On Monday evening we had the pleasure of having Tony Heyward, Deputy Chair of Rotary Zone 8 Regional Council, talk about the new Regionalisation Pilot. There are only two regions carrying out this Pilot. The other region is UK & Ireland.
The prime reason for the Pilot is “to reverse the decline in membership and increase the reach and impact of Rotary and Rotaract in Zone 8”. Zone 8 includes New Zealand, Australia, and other South Pacific nations.
The ‘Rotary Action Plan’ will guide us, using the four Strategic Priorities:
- Increase our Impact
- Expand our Reach
- Enhance Our Participation Engagement
- Increase Our Ability to Adapt
Here is the link to the Rotary Action Plan http://www.rotary.org/actionplan
Tony made it very clear that the world, and our communities, are changing fast, so Rotary must change too. He believes that the Pilot’s potential benefits for clubs include:
- Enhanced support network for clubs
- Less duplication of tasks
- More collaboration and coordination between clubs
- Greater capacity to form partnerships
- One message, multiple languages
- Larger scale projects with a bigger impact
- More consistent public image campaigns
- More appeal for prospective members
The Pilot will run for two years.