(June 2007) –RI Board approves Strategic Plan 2007-10

At its June meeting, the RI Board approved a new mission, vision, and set of core values for Rotary International, reaffirmed that Rotary's motto is Service Above Self, and adopted the priorities and goals established in the organization's 2007-10 Strategic Plan.

Rotary's new mission reads: The mission of Rotary International, a worldwide association of Rotary clubs, is to provide service to others, to promote high ethical standards, and to advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through its fellowship of business, professional, and community leaders.

The vision of Rotary International is to be universally recognized for its commitment to Service Above Self to advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace.

Recognizing the role that core values play in driving the direction of the organization and the actions of members, the Board approved the following values as Rotary's guiding principles: Service, fellowship, diversity, integrity, and leadership.

"These core values are all reflected in The Four Way Test," said 2007-08 RI President Wilfrid J. Wilkinson. "By adopting a specific set of core values in the strategic plan, we can provide Rotarians with more explicit standards to guide and evaluate their actions."

In addition, the Board approved the following seven priorities as recommended by the RI Strategic Planning Committee:
* Eradicate polio
* Advance the internal and external recognition and public image of Rotary
* Increase Rotary's capacity to provide service to others Expand membership globally in both numbers and quality
* Emphasize Rotary's unique vocational service commitment
* Optimize the use and development of leadership talents within RI
* Fully implement the strategic planning process to ensure continuity and consistency throughout the organization.

Each priority is supported by a set of goals and success indicators to measure progress being made. Look for brochures, presentations, plan implementation progress reports, strategic planning models and guidelines for clubs and districts, and other information on the strategic plan in RI publications and on the Web site in upcomingmonths.

Groundbreaking Rotary World Peace Symposium a success

Salt Lake City —

Represented here are some of the best and brightest from Rotary's two innovative peace programs, the Rotary Centers for International Studies in peace and conflict resolution, a graduate-level program marking its fifth anniversary, and the Rotary Peace and Conflict Studies Program, a short-term program aimed at professionals in governments and other agencies that was launched in 2006.

Attendees heard panel discussions about how alumni and participants of the two programs are working to resolve conflicts worldwide.

Edwin M. Epstein, the Rotary Peace Center director at the University of California at Berkeley, commended the Rotary Centers. "Rotarians have created something very special and very wonderful. In the 46 years of my professional life as an educator, nothing I've experienced has ever come close to this."

Located at seven leading universities around the world, Rotary Peace Centers provide fellows the chance to study in a graduate-level program in conflict resolution, peace studies, international relations, and other related disciplines. Up to 60 Rotary World Peace Fellows are accepted each year through a globally competitive selection process.

"The University of Berkeley gave me the skills and tools to work in the field I wanted to," says former Peace Fellow Jeyashree Nadarajah, of Malaysia, who works in the UN office for the special representation of children involved in armed conflict.

One of the symposium's keynote speakers, Gillian Sorenson, a senior adviser at the UN Foundation, emphatically told attendees: "Yes, peace is possible." But, she added, "Goodwill is not enough." It will require, work, vision, and the ability to seize the moment. She called upon the Peace Fellows to be "the first guard of a mighty peaceful army."

"Being a Peace Fellow is extremely well-regarded," said Chigaga, who graduated from the Duke University Peace Center and works for the director general of the International Labor Organization. "And because of the integrity of Rotary's name, I've discovered a big responsibility in carrying the name of Rotary with me."