What they say...
RI DIRECTOR 2015-17 PETER OFFER
Sharing with Rotarians
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t is the centennial of The Rotary Foundation and what better time to look ahead to what we are poised to achieve and also glimpse back at our own roots. Looking forward, in June of this year over 350 Rotarians from Great Britain and Ireland will join more than 40,000 Rotarians from all over the world in Atlanta at a birthday party to celebrate this milestone. It was in 1917 that the founder of The Rotary Foundation, Arch Klumph launched this dream and this year we are set on raising $300 million to “Do Good in the World”. You can visit rotary.org/
TRUSTEE CHAIR 2016/17 KALYAN BANERJEE
Foundation’s commitment to peace
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et’s celebrate the success of our Rotary Peace Centres and the important work that graduates of the programme are doing throughout the world to honour Peace and Conflict Prevention/Resolution month, which is February. In the 1930s, clubs in France and
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convention for more information on attending the convention from the 10th-14th June. Looking back on a very busy year, one of my personal highlights was attending Rotary Day at the United Nations in New York. This annual event celebrates the strong and productive partnership that Rotary has with the United Nations. In 1945 nearly 50 Rotarians were responsible for helping to draft the UN Charter. Rotary played, and still does play, an important role in modelling global understanding and the power of connections for the United Nations. Participants at Rotary Day at the UN heard from RI President John Germ, UN Dean Past RI General Secretary Ed Futa, and Ambassador Kim Won-soo, Under Secretary-General, United Nations High Representative for Disarmament Affairs and Special Advisor to UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon. UN Secretary - General, Ban Ki-moon, who retired on January 1st, has been a strong supporter of Rotary, attending both
the Birmingham and Seoul Rotary International Conventions. On leaving office he was asked, “How can Rotary and the UN make the most of our partnership?” He said, “Rotary and other similarly engaged civil society organisations represent the best that the world has to offer. You understand the need to get involved and participate positively in the lives of your communities and the world around us. “We now have a global agenda to build a better, more equitable, more sustainable world. I would encourage Rotary International to embrace the Sustainable Development Goals and find within them areas where we could, as partners, replicate the success of the polio eradication campaign.” The United Nations is just one of Rotary’s powerful partners and it is the essence of connectivity that makes us the vibrant and strong organisation of leaders that we are today. Join leaders, Exchange Ideas and Take Action – words to live by.
Germany formed the first petit comité, now known as an intercountry committee. Both countries were still recovering from a devastating war, but the former adversaries knew that peace, however fragile, was worth keeping. Although a second world war dashed their hopes, these peace-minded Rotarians reconvened in 1950. Since then, Rotarians have formed 250 intercountry committees to promote international friendship and service. Rotarians have long believed that international understanding develops most quickly through personal relationships. Before study abroad programmes and international business travel became commonplace, our Foundation sent scholars and young professionals to other countries to experience different ways of living and doing business. For many participants, these life-changing adventures helped them view the world through the eyes of their hosts, who often became close friends.
Every year, our Foundation allocates millions of dollars for projects that attack the root causes of conflict – lack of access to education, health care, economic opportunity, clean water, and adequate sanitation. Our global grants have a unique requirement that moves the needle on peace even further: To qualify, project sponsors must include clubs from at least two countries. In addition to combining local knowledge with international and Foundation resources, these projects build friendships that often lead to long-lasting service relationships between the sponsoring clubs. Of course, one of the best places to form international friendships is at our annual convention, where Rotarians from dozens of countries come together. This year in Atlanta, we will celebrate The Rotary Foundation’s 100 years of Doing Good in the World. I hope you will join me and thousands of your fellow Rotarians for the biggest birthday party of the year!
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rotarygbi.org
20/01/2017 15:21