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AVENUES OF SERVICE IN ROTARY
The main value of this short book resides in the inspiring stories of Rotarians at work. Yet for those who may not be familiar with Rotary, or for new Rotarians who may not yet know Rotary inside and out, it may be useful to first explain that five different avenues of service are typically distinguished in the organization: (1) club service; (2) vocational service; (3) community service; (4) international service; and finally (5) youth service, also referred to as “new generations.”  
Club Service
Without clubs, Rotary could not be functioning the way it does. The clubs, more than 35,000 of them worldwide, are truly at the heart of the organization and they are also at the core of the Rotarian experience. Clubs have substantial autonomy on how they organize themselves – within some boundaries defined by Rotary’s Council of Legislation. Clubs decide on the service projects they want to implement locally or internationally. They also have broad latitude on whom they welcome as club members, and how they work in communities. Club service is, simply stated, service performed by members for the benefit of their club, or sometimes district. In a way, all other avenues of service are to some extent a service to a club. But there are also a number of tasks that need to be performed specifically for clubs to remain strong. ‘Clubs have a leadership typically including a President, President-elect, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, Sergeant at Arms, and other members of the club board. All these positions are in service to the club, and a similar but more complex structure is in place for Rotary districts which may have 50 to 70 clubs. Clubs also typically have various committees, such as a membership committee, a fundraising committee, a public image committee, or a committee to recruit speakers for club meetings. Members of these committees as well as Committee Chairs also perform services for their club. Club service often involves many Rotarians in a typical club because operating a club requires substantial dedication and volunteer time.
Vocational Service
Members of service clubs such as Rotary, Kiwanis, and Lions often talk about vocational service. But what does it mean? To help make the concept more precise, Rotary International has published a guide on vocational service. The idea is for Rotarians to promote (1) High ethical standards in business and professions; (2) The recognition of the worthiness of all useful occupations; and (3) The dignifying of each Rotarian’s occupation as an opportunity to serve society. The guide suggests that this can be achieved among others by talking about one’s vocation and learning about others’ vocations, using professional skills to serve the community, practicing one’s profession with integrity, and guiding others, especially youth, in their professional development. Vocational service can take many forms, but it should be recognized that some of those forms are not specific to Rotary. Everyone should practice his or her profession with integrity. And many different people talk with passion about their vocation and enjoy learning from the vocations of others. What should probably be emphasized more in Rotary is the use of one’s professional skills and experience to serve communities. Mentoring younger individuals in order to help them make good career choices is a classic example with many clubs involved in organizing career fairs in high schools. But vocational service can be broader than that, as the guide published by Rotary International indicates. One great example of vocational service that also ties in by design with community and especially international service is the work performed by Rotarians who lend their professional skills to Rotarian Action Groups (RAGs). The RAGs are led by Rotarians. They are approved by Rotary International and they report to the organization, but they function as independent entities and are in most cases registered as charitable organizations. They facilitate the exchange of ideas and experiences in various thematic areas and they provide advice to clubs in order to help improve the projects implemented by clubs in each RAG’s area of technical expertise. As of 2016, there were more than two dozen RAGs operating in domains related to the areas of focus of the Rotary Foundation of Rotary International. These areas of focus are: 1) fighting disease, 2) providing clean water, 3) saving mothers and children, 4) supporting education, 5) growing local economies, and 6) promoting peace. One RAG has more than 20,000 members and a few others have more than 500 members, but most RAGs tend to be smaller, although many are growing. A list of RAGs is available on Rotary International’s website.
Community Service
Community service in Rotary essentially relates to service performed in the local community of a Rotary club. Community service is often the most popular activity in a club, perhaps in part because it is easier for club members to have a personal connection with beneficiaries of projects through community service than is the case, say, through international service projects. Rotarians also see the needs in their communities, and often want to respond. Rotary International has published a guide to help Rotarians in their community service (the title of the guide is Communities in Action: A Guide to Effective Projects). In practice, the types of activities implemented by clubs vary greatly from one club to the next, and even within clubs, especially large ones. Just as one example, some of the community service activities of the Rotary Club of Washington, DC, can be mentioned (see Wodon et al., 2014, for more details). This is a large club founded more than century ago with close to 170 members. In part because members have a variety of interests, many different community service activities are proposed to the membership. Under the dictionary project, every third grader in public and charter schools receives a dictionary. Club members go to elementary schools to distribute the dictionaries. A second activity is the Grate Patrol, whereby members help distribute food to the homeless twice a month as part of a Salvation Army Homeless Outreach Program. A third project is the trees for the Capital, which consists in planting twice a year cherry trees in partnership near some of the monuments in DC and especially near the Jefferson Memorial with the National Park Service. A fourth project that has been running for decades is the Walter Reed Bingo whereby club members organize bingo sessions with prices for wounded veterans receiving care. Still another activity is the career fair held each year with a handful of local high schools. Separately, a group of club members regularly tutors elementary school students in mathematics at another school. And until recently, club members participated in the annual school beautification project held in August by the school district (the district since discontinued the event). The club also has a large foundation with an endowment of $7 million. The foundation awards community service grants to local nonprofits every year, and quite a few members serve in the committee that decides on those awards. In addition, every year the Rotary Club of Washington, DC, typically organizes other community service projects specific to that year. For example, for its Centennial, the club sponsored the construction of a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified passive energy house with the District of Columbia chapter of Habitat for Humanity. Several hands-on construction workshops at the site were held apart from providing funding for the house. And most recently, the club launched a new annual fundraiser in the form of a duck race. Families can purchase tickets for a race held in April on the Anacostia River with rubber ducks – providing great family fund. While the community service offering of the Rotary Club of Washington, DC may be especially board given the size of the club’s membership, many clubs organize and/or participate in a wide range of community service activities. Many clubs also are known in their community for a flagship event that they organize every year. This is often a fundraiser that is held in order to be able to provide community grants to local nonprofits.
