Story By ALISON SUTHERLAND

February is Peacebuilding and Conflict Prevention month in the Rotary calendar which coincides with a new approach for building peace.

The Rotary Action Group for Peace Chair, Michael Hayes and two other members, have been collaborating with fellow Rotarian Bridget Markwood and CEO of LeaderNu to develop an online Positive Peace Rotary Youth Leadership Award (RYLA).

The template for an online RYLA was developed by Bridget and her team based in the United States, as a response in 2019 to the Covid pandemic.

Despite the premise of RYLA being an in person, outdoor activity-based programme, the online RYLA was a great success and very well received.

The Positive Peace RYLA benefits from the expertise and technology know how of the LeaderNu team and the expertise of the Rotary Action Group for Peace team in rooting the programme based on the Eight Pillars of Peace developed by the Institute of Economics and Peace.

The programme will have two pilots in 2024, one in the USA and another ​covering Europe and Africa. The USA will target youth aged 18 plus, whilst the ​Europe/Africa pilot will target youth aged 14 to 18 years.

There will be 12 teams of ten young people, who will be assigned one of the 12 ​fictional countries. They will need to assess and resolve one of the eight pillars of ​peace for that country and demonstrate skills in doing so. Each country comes ​with background on the model of governance, economics, human rights and so ​on.

The programme will run over three days with three four-hour online sessions. ​The cost per student is $500. The programme’s applications for taking part and ​for sponsorships are now open.

This programme is NOT a replacement for RYLA, it is the next step!

For more information visit the LeaderNu website, where application forms can ​be found, as well as videos and further details.