When Rotary Melbourne developed its Strategic Plan for 2018-22, a central element was focusing on at least three major projects to recognise the Centenary of Rotary, not just in Melbourne but also throughout Australia and New Zealand. RCM subsequently landed on one international, one national and several local projects that were tagged ‘R100’.

Robert Fisher featured three of them in some detail, but also acknowledged the others, which are no less important:

• ‘Gathering of Kindness’: The central idea behind this program, which runs in partnership with the Hush Foundation and involves financial and planning support and targeted communication, is to strengthen the cultures of healthcare workplaces to be kinder for staff, patients and their families alike. The COVID-19 pandemic has slowed implementation of the project, yet in a variety of ways has heightened the need for creating a safer and better environment in these workplaces.   

• ‘Healing the Hurt’: Rotary Melbourne has recruited a team of more than 80 trauma specialists who have begun to treat clients with severe problems from the 2020 bushfires. We are working with the East Gippsland Rotary Fire Aid Group to provide professional WHO preferred Therapy Training to mental health workers who live in bushfire affected areas. By teaching local healthcare staff how to use the therapy, we are helping to build the capacity of the community to develop resilience and treat trauma well into the future including family violence and children exposed to trauma.

• ‘End Hepatitis Now’: This is a collaboration between Rotary Melbourne and LiverWELL.40 presentations have been made to various Rotary Clubs in Victoria in the past 12 months, featuring a LiverWELL educator and a Lived Experience speaker, many having taken place via Zoom. The purpose of these presentations is to raise awareness that we now have the tools to prevent and manage Hepatitis B and to cure Hepatitis C.

Our national project is ‘End Trachoma’, a collaboration formed in 2016 between ourselves, Rotary Clubs all around the country and a registered charity Nourish Our Communities Ltd which manages the project. We are the world’s only developed country with trachoma – an infectious eye disease that can be prevented with good hygiene practices. But it is still present in remote Aboriginal communities and, untreated, can lead to permanent blindness.  Projects to date include working with government and non-government partners on preventative strategies such as the installation of hand and face washing facilities, the provision of over 8,000 mirrors, 10,000 bath towels and 3000 hygiene kits.

Eight interactive water trailers, including two developed by Rotary Melbourne, have been used by local staff for educational purposes in communities in the Northern Territory, WA and APY Lands in South Australia. Promotional programs are run with school children promoting face washing which is important in eradicating trachoma. The trailers are maintained and managed by community and government organisations. 

‘Trachoma Champions’ have been recruited in all 21 Rotary Districts. Some 300 Clubs are engaged in supporting the project across Australia. With over $1M raised, resources have been developed to help Clubs promote End Trachoma among their memberships. This is a wonderful example of a hands-on R100 project.

Another Rotary Melbourne initiative, ‘Rotary SAFE Families’, was established over three years ago to help stop all forms of family violence by addressing its underlying causes, and has spread far beyond our own Club.  It has evolved into a national program with valuable resources and tools including images and short films to assist every Rotarian in every part of Australia to play their part in stopping abuse in families everywhere. Rotary SAFE Families has become a significant tool in a national collective voice to stop family violence in our communities. Now, with an active website and a Rotary Ambassador Club Program in place, Rotary Clubs around Australia are signing up to promote the program's powerful messages to their communities, we must – all of us – take some responsibility for stopping abuse in Australia by:

• • Recognising the signs; 
• • Raising our concerns whenever they arise; and
• • Referring to the right agency for support.

The international project is ‘Rotary Give Every Child a Future’. It is now over five years ago that Hugh Bucknall and his R100 Committee took the initiative of exploring the possibility of the four Rotary Clubs that were established in Australia and NZ 100 years ago – Melbourne, Sydney, Wellington and Auckland – celebrating this milestone by engaging together in a really significant project.

Rotary Give Every Child a Future was subsequently born as a perfect Centenary Project – for three reasons:

• • Its sheer scale and impact – immunising 100,000 children across the Pacific region against three life threatening diseases;
• • Its potential interest to Rotarians throughout Australia and NZ; and
• • Its partnership with UNICEF, with whom Rotary has worked on polio elimination over many years, and who offer excellent technical and logistics capability in the region. And they have been fantastic to work with.

The project’s nine countries involved were identified by UNICEF as being in critical need of our help. 

The three vaccines in the program are:

• • HPV, to protect females against most forms of cervical cancer;
• • Rotavirus vaccine, to protect children against this infection, which can result in hospitalisation or even death; and
• • PCV, to protect children from pneumonia, meningitis and other life-threatening problems.

The challenges are enormous, but already progress is significant:

• • The region is remote, with many logistical difficulties – 660 islands and atolls across 17 million square kms
• • COVID-19 has had an impact on delivery time-frames, yet a crucial part of our program is strengthening health systems to ensure sustainable delivery of various vaccines into the future, so with every problem comes an opportunity!
• • With huge thanks to the Rotary Foundation, the Baker Foundation, many Rotary Clubs and individual Rotarians, total funds raised so far are around US$1.8M – nearly 50% of the total project budget of US$3.9M.

It’s wonderful to showcase projects like Give Every Child a Future, because that’s what Rotary is about – serving the needs of communities at home and abroad; helping to make a better world – and in this our Centenary year, creating a truly inspiring and lasting legacy.  

Share this with your friends