Successful Rotary Clubs

Successful Rotary Clubs are possible only through the Best Practices laid down in Rotary. Those are summarised as -
Strong clubs foster innovation and flexibility. This collection of best practices is intended to strengthen clubs — the first priority of the RI Strategic Plan — by motivating members to implement new ideas to increase the vitality of the club.
Consider these as tips that can be tailored to make your club stronger.
T?hese best practices include:
• Developing long-range goals that address the elements of an effective club
• Setting annual goals that support long-range goals
• Keeping all members involved and informed
• Communicating effectively with club members and district leaders
• Ensuring continuity in leadership from year to year
• Customizing the bylaws to reflect club operations
• Providing regular fellowship opportunities
• Actively involving all club members
• Offering regular, consistent training
• Assigning committees that support your club's operational needs, including: administration, membership, public relations, service projects, and The Rotary Foundation
Your club procedures may already incorporate these practices. As you read through the best practices in this guide, focus on ones your club could implement or improve.
Has your club evaluated its traditions and practices lately to determine whether they are contributing to your club's vitality

Successful Rotary Clubs

Successful Rotary Clubs are possible only through the Best Practices laid down in Rotary. Those are summarised as -
Strong clubs foster innovation and flexibility. This collection of best practices is intended to strengthen clubs — the first priority of the RI Strategic Plan — by motivating members to implement new ideas to increase the vitality of the club.
Consider these as tips that can be tailored to make your club stronger.
T?hese best practices include:
• Developing long-range goals that address the elements of an effective club
• Setting annual goals that support long-range goals
• Keeping all members involved and informed
• Communicating effectively with club members and district leaders
• Ensuring continuity in leadership from year to year
• Customizing the bylaws to reflect club operations
• Providing regular fellowship opportunities
• Actively involving all club members
• Offering regular, consistent training
• Assigning committees that support your club's operational needs, including: administration, membership, public relations, service projects, and The Rotary Foundation
Your club procedures may already incorporate these practices. As you read through the best practices in this guide, focus on ones your club could implement or improve.
Has your club evaluated its traditions and practices lately to determine whether they are contributing to your club's vitality

Micro Credit- Namaste Projects

Rtns, Somes, Sarav, Rajiv, Daya and Rohan we at the meeting today.

Venue was Colombo Golf Club.

 Funds:      Rs. 3.6 million 

It was decided that no new borrowers will be entertained hereafter. After careful review 41 of the 347 borrowers have been given new loans of up to Rs. 200,000.

Paddy Cultivation: Initial efforts have been successful. 60 farmers have signed up for this project. Some of them were taken down to Kurunegala (Charitha organized this) to see other farmers doing the heirloom rice cultivation. They were very interested.

The farmers have also agreed to plant high value fruits/long term crops. We have to provide the saplings for this purpose. The committee will identify nurseries for this purpose before next meeting. We are expecting this project to expand to 100 acres in 3 years time.

Crafts Program – We have decided to supply Scarves to both Barefoot and Selyn but to avoid competition between them, Barefoot will supply only locally (within Sri Lanka) and Selyn will supply to the export market.

Total Sales (Mar – Jul):   Rs. 600,000

Delivered in Jul:                Rs. 1,000,000 (Estimated approx.)

The women have earned about Rs. 40,000 (from sales so far) till date and they are very happy.

It was proposed that we form a Trust which will own the full scarf manufacturing operation and the women workers will be the beneficiaries. This seems to be the best form for managing this operation currently. The committee accepted this and Tina Wendon, Chutta Ratnathicam and T. Someswaran will be the trustees initially. It was also decided to rotate trustees on a regular basis. This was recommended by Julius and Creasy (Ms. Anandiy K. Gunawardena and Ms. Ruwanthie Tanthirige)

It was also noted that we need a new facility to manufacture these items. A location has been identified (1 acre at Rs. 400,000). The land has to be obtained from the government by Permit. Architect has also been identified (Ms. Sunela Jeyawardene). The committee will come up with a budget for this before next meeting.

Mullativu Coconut Small Holders: Mr. Appuhamy visited Mullativu again in June 2014. 150 Farmers have signed up to this project. They were all asked to fill out a questionnaire and 60 of them have been selected to begin the project with. They will be guided throughout the process by Mr. Appuhamy.

End goal is to produce higher value coconut based products.

Eco-Tourism: No update. PP Daya suggested that he had a contact involved (Mr. Munasinghe) in something similar and will arrange a meeting.

Vavuniya English Program Update

Dec 2014 is the O/Level exams and we will be able to see the results of our work based on the results of the students. We expect at least a 70% pass rate. Currently, there are about 22 teachers and 700 students.

A second program was started at the catholic church in Vavuniya. The father is teaching a number of students from around the area.

CARM Reporting: They have requested details about the projects from Charitha, this will help them with monitoring.

Funds Available: Namaste has about USD 40,000

Micro Credit- Namaste Projects

Rtns, Somes, Sarav, Rajiv, Daya and Rohan we at the meeting today.

Venue was Colombo Golf Club.

 Funds:      Rs. 3.6 million 

It was decided that no new borrowers will be entertained hereafter. After careful review 41 of the 347 borrowers have been given new loans of up to Rs. 200,000.

Paddy Cultivation: Initial efforts have been successful. 60 farmers have signed up for this project. Some of them were taken down to Kurunegala (Charitha organized this) to see other farmers doing the heirloom rice cultivation. They were very interested.

The farmers have also agreed to plant high value fruits/long term crops. We have to provide the saplings for this purpose. The committee will identify nurseries for this purpose before next meeting. We are expecting this project to expand to 100 acres in 3 years time.

Crafts Program – We have decided to supply Scarves to both Barefoot and Selyn but to avoid competition between them, Barefoot will supply only locally (within Sri Lanka) and Selyn will supply to the export market.

Total Sales (Mar – Jul):   Rs. 600,000

Delivered in Jul:                Rs. 1,000,000 (Estimated approx.)

The women have earned about Rs. 40,000 (from sales so far) till date and they are very happy.

It was proposed that we form a Trust which will own the full scarf manufacturing operation and the women workers will be the beneficiaries. This seems to be the best form for managing this operation currently. The committee accepted this and Tina Wendon, Chutta Ratnathicam and T. Someswaran will be the trustees initially. It was also decided to rotate trustees on a regular basis. This was recommended by Julius and Creasy (Ms. Anandiy K. Gunawardena and Ms. Ruwanthie Tanthirige)

It was also noted that we need a new facility to manufacture these items. A location has been identified (1 acre at Rs. 400,000). The land has to be obtained from the government by Permit. Architect has also been identified (Ms. Sunela Jeyawardene). The committee will come up with a budget for this before next meeting.

Mullativu Coconut Small Holders: Mr. Appuhamy visited Mullativu again in June 2014. 150 Farmers have signed up to this project. They were all asked to fill out a questionnaire and 60 of them have been selected to begin the project with. They will be guided throughout the process by Mr. Appuhamy.

End goal is to produce higher value coconut based products.

Eco-Tourism: No update. PP Daya suggested that he had a contact involved (Mr. Munasinghe) in something similar and will arrange a meeting.

Vavuniya English Program Update

Dec 2014 is the O/Level exams and we will be able to see the results of our work based on the results of the students. We expect at least a 70% pass rate. Currently, there are about 22 teachers and 700 students.

A second program was started at the catholic church in Vavuniya. The father is teaching a number of students from around the area.

CARM Reporting: They have requested details about the projects from Charitha, this will help them with monitoring.

Funds Available: Namaste has about USD 40,000