The role of rotary clubs in post-conflict peace building: A case of Northern Uganda, 2006-2010

Abstract

This research set out with the overall objective to find out the Peace building experience of Rotary clubs in Northern Uganda between 2006 and 2010, so as to identify their contributions in post-conflict Peace building processes. Through the Reflective Peace Practice (RPP) analytical framework, the research set out to present an insight into Rotary clubs’ post-conflict Peace building interventions in the districts of Gulu, Kitgum, Lira and Pader. The study was premised on the theoretical framework of Rotary’s outline of international service that identified the paths to peace as: Patriotism, Conciliation, Freedom, Progress, Justice, Sacrifice, and Loyalty.

Research findings indicate that Rotary clubs’ Peace building projects in Northern Uganda operated on three generic premises: the improvement of health, alleviation of poverty, and education support. Two Theories of Change (ToC) thus emerged: ToC (1): “If we provide social services and encourage economic empowerment, then this will reduce conflict at the domestic level resulting in building peace in the community.” ToC (2): “If we provide the services that the people are demanding for, then we would contribute to a reduction in the tensions in the communities and reduce on an apparent feeling of abandonment by the people and thereby, decrease on the possibilities of people rising up in arms against the sitting government.” It was notable that the more people impact strategy as identifiably undertaken by Rotary clubs was hampered by challenges such as: the eroded core values of the people owing to life in IDP camps, the beneficiary non-ownership of Rotary projects, the difficulty in recruitment and maintenance of Rotary clubs’ membership as well as limited funding.

The research concludes that Rotary clubs’ approaches in Peace building were worth emulating, ultimately calling for the possibility of imitating the PolioPlus model in combating the epidemic of violence around the world.