come back and they overlap with next year's cohort and have an opportunity to share what they learned. You know they have the initial benefit of coming to the Peace Center, having the interaction with this network from other parts of the world, sharing those ideas, maybe getting some skills and some new perspectives, and then going back implementing a social change initiative in their own country and then coming back and reporting on what happened with that.
Speaker 3:So, from a Rotarian standpoint, I think this is an incredible payoff, if you will, for our investment in Peace Fellows to have something being done right away with the support of the Peace Fellow program and then the Peace Fellows being able to move on from there. So going back to how do people apply and who are people that should apply, I'm so glad you asked that question because I think we have a great responsibility and opportunity to be reaching out in our own communities for people who would be excellent Rotary Peace Fellows. And so the application process is done online. The applications open in February and close on May 15th, so that's the application period. From my recent experience of reading these applications, which was quite an inspiring experience and I think, christina, you also were a reader of the applications we had 1,500 applications this year, so you can see that it is great, it's a very generous scholarship and so it's very attractive for people.
Speaker 3:Master's degree program, you would expect at least three years in some sort of peace building or development work, english proficient. That you have a bachelor's degree, let's see. The application process also includes a professional reference and an academic reference. There are four essay questions that tie to what is your passion in peace. It helps to highlight leadership potential of the applicants. It helps to identify the alignment of that individual and their passions with the Rotary Foundation and with Rotary, with our mission of peace and understanding. And so that's the evaluation process. This year they also included a two-minute video, which I found to be extremely helpful to get a really better sense of the person beyond the words on the paper, beyond the application itself and being able to see that person share themselves on video, which was a wonderful process. And so, through that for the certificate program, the average age I'll just share that.
Speaker 3:The average age of the master's degree program is about 33 years of age, so it's really targeted at people maybe at the beginning of their career in peace, if you will. The certificate program is geared more towards professionals, people who are already working in the field, and so typically you'd want at least five years of progressive experience working in the peace field, again, proficient in English. Again, that's a shorter commitment of being away from your regular life, and so it opens that up for people who are working professionals. They certainly still need some flexibility to be able to participate fully in the program. Average age there, I believe, is about 40. And so it's a little different process, and part of that evaluation is that social change initiative that I mentioned. That's part of the application that you identify what that social change initiative that I mentioned. That's part of the application that you identify what that social change initiative is and how you would go about doing that. And so from that process, the applications are reviewed by staff to make sure they meet the requirements.
Speaker 3:One of the other requirements is that you're not able to be currently enrolled in any sort of an academic program and that there's at least three years from your graduation from whatever academic program you completed, whether it's bachelor's or some of our applicants actually have an additional master's degree as well, and so people who are passionate about peace and who want to expand their own skills are passionate about peace and who want to expand their own skills get further support, both academically, but maybe even more importantly and Christina alluded to this that network of people that you meet through the Rotary Peace Fellowship Program, because we're bringing people from all around the world together, particularly in the master's degree programs.
Speaker 3:Currently, in the certificate program, about 70 to 80 percent of the people who are in, for instance, uganda are from Africa and 20 to 30 percent are from other areas, but they have a particular connection or reason why a peace center in Africa is interesting to them, the same for Istanbul, and so that's the Middle East, north Africa, mena. They call it M-E-N-A and it's so again, 70 to 80% would be people from that region and 20 to 30% would be people from other parts of the world, but have a particular connection to peace building in that Middle East North Africa region.
Speaker 1:And that one in Istanbul is the one that's opening in February, correct?
Speaker 3:It is correct, that will be the first class. That'll be great.
Speaker 1:Another question do you have to be a Rotarian to apply for a Peace Fellow?
Speaker 3:In fact you cannot be a Rotarian to apply for a Peace Fellow and this has to do, I believe, with our US Internal Revenue Service laws that you cannot benefit from an organization.
Speaker 3:So our Rotary Foundation is headquartered in North America, although there are other Rotary Foundation offices in other parts of the world. So Rotarians are not eligible to apply. So we're looking for people who are not Rotarians. Rotaractors can apply as long as they are not also Rotarians, and direct descendants of Rotarians are also not eligible to apply. But that's you know. There's a lot more people out in this world who we'd love to bring into our Rotary family through the Rotary Peace Fellows and then, after the fellowship is completed, certainly we would want Rotary Peace Fellows to stay in contact and continue to be part of Rotary and even to join Rotary. It would be just a natural progression. It seems that's one of the things that Christina and I connected over when we met in Singapore at the Rotary International Convention is a desire to provide more opportunities for Rotary Peace Fellows and Rotary Clubs to connect and to see how we can increase our capacity for building peace in the world by working together.
