UNITY THROUGH ROTARY

HUMANITY IN MOTION

WHAT IS ROTARY?

• Founded in Chicago in 1905, Rotary celebrated 100 years of service in 2005.

• Rotary International is a volunteer organization of business and professional leaders who provide humanitarian service, and help to build goodwill and peace in the world.

What is the purpose of Rotary? • Rotary clubs exist to improve communities

locally and around the world.

• Rotary also encourages high ethical standards in business and professions.

• Rotary clubs work to advance international understanding by partnering with clubs in other

countries.

The Numbers

• 1,222,788 Rotarians

• 32,756 Rotary Clubs

• 532 Rotary regional districts

• 200+ countries and geographic areas

• Rotary clubs are located throughout all seven continents

HOW DO THEY DO IT?

• HUMANITARIAN PROJECTS

• EDUCATION

• PEACE PROMOTION

HUMANITARIAN PROJECTS

• POLIO – ERADICATION

• Since its launch in 1988, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative - spearheaded by the World Health Organization (WHO), Rotary International, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and UNICEF - has reduced the incidence of polio by more than 99 percent. At the time, more than 125 countries were polio-endemic, and more than 350,000 children were paralyzed by the disease each year.

Other Heath Projects

• THOUSANDS OF ONGOING PROJECTS:

• In Gumaco, Quezon, Philippines, a Rotary project provided free tuberculosis screening and treatment to pre-school and elementary school children.

• In Kerela and Tamil Nadu, India, Rotary clubs launched a wide-scale AIDS education campaign using bicycle and van teams to coordinate community outreach.

• The Gift of Life project, initiated by Rotary clubs around the world, offers free heart surgeries to children who have potentially fatal heart conditions. To date, more than 2,000 children have received lifesaving surgery.

• In Bolivia, Rotary clubs prevent the spread of an infectious parasitic disease called chagas, which affects millions of people, through education initiatives and the building of new shelters.

TWO NEW AREAS OF FOCUS

• CLEAN WATER

• LITERACY

WATER – THE PROBLEM

• Less than one percent of all water is available for human use. 97 percent of the world's water is oceans which contain saline, and over two percent of the remainder is frozen in icebergs and glaciers.

• Population growth and mega-cities have increased demand six times since the beginning of this century – SO DEMAND EXCEEDS SUPPLY

• Pollution and contaminates also threaten available water sources.

• Today some 40 percent of the world's countries have severe water problems.

• Without clean water – you do not survive.

WATER – THE SOLUTION• DEVELOPMENT OF WELLS AND FILTRATION SYSTEMS –

WHERE CLEAN WATER DOES NOT EXIST. Examples:

• A Senegalese Rotarian created a device which forces tree roots to tap water well below the saline surface of the Sahel.

• The Rotary Club of Harare, Zimbabwe upgraded 900 wells in rural Zimbabwe with support from Rotary clubs in Canada and Sweden,

• Working with UNICEF, Wisconsin Rotarians funded the installation of wells providing water to some 6,000 Haitian villagers.

• Water and sanitation systems for 13 Indian villages in central Brazil are part of a comprehensive project supported by California, USA, and Brazilian Rotarians.

• In Rajasthan, India, Rotarians devised a way to capture the monsoon rains, holding them long enough to increase the water table. This makes safe water available year-round.

Literacy – part of Rotary’s Education Initiatives

• In 1985, Rotary declared basic literacy to be a pre-condition to the development of peace.

• Through this organizational emphasis, more than half the world’s 32,000 Rotary clubs address the full range of literacy and mathematical

challenges for primary, vocational, and adult learners as well as teacher training.

Literacy

• Early Childhood and Primary Education

• Adult Literacy Programs

• Literacy and Women

Education• Ambassadorial Scholarships • Approximately 1,000 scholarships are awarded yearly to university students around

the globe to study in another country for three months to two years. These students serve as ambassadors of goodwill.

• Youth Exchange • Some 8,000 teenage students around the world study in another country and learn

about its history, language and culture each year. They too serve as goodwill ambassadors.

• Rotary Grants for University Teachers • Grants awarded to about 20 university faculty members yearly, who can teach for up

to 10 months at an institution of their choice in developing countries. • Group Study Exchange • Another goodwill initiative, this program enables groups of young professionals aged

25-40 to participate in four-to-six-week exchange visits between countries.

PEACE• Rotary Centers for International Studies in

Peace and Conflict Resolution • A two-year master’s-level program that trains

future diplomats and leaders in the art of peace building and conflict resolution.

• The program selects and sends up to 60 Rotary World Peace Fellows annually to study at seven participating universities.

• Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA;

• Universidad del Salvador, Buenos Aires, Argentina; • University of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England; • International Christian University, Tokyo, Japan; • University of California, Berkeley, USA; and • University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.

Rotary Centers for International Studies in Peace

and Conflict Resolution • US$20 million is the estimated cost to

provide full scholarships for the first five classes of scholars

• The scholars are chosen

from a world-competitive

pool of applicants.

What about me??• Interact - the High School Version

– RYLA – National

Youth Leadership

Conference

• Rotaract – the College Edition- MSU

HUMANITARIAN AID AND EDUCATION TO BRING PEACE AND UNITY

YOU CAN BE A PART OF IT

ROTARY.ORG