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Profile |
Founded in February 23rd 1905 by Paul Harris in Chicago, Rotary is the largest humanitarian service organisation of business and professional men and women in the world with some 1.2 million members, operating in more than 200 countries and geographical areas. The name 'Rotary' was derived from the early practice of rotating meetings among members' offices. In Great Britain and Ireland there are about 58,000 members in more than 1,840 clubs helping those in need and working towards world understanding and peace. In the last year more than £20 million was raised by Rotarians in the British Isles for charitable causes. In addition Rotarians' gave more than14 million man-hours of service, in support of community projects at a local, national and international level. The Rotary Foundation, Rotary's corporate charity, is dedicated to furthering international understanding, goodwill, and peace and gives more than £50 million every year to educational and humanitarian programmes. Rotary works in partnership with government agencies and international partners such as the Bill Gates Foundation and World Health Organisation. Rotary projects address critical issues in communities around the world in particular literacy and education programmes, health and hunger, and water management projects: Literacy: Worldwide, about 800 million people over age 15 lack basic reading and writing skills. More than 64 percent of them are women. About 113 million children do not attend school. Water: Today 1.1 billion people – nearly twenty per cent of the world population - lack access to safe, clean drinking water, and 2.6 billion people lack access to basic sanitation facilities Health and Hunger: Health and hunger issues affect the entire world. Every year over 852 million people are malnourished making them more susceptible to disease. The President of Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland for 2007-2008, Allan Jagger, has chosen two particular areas for clubs to support: The Rotary Foundation and Cancer Research and Cancer Care. The Rotary Foundation The Mission of the Rotary Foundation is to support the efforts of Rotary International in the fulfilment of the Object of Rotary, Rotary’s mission and the achievement of World understanding and peace through local, national and international humanitarian, educational and cultural support programs. The Foundation funds humanitarian grants, university scholarships, and exchange programmes for school children, teachers and young business and professional people to further international understanding and friendly relations. Rotary runs the biggest non-government scholarship scheme in the world. The Ambassadorial Scholarships Programme is the world’s largest privately funded international scholarships programme. Each year, nearly 1.000 university students receive Rotary scholarships to study in another country. Currently in Great Britain and Ireland there are 165 scholars at Universities, on scholarships totalling £2.25 million. In an effort to educate tomorrow’s peacemakers and ambassadors, Rotary has established Rotary Centres for International Studies at seven prestigious universities worldwide, including the University of Bradford. The programme provides master’s level degree education in conflict resolution to a group of 70 Rotary World Peace Scholars chosen annually in a world-competitive selection process. One of the most successful projects supported by the Rotary Foundation is the international Polio Eradication programme, working with partners which include WHO, UNICEF, the United States Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, and governments around the world.In 1985, Rotary’s members vowed to make the world polio-free. Rotarians in Great Britain and Ireland have raised more than £12 million for this project. Worldwide by 2005 Rotarians have contributed more than £300 million and countless volunteer hours to help immunize more than 2 billion children in 122 countries. In addition to their own record-breaking financial contribution for polio eradication Rotarians have helped leverage a further US$1.7 billion from governments for the cause. Today, there are only a few hundred polio cases worldwide, in four countries, a 99% reduction since 1988, when polio paralysed more than 350,000 children a year. Rotary sponsors a wide range of other programmes such as: Preserve Planet Earth which focuses on critical ecological issues; Youth Exchange, an international exchange programme for school children; and the Rotary Volunteers programme which matches individual Rotarian volunteers with community projects world-wide. Cancer Research and Cancer Care Membership of Rotary is by invitation, linked to a vocational category, and, generally, clubs meet weekly. Each Rotary Club operates autonomously within the Rotary family and selects causes it wishes to support each year. Community service is the traditional and well-known face of Rotary. It covers help and advice to the aged, the infirm, young people and all those in need, either directly or through local charitable organisations. Each year the Club officers change and the new leaders have the discretion to identify causes they wish to support in their year of office. The Paul Harris Fellows programme was established in memory of the Founder to recognise substantial contributions to the Rotary Foundation's programmes. Notable Paul Harris Fellows include: HRH Prince Charles, HRH The Princess Royal; HRH the Duchess of Kent; Rt Hon Tony Blair MP, Luciano Pavarotti; Sir Anthony Hopkins; Baroness Thatcher; Baroness Chalker; Her Excellency Mary McAleese, Sir Jimmy Savile, Bob Geldof, William Roache, Simon Weston, Paul Daniels, Sir George Martin, Julian Fellows and Lord Rix. July 2007 |
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