Speaker 1:That's a great point.
Speaker 2:Well, you know, and here within our own district, we have the E-Club of World Peace which you know. Not only do they have now their singular meeting, they've extended it out and they have two meetings to bring in, you know, russia and these other countries that they're trying to help build the peace in. So I think that you know we have a great start and a great nucleus right here with people who would be interested to join that particular club or to get more information about being a peace fellow and have that club. You know supporting them, as well as our Solutions for Peace Foundation, which I don't think a lot of people know about. But we continue to work with getting Peace Fellows and working with other clubs, not only here in our district but throughout the world. So some great resources for people here right in our district.
Speaker 1:And this is again why we want to tell this story because we want more Rotarians to understand about this opportunity and what we're doing in the world and in our district, but also for non-Rotarians to be aware of this area that we're serving and the opportunity for them to participate. So, as we wrap this up, I'm going to start with you, christina. What would you say to Rotarians or non-Rotarians out there to help promote this program, and what final thoughts might you leave us with with regards to being a Peace Fellow?
Speaker 4:My first thought would be please use us. And I think we have all the Rotary Peace Fellows around the world, at least for the two classes that I was directly involved with. We want to help. We want to help because we want to give back. It's just been such an enormous generosity that we've been afforded by Rotary International and whether it's just to share the work we do or help you with a positive piece activation program, we'd love to just reach out to any of you. Sometimes it's a little bit difficult for us because when I reach out to, we'd love to just reach out to any of you. Sometimes it's a little bit difficult for us because when I reach out to, we reach out to. Sometimes they say, oh, you know, we don't have any money for you, but that's not why we're reaching out, necessarily, you know, and they don't quite know what to do with us. So please, you know, use us in whatever capacity. You know we're here to partner and to collaborate with everyone. And once again, you know, yeah, I think it's really important.
Speaker 4:Everything that Rotary is doing, you know the world needs to know more about it, more advocacy, more awareness of the work. I think Rotarians know it so well and you guys, you know, I was at the Singapore conference this year and that was my first Rotary. I had been to the peace conference, but this was the Rotary conference and when I walked around the stands I left and I was just. It took me a few days just to process everything that I had heard and seen and all the Rotarians who had stopped by the fellowship booth. You know, there's just. I think the best is yet to be. So please, keep on doing this great work and we're so happy to partner you.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much, Vicki. Any final thoughts?
Speaker 3:Well, just that. If you look at the news or you are aware of what's happening in the world, the world needs Rotary now more than ever before. The world needs anything we can do to help build peace, now more than ever before. And this is such an incredible program and there are 1,699 people just like Christina out there that we can connect with that we have invested in through our generous donations by Rotarians and other donors. Let's make the most of it. Let's make the most of it. So I think that becoming more aware of the program and you can certainly learn more by going to rotaryorg and searching Peace Fellow Program or Peace Centers the more we can learn about this, become aware of it and connect with each other, the more good we can do, and I certainly think that is needed now more than ever before.
Speaker 2:Absolutely yes, it's been great. Thank you so much, both of you, for being here today and sharing with our audience. And again, as you said, Vicki, we can reach out to rotaryorg searching Peace Fellows or Peace Centers, and, of course, you can reach out to district5330.org and we have information out there as well. So if you're in the you know, greater Southern California area or Inland Empire area, reach out to us here as well and we would love to get you connected up, wouldn't we, Judy?
Speaker 1:We would absolutely Thank you, ladies, for joining us today. Thank you for coming to us from all the way from Singapore. We are honored to have you here and we hope you have a wonderful rest of your day or night. Thanks, so much, bye-bye.
Speaker 1:So that wraps up this episode of Heroes of Hope. We are so happy that we have an audience out there listening. We want you to subscribe, share and tell your friends about the Rotary Community Heroes of Hope, because that's how we get the word out about the impact we're having in this world.