By Maiden R. Manzanal-Frank, 2015 Rotary Peace Fellow at Chulalongkorn University, Thailand
The Rotary Peace Centers Program has truly transformed my life. After receiving the peace fellowship in 2015, my commitment to peace, human security, and development deepened further.
In my current role as a senior consultant and impact advisor, I help organizations become more robust, sustainable, and effective in their missions, drawing upon two decades of work with social enterprises, rural women, cooperatives, home-based workers, farmers, artisans, health advocates, and local changemakers. Being based in Canada, I have made contact with all the Rotary clubs in Central Alberta, Edmonton, and Calgary (which I can reach within a few hours), regularly offering my support and advice. I share my experiences as a Rotary Peace Fellow and promote the program every year.
The 5 Ps
In this, I have found that Rotary members embody the qualities of a provocateur: everyday leaders who possess Passion, Purpose, Provision, Practice, and Paradigms. These 5Ps contribute to effective building of communities, laying down the framework for transformational change in the voice, agency, political will, and cultural awakening of the community partners involved in philanthropic work in the developing world.
This paradigm shift is revolutionary in the sense that instead of working just on ‘‘projects and initiatives that build,” provocateurs must be concerned with partnering with communities and understanding the hearts and minds of people so that they can make decisions for themselves, their families, and their communities that lead to sustained positive change.
We know that many wells in Africa are broken and abandoned. Clinics built by foreign donors and wealthy patrons are left inoperable and unused for lack of maintenance, insufficient supplies of medicines and medical items, or a lack of qualified doctors, nurses, and community health workers. Mosquito bed nets end up not being used for their original purpose. To change this, we need to focus on working more closely with our communities to understand the needs and challenges. We need to produce solutions together that foster the will and capacity for increasing local ownership and accountability.
A provocateur is not a savior, a patron, a philanthropist, a fixer, or exclusively the source of resources, connections, or knowledge. A provocateur is a facilitator, a partner, an idea contributor, and a force for good. Instead of doing something for the community partner, they facilitate what’s positive in communities and what’s working, and help bring these features to the surface. They externalize them so that everyone learns and grows from their own wisdom and practices.
As provocateurs, Rotary members can learn from distilled insights on impact, contextual relevance, relationship with change partners and their transformational processes, building a legacy they can be proud of, and looking for innovation in the underappreciated area. Provocateurs embody these attributes:
- Playing the long game
Many projects and charitable activities are very short-sighted and focus on short-term gains. We need to go beyond the palpable need we see, to know what brings about real change in communities. Learn to bring about effective change by asking the right questions. - Learning from mistakes without guilt and shame
There’s a plethora of introspections and reviews. When results fall short, the ”blame game” can happen. But mistakes can guide our actions and provide the impetus for improvements. Learn from your mistakes, and the mistakes of others. - Viewing goodbyes as inevitable but useful
Conclusions of your work with community partners are a source of inspiration, renewal, and change. Relationships within the community will continue to evolve based on their newly found capacities, wisdom, and knowledge. Begin to act as a bridge to the solutions that work best for themselves and their organizations.
The real impact of a Rotary Peace Fellowship is measured not only by the transformation in a peace fellow’s life but how a Rotary Peace Fellow pays it forward in an exponential way. I pay it forward by using my lessons learned and experiences in the field to inspire Rotary members, their partners, and global on-purpose organizations to rise above the challenges of our time and become beacons of hope, impact, and lasting positive legacies.
The time for effective provocation is now.
About the author: Maiden R. Manzanal-Frank is an adjunct instructor at the Rotary Peace Center at Chulalongkorn University in Thailand, where she leads a course on Leadership and Changemaking. As a senior consultant, she guides on-purpose organizations to become more robust, sustainable, and effective in their missions. Her new book, Provocateurs Not Philanthropists, explores the role of provocateurs in turning good intentions into global impact.
https://blog.rotary.org/2022/10/24/rotary-members-as-provocateurs-building-legacies-in-turbulent-times/