Nearly 800 million people live on less than $1.90 a day. Rotary members are passionate about providing sustainable solutions to poverty. Rotary members and the Rotary foundation work to strengthen local entrepreneurs and community leaders, particularly women, in impoverished communities. Rotary provides training and access to well-paying jobs and financial management institutions.
HOW ROTARY MAKES HELP HAPPEN
We create opportunities to help individuals and communities thrive financially and socially.
We create opportunities to help individuals and communities thrive financially and socially.
- MICROLOANS
- Entrepreneurs use microloans to become street vendors, rickshaw drivers, weavers, and tailors.
- AGRICULTURAL OPPORTUNITIES
- Entrepreneurs in rural communities can borrow money to buy livestock or plant crops, or get training in sustainable farming.
- ADOPT A VILLAGE
- Rotary members use a multifaceted and coordinated strategy to break the cycle of poverty in extremely impoverished communities.
- HUMAN RIGHTS
- Rotary helps Tanzanians with albinism overcome stigma and superstition to find safety and a livelihood. (READ MORE)
- TRAINING
- Rotary International and Heifer International are teaching farmers to extend their growing season and help residents eat healthier, local food. (READ MORE)
- THE POWER OF LIGHT
- Rotary members team up with the Navajo Nation to bring solar lights to remote, off-the-grid homes, allowing people to work and learn at night. (READ MORE)
IMPACT ON LOCAL ECONOMIES
Rotary members train people to become resources for their community, offering networking activities, advice on new business development, and mathematics and financial management training.
Rotary members train people to become resources for their community, offering networking activities, advice on new business development, and mathematics and financial management training.
Rotarians make amazing things happen, like:
- Breaking the cycle of poverty for women: Most of the women living in rural Guatemala do not have the collateral to get loans from regulated financial institutions. The Rotary Club of Guatemala de la Ermita helped 400 local women complete financial literacy courses so they could pool their money and fund their own microlending program.
- Skills development, business training: In Esmeraldas, Ecuador, Rotary members helped grant more than 250 microloans and train more than 270 community members in sewing, baking, plumbing, microcredit, business management, and leadership.
- Sustainable farming: In west Cameroon, soil erosion and loss of soil fertility have significantly reduced farmers’ harvests. Rotary members gave farmers the skills they needed to improve soil fertility, control soil erosion, and market their produce. The results: increased crop yields and profits.
WHAT CAN I DO?
Encourage club leaders to review the Economic and Community Development Project Strategies guide for tips on creating successful projects in this area of focus. Lead a discussion on how their clubs’ current projects are making an impact on their communities. Go to My Rotary’s Project Lifecycle Resources page for more ideas on planning meaningful projects.