First, I want to congratulate Viki on earning the title of Past President (PP) and the excellent job she did as President of the Chiang Mai International Rotary Club. In addition, we should all recognize the outstanding work she has done and continues to do on our website, Facebook, YouTube, LINE, Instagram, and TikTok and in supporting the annual Children's Winter Clothing Appeal. All that is on top of family responsibilities and working! It was inspiring to see a relatively new Rotarian making this level of contribution to CMIRC.
Some have asked about my plans for Rotary Year 2023-2024. Here are some of my general thoughts and personal concerns:
We need to have an engaged membership. There are many ways to get involved, such as board membership, committee membership, service project participation, contributing financially and making Rotary more visible in our community through conversations. Engagement is what keeps people in Rotary.
We need to grow membership.
We need a member to accept the role of President-Elect for Rotary Year 2023-2024 and to serve as President in RY 2024-2025.
Our newly forming Scholarship Committee needs to be successful in the transition of scholarships away from BEAM-only applicants to community-based applicants. We have to create a clear documentation on how the process will work.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DIE) has to be more than a slogan for the year. Diversity of members makes a club stronger. We understand that difference is good. We need to be inclusive of others with different experiences. We need to bring those, who have been historically excluded, into membership.
We need to adopt the Rotary International Action Plan Four Priorities into our thinking and decision-making. The four action plan priorities are:
Priority #1: Increase Our Impact
As People of Action, we make decisions grounded in evidence. Let us build the practices, infrastructure, and capacity needed to define, measure, track, and analyze data from our service projects in a more effective way.
Priority #2: Expand Our Reach
As People of Action, we are inclusive, engaging, compassionate, and ambitious on behalf of the world. Let us share our values with new audiences, create new ways to bring people together to experience the power of Rotary, and prove we are an organization that is inclusive, engaging, compassionate, and ambitious on behalf of the world.
Priority #3: Enhance Participant Engagement
As People of Action, we create meaningful relationships across decades and continents. Let us use every encounter as an opportunity to show people what Rotary can do for them as individuals and as members of our communities.
Priority #4: Increase Our Ability to Adapt
As People of Action, we seek new perspectives and new ideas that can strengthen Rotary and create lasting change. Let us create a culture of research, innovation, and willingness to take risks in our club to better serve our community.
It will be an interesting Rotary Year, but all years are interesting. In the past, Rotary years faced challenges we knew about and some we did not. There is always the unexpected that will occur. Please refer to the RI Action Plan Four Priorities above.