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Special Note: The 2007 Manual of Procedure has been superseded by changes approved by the 2010 Council on Legislation. An updated 2010 MOP will be available later in 2010, probably in November. Updated RI and Club Constitutional documents are now available - Click Here.
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Nigeria making impressive progress against polio
By Arnold R. Grahl
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 Sudhir Gupta, a member of the India PolioPlus Committee and past governor of District 3100, immunizes four-year-old Sivi Sen against polio at the Moradabad railway station in Uttar Pradesh. Photo by Allison Kwesell |
The new plan comes at a critical time for the GPEI. Key endemic countries are witnessing historic gains against the disease. Nowhere is progress more evident than in Nigeria, which has reported just three cases in 2010 as of 6 July compared with 333 cases for the same period in 2009. India has reported 22 cases compared with 107 cases.
Across Africa, 10 of the 15 previously polio-free countries reinfected in 2009 have stopped their outbreaks.
In May, the World Health Assembly welcomed the new plan while expressing deep concern about the substantial funding gap over the next three years. The shortfall is a serious risk to ending polio and highlights the need for Rotary to reach its goal of raising US$200 million.
WHO Director-General Margaret Chan called on the international funding community to stand tall for polio eradication. “The next three years, and especially the next 12 months, are critical to the polio eradication initiative and, by extension, the entire international public health agenda.”
An
essential element of the plan is the bivalent oral polio
vaccine, which is being used effectively against wild
poliovirus types 1 and 3 in all four endemic countries:
Afghanistan, India, Nigeria, and Pakistan. (Type 2
poliovirus has been eradicated.)
The plan also focuses on known polio migration routes, which have made outbreaks of the disease largely predictable. Aggressive synchronized immunization campaigns are now being used to help prevent and stop outbreaks.
The partners of the GPEI are exploring every option to secure fresh funding and are managing existing cash flow to limit any threat to the eradication effort. The risk of not stopping polio in endemic countries was made clear when a large outbreak occurred in Tajikistan, caused by poliovirus that had spread from India in early 2010. The outbreak has paralyzed 334 children as of 29 June. Tajikistan had been polio-free since 1997.
“The complete eradication of polio is an absolute goal, and it requires absolute commitment from us all,” says UNICEF Executive Director Tony Lake.
“Rotary believes the new strategic plan provides the blueprint to achieving the goal of polio eradication,” says Rotary Foundation Trustee Chair Carl-Wilhelm Stenhammar.
Klinginsmith asks Rotary clubs to get 'bigger, better, and bolder'
 RI President-elect Ray Klinginsmith speaks during the closing plenary session on 23 June at the 2010 RI Convention in Montréal, Québec, Canada. Photo by Alyce Henson/Rotary Images |
By Arnold
R. Grahl
Rotary International News – 23 June 2010
As the 2010 RI Convention in Montréal, Québec, Canada, drew to a close on 23 June, RI President-elect Ray Klinginsmith outlined his plans for his term, which begins 1 July.
Participants also got a preview of next year’s big event in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, where the Host Organization Committee has planned fun for the whole family.
Klinginsmith will ask Rotarians to apply "cowboy logic" and make Rotary clubs "bigger, better, and bolder."
The fundamental principles of cowboy logic are taking pride in your work, talking less and saying more, doing what has to be done, and remembering that some things just aren’t for sale, he explained during the closing plenary session.
"I believe the way for Rotary to remain viable and vibrant in the next century is to help our clubs to be bigger, better, and bolder," Klinginsmith said. "The clubs are the life and breath of Rotary. Therefore, it is clear to me that my job is to help the district governors to help the clubs. We can do it, and we will do it, if all of us follow the simple solution of cowboy logic."
Klinginsmith also listed improvements that he and the RI Board have already authorized, including revisions to the RI Strategic Plan to make it easier to implement and evaluate, a realignment of RI committees to fit the revised plan, the recruitment of 41 Rotary coordinators, and a commitment to finding new ways to attract younger members and enable them to serve as district governors.
