February is a special month for Rotary because it includes the anniversary of the first Rotary meeting on February 23, 1905, which is now known as World Understanding and Peace Day.

One of the seven areas of Rotary focus is peacebuilding and conflict prevention and, in this month, we celebrate our commitment to build peace and mitigate conflict. Rotary has a long history of seeing peace-making and conflict resolution as central to its mission and identity.

We began a bold new chapter in 1999 with the creation of Rotary Peace Centres. This innovative program continues to merge a strong, academic understanding of the roots of conflict with practical tactics for solving real-world problems.

As a humanitarian organization, peace is a cornerstone of our mission. We believe when people work to create peace in their communities, that change can have a global effect. By carrying out service projects and supporting peace fellowships and scholarships, our members take action to address the underlying causes of conflict, including poverty, discrimination, ethnic tension, lack of access to education, and unequal distribution of resources.

Today, over 70 million people are displaced as a result of conflict, violence, persecution, and human rights violations. Half of them are children. We refuse to accept conflict as a way of life. Rotary projects such as ARCoM, the African Rotary Community Mediation, provide training to Community mediators that fosters understanding and provides communities with the skills to resolve conflicts.