Rotaractors, Rotarians and guests of Rotaract, I welcome you to the last month in our first quarter. As a district, we have been off to a good start and I do believe that the best is yet to come. I had the privilege of starting my tour of duty and I am very excited with what the clubs in central zone IV have already achieved in these first months.
This zone has the Rotaract clubs of Akright city, Namasuba. Kajjansi, Nkumba
University, Nkumba Stewards and Bwebajja. My interaction with was indeed a fruitful as we aim to build stronger clubs. Take off time and visit these clubs, I am sure you feel the same warmth that I felt. I am indeed grateful to the great leadership of ADRR Nyakato Barbra and the guidance that he keeps giving to these clubs.
In this newsletter I would like to share with you some lessons learned from central zone IV.
1. Registration of clubs with URSB
Three of the clubs in this zone had finalized their registration with URSB, 2 clubs were still in the application process and 1 had not yet started. This implies that majority of the clubs in this zone had knowledge about registration with URSB and are ready to enjoy the benefits that come with registration, which makes them one step up on the qualification of both district and global
grants. These clubs are aware of the necessary steps one needs to take to register their company and members can use this information to register their personal companies.
2. Giving to TRF
I was very excited to know that the Rotaract club of Bwebajja has remitted $190 to rotary
foundation, Rotaract clubs of Namasuba and Nkumba stewards had collected $100 and
$70 respectively towards TRF and were yet to remit it. During this visit I noted that a few of the clubs did not know how to remit funds to TRF and we took off time to show the members present how to remit these funds.
3. Fundraising
Our clubs usually go all out on fundraising as funds are very key in management of projects. Members invest a lot of time in fundraising and sometimes don’t raise the much-anticipated
funds. Rotaract club of Nkumba stewards shared with us their secret to fundraising. The club used their registration status with URSB to acquire momo and airtel pay accounts which they share with prospective donors. The club testifies that using these mobile money accounts has improved their fundraising by 80%. They said that it is easier for someone to send mobile money from the comfort of their home or anywhere they might be than attending fundraising events or going to the bank.
4. Membership retention and growth
The Rotaract club of Bwebajja does pride in the well-organized buddy group system which
they share with their mother club as the key to membership retention and growth. They
assign all members to a buddy group through which their club attendance and participation
is tracked. They further use these buddy groups for bonding purposes. The Rotaract club of Namasuba did share that their strategy to member retention was inclusion of all members onto the club committees and through that, members feel that they belong to the club and have a skill to offer. This doesn’t only improve membership retention but also leads to professional and leadership development.
5. Team work
While crafting these visits, the secretariat and I had a goal in mind. We hoped to improve collaboration and strengthen the bond among clubs which are in the same zones. This was concluded on after realizing that each club has a unique strength that they could share
with another club and at the end of it all, the clubs would learn from one another. At the beginning of the rotary year, the district leadership challenged clubs to create meaningful
partnership and carry out projects in the areas where their clubs meet.
Central zone IV led by example when they executed a successful project in Kajjansi. The was
an upright display of teamwork with all presidents and their club members reaching out to the community of Kajjansi with free health services. I am glad to have been a witness to this.
From the above lessons learned, I would like to encourage clubs to pick some examples that might work for their clubs and adopt them. Modification can be made to what suits the club best and I do believe that in the end, we shall add value to our members & communities because, “What you become depends on what you can overcome”