International Service
While community service focuses on the local community in which a club operates, international service consists in large part of funding and implementing service projects aboard. Many of these project are related to the areas of focus of the Rotary Foundation of Rotary International, Apart from polio, as mentioned earlier when discussing the role of RAGs, these areas of focus are fighting disease, providing clean water, saving mothers and children, supporting education, growing local economies, and finally promoting peace. When international service projects are well designed and when they have sufficient size, they can benefit from co-funding from the Rotary Foundation Rotary International under the global grant model. But many clubs and districts also implement smaller international projects without such support. In a separate book in this series (Wodon, 2017), examples are provided of great international service projects that combined strong partnerships together with innovation and evaluation. For example, a half dozen years ago the Rotary Club of Capitol Hill, also located in Washington, DC, implemented a project on malaria in Mali together with the nonprofit Muso. Malaria kills more children than any other disease in Africa. Muso improves access to health care through networks of community health workers. The Rotary club helped fund bed nets to prevent malaria, and the broader intervention managed by Muso managed to reduce under five mortality by a factor of ten in the intervention area. This is a truly impressive achievement that led Muso to later receive international prizes. Another example of a great project in the area of health is a large project led by clubs in Europe, and especially Germany, to provide training and resources to reduce the risk of complications from obstetric fistula in Nigerian hospitals. An evaluation suggests that the project helped generate a reduction in the maternal mortality rate in participating hospitals of 60 percent. Given its success, the project has now been scaled up to more hospitals in the country. Apart from implementing service projects abroad, international service can also take other forms. One example – which relates to both international service and vocational service, is the Group Study Exchange program funded by the Rotary Foundation of Rotary International. This is an opportunity for young professionals between the ages of 25 and 40 to travel to a host country for four to six weeks in order to experience the country’s culture and institutions, exchange ideas, and develop personal and professional relationships. Rotarians in the host country organize the program, which often includes visits to multiple clubs.
Youth Service/New Generations
The last avenue of service relates to youth, and is often referred to as new generations. The objective is to empower youth and young professionals through leadership development programs. Four main programs fall in this category: Interact, Rotaract, Rotary Youth Leadership Awards, and Rotary Youth Exchange. Many Rotarians are actively engaged in supporting those programs. Interact and Rotaract clubs are sponsored by Rotary clubs. Interact is the branch of Rotary for adolescents ages 12 to 18 (the Interactors). Most Interact clubs operate in a specific high school, but some clubs are community-based instead of being school-based. Globally, Rotary International estimates that Interact membership may be close to reaching 400,000. Rotaract is the branch of Rotary for university students and professionals. Members are 18 to 30 years old. According to the latest annual report by Rotary International, the organization had 219,029 Rotaractors worldwide in 2015-16 in 9,523 Rotaract clubs. Interact and Rotaract clubs operate under the supervision of Rotary clubs with designated Rotarian advisers, who provide advice and support. But the clubs are fairly independent, with their membership organizing their own service projects, local or international. In the case of school-based Interact clubs, supervision is also maintained by a school adviser. The Rotary Youth Leadership Awards is a leadership program typically for high school students. In my district for example, the program consists of an intense three day, two night leadership training program designed to recognize, encourage and further develop the leadership skills of 10th, 11th and 12th grade high school students selected by clubs to participate in the event. More than 150 high school students attend the event each year. Finally, Rotary Youth Exchange is an exchange program for students ages 15 to 19. Long-term exchanges last for a full academic year with students attending a local school abroad and living with one or more host families. Most students in the program have completed high school in their home country. Short-term exchanges can last from several days to up to three months. They tend to take place in settings such as camps, tours, or homestays when schools are not in session. The various exchanges are sponsored by Rotary clubs.