Rotary Launches Peace & Conflict Resolution Competition

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BVI Platinum News
Members of the Rotary Club of Tortola, photoed with students of the Alexandrina Maduro Primary School.

(PLTM) - The Rotary Club of Tortola recently launched a three tier competition geared towards educating young students within the British Virgin Islands about world peace and conflict resolution.

The competition was launched yesterday, United Nations International Day of Peace, September 21st 2016, at the Alexandrina Maduro Primary School, with members of the club informing students of the initiative during a very interactive session.

The competition, dubbed ‘The Peace and the Arts’, is open to students of all schools in the Territory, both public and private, currently in Grade 3 up to Grade 12.

As explained by Aisha Liburd, Project Coordinator, students in Grades 3 to 6 will participate in a poster competition, where they are required to depict what world peace means to them. Students in Grades 7-9 will compete in an essay competition, outlining the importance of conflict resolution, while students in Grades 10-12 will enter the video competition, which requires them to submit a five minute video highlighting multi-cultural awareness in the BVI.

“We thought it would be a good initiative to introduce here in the BVI. We know that there is so much going on in the world right now and we want our children to get more information about peace and conflict resolution while they are doing these projects.”

The programme is set to run for approximately 6 weeks, with the deadline for the submissions being November 18th 2016.

“The submissions are then judged for the winners and runner ups of each category,” Aisha mentioned, also noting that all posters are to be submitted to the various schools, where they will be collected by the club, while the essays and videos should be submitted to peaceandthearts@gmail.com.

The culmination of the competition will also see a display of the entries for persons within the various communities to see first-hand, the students' sentiments on the topic.

In an interview with BVI Platinum News, President of the club, Mrs. Ingrid A. Moses Scatliffe noted that students who participate in the competition will expose themselves to a greater understanding of the topics and how they themselves can maintain peace and resolve conflicts.

These are lessons needed by the youths in the BVI, said President Scatliffe, who added, “This is home and we want to be welcoming to residents and visitors alike.”

Peace and conflict resolution are among the main areas of focus for Rotary International, and as such, the club has hosted events around the topic in the past in the form of a forum, with students of the secondary schools only. To this end, the club sought to introduce a more creative way to spread the message, in addition to including all the schools in the Territory, according to Mrs. Scatliffe.

She noted that this initiative would be followed by an informational session with a speaker on peace and conflict in Peace and Conflict month, February 2017.

“There, the speaker will speak directly to the students about what peace and conflict resolution mean, and would highlight what they learnt from this competition.”

The event was also attended by Ms. Stephanie Benn, Youth Services Director of the Rotary Club and other general members who provided support.

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