Klinginsmith’s Rotary journey started in New Orleans, where he boarded a ship to begin a Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholarship at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, in 1961. After returning home, he and his wife, Judie, married and then honeymooned in the city. He said he is excited about the venue of the 2011 RI Convention because he will have traveled full circle in both his personal and Rotary life.
During the fourth plenary session, members of the 2011 Host Organization Committee shared some of the highlights planned for Rotarians, including a concert featuring a traditional New Orleans brass band, a gospel choir, New Orleans jazz performers, Cajun music, and the Mardi Gras Indians. A French Quarter dining experience and an evening at the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas will be other host-ticketed events.
Montréal convention inspires, entertains
By Arnold R. Grahl
Rotary International News – 25 June 2010
More than 18,000 Rotarians from 154 countries and geographical areas left the 2010 RI Convention in Montréal, Québec, Canada, on 23 June after being challenged to finish the job of eradicating polio and reminded that their efforts are making a difference, even when the results aren’t immediately apparent.
"Your commitment to Rotary service projects is critical, but you may seldom have the opportunity to hear the details of the impact," said Jo Luck, president of Heifer International and a member of the Rotary Club of Little Rock, Arkansas, USA. "But always know you have made a difference."
During four packed days of plenary and breakout sessions, Rotarians attending the convention were privy to an impressive lineup of speakers, including Luck; best-selling author Greg Mortenson, cofounder of the Central Asia Institute, which builds schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan; Bob Mazzuca, chief scout executive of the Boy Scouts of America; and country music singer and philanthropist Dolly Parton.
Attendees were also dazzled by a variety of entertainment acts, including the Irish singing group Celtic Thunder, known for its combination of soloists and ensembles; the daring acrobatics of the Cirque du Soleil; and the soaring vocals of tenor Russell Watson.
Parton entered the stage singing her hit song "9 to 5," and thanked Rotary for partnering with her foundation's Imagination Library to promote children’s literacy. She engaged in a comedic question-and-answer session with Rotary Foundation Trustee Vice Chair John F. Germ before finishing with a song she wrote for the Imagination Library called "Try." Read more.
Mazzuca noted the long relationship between the Boy Scouts and Rotary, and stressed the importance of giving children viable and healthy alternatives amid the array of choices -- many unhealthy and downright dangerous -- facing young people and families today. He noted the many similarities between The Four-Way Test and the Scout Law. Read more.
Queen Noor of Jordan praised Rotarians for their work in promoting world peace and building global coalitions, and said Rotarians have pioneered the type of collaborations necessary to make a difference in the world. She said that the environment and nuclear weapons pose the biggest threats to world peace, and shared the work of her foundations in promoting international understanding and goodwill. Read more.
Bruce Aylward, director of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative at the World Health Organization, encouraged Rotarians to share the "terrific news" that polio is on the run, and that Rotary’s vision of a polio-free world is within sight. "You have fundamentally changed the polio eradication game, and you have changed it in your favor." Read more.
Polio survivor Ramesh Ferris, a member of the Rotary Club of Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada, hand-cycled from the Palais des congrès to Bonsecours Market in Old Montréal for a ceremony to illuminate the landmark with En finir avec la polio (End Polio Now), adding it to a growing number of buildings and monuments that have been lit up with the message.
Mortenson encouraged Rotarians to keep working to make the world a better place and thanked Rotary for its efforts to eradicate polio in Afghanistan and Pakistan. He stressed the similarities between how his organization works and how Rotarians operate -- the importance of building relationships and involving local leaders.
"All of us here, as Rotarians or honorary Rotarians, we are compelled to help people," he said. "The real key, and Rotarians do this, is that it’s not about helping, but it’s about empowering people. And when you empower people, then you can make a change in the world." Read more.
Father Marciano "Rocky" Evangelista, founder of the Tuloy Foundation Inc. and a member of the Rotary Club of Alabang, Metro Manila, Philippines, told Rotarians about the urgency of helping street children.
"Children in distress cannot wait," he said. "For you or me, what is a day or two? But for a child who is slowly being toughened and hardened by the harsh realities of the school of the streets, waiting is just a luxury that he or she cannot afford." Read more.