Laura Bauer McConatha, Board Member of the Americus Rotary Club, has been chosen for the next cohort in Rotary International's Positive Peace Activator Program. Created in 2020, the p Program is the most comprehensive training and educational program hosted jointly by Rotary International and its strategic partner the Institute for Economics & Peace. The Activator Training Program includes a competitive application process and a multi-day intensive training that is curated for each region. After the training, Activators agree to a two-year service commitment, providing presentations, leading trainings, and supporting projects with Rotary clubs, districts, and other stakeholders. Activators are considered representatives of the Rotary-IEP Partnership.

Since 2020, 197 Activators from six regions and more than 70 countries have been trained. This year’s Selection Committee was both surprised and delighted by the high number and quality of applications. Laura Bauer McConatha, Board Member of the Americus Rotary Club, recently received word that she had been chosen for the next cohort. Her first responsibility will be to attend training in Chicago this August.

Rotary members organizing and working at the community-level make it possible to create environments where lasting peace is possible, and, in turn, bring about more peaceful societies - from the local to the global. The Rotary-IEP Partnership equips and trains Rotary members in IEP's Pillars of Positive Peace framework - providing a unique structure to view peace as a process and a system versus a product or result, build capacity in how Rotarians think about peace and development, and provide educational resources to move initiatives forward.

IEP's Positive Peace research demonstrates that lasting peace cannot be built merely on the absence of violence, but rather requires a supportive social system inclusive of factors such as good governance, access to needed services, a sound business environment and respect for the right of others.

 Rotary's Areas of Focus – peacebuilding, conflict prevention, disease prevention and treatment, water, sanitation and hygiene, maternal and child health, basic education and literacy, and community economic development - are all integral investments in Positive Peace.

Upon being named as a Positive Peace Activator, Laura shared, “Peacemaking is my passion, and I am excited for this opportunity to learn evidence-based methods of positive peacemaking from international change agents at Rotary International and the Institute for Economics & Peace. In addition to working in my local community, I am looking forward to providing education and coaching to others who are seeking to make meaningful change in their own community.”