Rotary International

Rotary is the world’s oldest service organisation. Its members of business and professional leaders, united worldwide, provide humanitarian service and promote world peace and understanding. Through a dedicated network of 30,000 clubs and 1.2 million members, Rotary initiates neighbourhood projects that address many of today’s most critical issues, including polio eradication, literacy, poverty, HIV/AIDS and hunger.

Rotary’s international network of 30,000 clubs links people in need with Rotary club members in other countries that can provide resources.

• Rotary was founded in 1905.
• Rotary club members are successful, devoted, and committed professionals who provide humanitarian service and promote world peace and understanding.
• In 1985, Rotary created PolioPlus, a programme aimed at immunising all the world’s children against polio. The eradication of the polio virus is expected by 2005, Rotary’s 100th anniversary. To date, Rotary has committed more than $462 million to the programme and over one million Rotary volunteers have donated time and personal resources to immunise children throughout the world.
• The Rotary Centres for International Studies is a two-year graduate programme aimed at producing the world’s future diplomats and international leaders. The programme allows 70 scholars to study at eight prestigious universities around the world in order to learn skills to resolve conflict and promote international understanding.
• Approximately 8,000 15-18-year-old students study abroad each year under Rotary’s Youth Exchange programme, which offers young adults the opportunity to live and study in a country of their choice for one year. Rotary’s Ambassadorial Scholarship programme allows some 1,500 college students each year to study abroad at a foreign university for short or long-term stay.

For more information, visit Rotary International’s website.