Who We Are
The Peace Advocate Project is a charity set up by Scottish Rotarians Jean and Keith Best, from Dumfries and Galloway, enabling young people to become peace advocates in schools and community groups. The project was launched in Australia at the Rotary International 2014 Convention.
In 2017, Jean was honoured with the prestigious award of Rotary/United Nations Champion of Peace at the Palais des Nations, Geneva. Since the recognition at the United Nations and through the charity, we launched the award for schools and community groups of ‘Blue Flag Status’. Currently schools in Scotland, England, Ireland and Australia have achieved the Blue Flag Award. Ongoing projects have been started in Mexico, Japan and Spain.
As educationalists and Rotarians, we use a skills-based programme with young people and adults to develop peaceful conflict resolution strategies that transform conflict into success.
The Peace Programme would like to:
- Recognise and acknowledge the innate expertise of young people
- Enable them to resolve conflict and embrace success
- Empower them to become leaders of the 21st century
During Covid, the Advanced Peace Advocates of Douglas Ewart High School in Newton Stewart created daily mental health hints and tips on social media for their peers, supported by Jean and Keith.
From this project, Jean has developed a self-care curriculum for schools, and as the Rotary Peace Officer in Scotland South piloted the ideas of Self-Care with Listening skills for voluntary organisations across Britain and Ireland.
Get involved
If you have any questions about our charity work or want to know how you can get involved, please get in touch with us.