FOURTEEN (14) Rotary clubs in Davao City belonging to Rotary International District 3860 Area 2 opened Rotary Week 2025 with a photo exhibit last Sunday, February 16, 2025, at Abreeza Mall.
This is Rotary’s way of also celebrating National Arts Month — a creative display of how Rotarians live their lives according to their motto of “Service Above Self.” Because community service is also an art, a form of self-expression and co-creation of a peaceful community.
The Rotary Club of Downtown Davao (RCDD) was the lead club for the photo exhibit opening that showcased the different ways the 14 clubs make a difference in the lives of Davaoeños. There were 14 sintra boards mounted on easel stands representing each club. Each of the boards showed pictures of Davao Rotarians in action with their partners in service and the beneficiaries of their service projects.
The service projects of Rotarians around the world revolve around the seven areas of focus of Rotary International: (1) peacebuilding and conflict resolution; (2) disease prevention and treatment; (3) water, sanitation, and hygiene; (4) maternal and child health; (5) basic education and literacy; (6) community economic development; and (7) environment.
Rotary Week in Davao City is being celebrated every February to coincide with Peace and Conflict Resolution Month. The week-long event will run from February 16-22 with a Peace Forum on February 21.
Rotarians have a long history of promoting peace and working to address the underlying causes of conflict in communities around the world.
This focus on peace started during the 1914 Rotary Convention when Rotarians from Hamilton, Ontario, Canada proposed that Rotary “lends its influence to the maintenance of peace among the nations of the world.” The resolution was adopted just weeks before Europe became engulfed in World War I.
With memories of the great war fresh in their minds, the Rotarians who attended the 1921 convention in Edinburgh, Scotland, amended Rotary’s constitution to include the goal of ”to aid in the advancement of international peace and goodwill through a fellowship of business and professional men (and later women) of all nations united in the Rotary ideal of service.”
In 1934, Rotarians from Nashville, Tennessee, USA organized a program to encourage and foster international understanding. The program brought together prominent authors, economists, scientists, politicians, and commentators to discuss issues such as the economy, world peace, and scientific advances. This idea came to be known as Institutes of International Understanding and it was well received by Rotarians, and adopted by many Rotary clubs around the world.
During World War II, Rotarians looked for ways to create a stable and peaceful world. So during the 1940 convention, delegates adopted a statement entitled, “Rotary Amid World Conflict.” The statement emphasized that “where freedom, justice, truth, sanctity of the pledged word, and respect for human rights do not exist, Rotary cannot live nor its ideal prevail.”
Then Rotary International President Walter D. Head remarked that there must be a better way to settle international differences than violence and called on Rotarians to find it.
Rotary was present at the start of the United Nations (UN) in 1945. It was one of the 42 organizations invited to serve as consultants to the US delegation to the UN Conference on International Organization, commonly known as the UN Charter Conference, in San Francisco, California, USA. Many Rotarians and honorary members from around the world attended the same conference as members of and consultants to their respective nations’ delegations.
Today, Rotary International holds the highest consultative status offered to a nongovernmental organization by the UN’s Economic and Social Council (UNESCO). The Rotary Representative Network, established in 1991, maintains and furthers this relationship with several UN bodies, programs, and agencies.
Rotary founder Paul Harris believes that understanding among people of different nations will lessen the likelihood of friction among nations. This inspired the creation of scholarships of graduate study funded by the Rotary Foundation in 1947. Upon the founder’s death, the scholarship program became the Paul Harris Foundation Fellowships for Advanced Study. It later evolved as the Ambassadorial Scholarships, encouraging international graduate students to become peace ambassadors.
In 1990, the Trustees of the Rotary Foundation broadened the program and changed the name to Rotary Peace Programs. In 1999, Rotary created the Rotary Peace Centers program that provided scholarships to Rotary Peace Fellows enrolled in established peace programs at existing universities located around the world.
The goal is to develop world leaders who become catalysts for peace in local communities and on the global stage. They study the causes of conflict and build practical skills exploring innovative solutions to real-world problems in areas such as human rights, international relations, and global health and development.
Davao City is proud to have Davaoeña peacemaker and peacebuilder, Irene Morada Santiago, serving as one of the lecturers and mentors at the Rotary Peace Center based in Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand for 14 years.
It is the dream of Davaoeño Rotarians to have a Rotary Peace Center or something similar here in Davao City because they believe we have so much to contribute to finding innovative solutions to social problems that will help resolve violent conflicts. After all, we are the gateway to the Bangsamoro region and the Davao region used to have the highest concentration of communist guerrilla fronts before it was declared “insurgency-free.” Imagine the wealth of experience and depth of reflection Rotary Peace Fellows can get from Davaoeños and Mindanawons.
For Davaoeños who want to join Rotary, there are 14 Davao-based clubs you can reach out to. Under Area 2A are the Rotary Clubs of Davao; Davao 2000; North Davao; and South Davao. Under Area 2B are Rotary Clubs of Buhangin Davao; Matina Davao; Sta. Ana Davao; Toril Davao; and Waling-Waling Davao. Under Area 2C are: Rotary Clubs of Downtown Davao; Calinan Davao; Central Davao; East Davao; and West Davao.
Davao Rotarians are part of a global network of more than 1.2 million people who belong to more than 45,000 clubs around the world working together for world peace. ###
