International Services Committee

Dr Ross Colquhoun

As a new member when asked to take on the new role of Chair of the ISC I asked myself: Was I knowledgeable enough about Rotary, did I have time, was someone else more suitable, was I stepping on toes of long standing members?

I would like to thank those who were supportive and helped me get an understanding of the role and who convinced me to accept the job. Members of the ISC were very generous with her time with advice and letting me know who was who; giving me an understanding of the history of the committee, the roles of various people over the years and the tasks the committee is designed to undertake.

As a result of my experience I would like to recommend to the Club that some sort of Starting Kit be organised for each Committee with names of Committee members (for some time people floated into the meetings, who I did not know, and wondered if they were not lost as often a set of email address just don't tell you much), and Board members, the different programs the committee oversees and the role of the Chair person. It would have helped me a lot as I am still learning in bits and pieces as I stumble upon new information and new members.

So the programs we are actively involved with are:

a. Rotary Foundation Matching Grants: The ISC has been very busy looking at some new projects to bring back to the Club some of the money (about $15000) that we donate to the Foundation each year through application for Matching Grants. To obtain a Matching Grant is a complex issue with most projects being ineligible as they mostly involve travel that is not funded. There are three very good projects we are examining. The original Foundation Committee that merged with the ISC some four years ago, whose aims are to: accept donations for overseas projects that can attract matching grants; promote the Foundation's activities within the club, and: apply for Foundation Grants on behalf of these projects. Bruce has asked to me mention that as we have a number of proposed projects that look very worthwhile are there clubs who are looking for projects at the moment? The ISC is discussing the possibility of supporting one of two projects that have been submitted to the Committee for consideration and making an application for a Matching Grant on their behalf. The first project is the initiative of the Carabez Alliance to fund the training of local people as Audiologist to conduct hearing assessments for those with hearing impairment and to support the provision of services for deaf children in Fiji; The second project is a Mental Health project in Suva seeking support to fund the building of a facility to provide mental health services and also funding for Post Graduate courses for psychiatrists in Fiji.

b. RAWCS. This is a program that allows worthwhile projects to have donations made to them tax deductable. This year the ISC has successfully organised for five different projects to be eligible.

c. ROMAC and the Adrian Golding Gift of Life. The Committee has overseen funding for young people brought from Pacific Island countries to Australia to have life-saving operations that this Gift pays for. At the moment the funds have run down and we face a decision about whether to only have a person treated every three of four years, based on earnings from the capital (with some top up from the club) or we run down the funds and pay three or four to have treat immediately. Further contributions to continue the work of the Adrian Golding Gift for Life would be most welcome.

d. We also liaise with District and provide hosting for Group Study Exchange and Ambassadorial Scholarships. The ISC hosts exchange students and also provides cocktail parties and welcoming events for those people.

e. Ranfairly Library which continues to collect 2nd Hand books to be sent to students in Island nations. This is a District project, however while we were once actively involved we have little to do with it in recent times.

f. The ISC has for some years been collecting 2nd hand eye glasses to be sent to Island nations. Both projects could do with some more input if anyone was interested

g. Consular Day. The ISC is primarily involved in organising these days and this year was no exception with 18 or so Consuls attending our March meeting.

h. Friendship and Sister Clubs. The ISC has been actively involved in maintaining links with those clubs that we have formalized these relationships with and also involved in establishing these special relationships with other clubs. At the moment we are talking to the Rotary Club of Islamabad.

i. Promotion of relations with the various international communities within Australia. The ISC has organised a very successful Chinese Dinner where we invited members of the Australian Chinese Association to join us. 60% of the guests were from this group and we were very happy with the links we made. We have plans for similar events in the coming year. If anyone has any links with any ethnic groups I would be very pleased to talk with you about organising similar dinners. We have also been involved in organising a series of International Dinners with members allowing us to use their homes to host them. As members of the ISC are cooking the various dishes, we not only get to eat some great food we are also raising over $3000 for each dinner. Many thanks to all those who have cooked the delicious food.

Projects that we have actively supported over the last two years include:

a. Opportunity Cambodia is a project Club member Carolyn Fletcher initiated 5 years ago to provide education for young people from poor families in country areas of Cambodia. The program has been operating in one village for over two years and children were flourishing in school, which also provided nourishment and health care. They had now purchased land to construct a purpose built learning center for the children and to start an outreach program that will include training girls in tailoring so they can make some income. The Committee has successfully included this project under RAWCs and we are hopeful that we can provide some direct support in the future

b. The Y-FIN Project is an initiative of The Duke of Edinbrough Awards. It is designed to provide the opportunity and resources for students in the Solomon Islands to plan and start up new business enterprises. The Rotary Club of Sydney has raised over $30,000 towards this project. The project has now trained 35 mentors to guide the youth groups in the development of each business project as a part of achieving their Duke of Edinbrough Bronze Awards. The project is well supported by the Commerce Ministry with the Governor General at the Opening Ceremony. The young people have almost completed the first 28 week program with a good in-take for next year. The project is a model to expand across the Solomon Islands, but also to other islander countries around the Pacific. The best initiatives may be able to continue as viable business enterprises. It was reported that committee members had met in Brisbane with exchange students from the Solomon's, some of whom were part of the Y-FIN program. The various roles each student had taken on in rolling out of each of the business plans were described. A meeting to present annual reports on the different projects will be held in Honiara shortly and we look forward to the forthcoming report back to the committee. Overall the program is working very well with numerous flow-on benefits to the students and their local communities.

c. The Rotary Club of Sydney has been actively involved in the Singapore-Makita-Sydney micro-finance project in the Philippines. Rotary raised $200,000 to provide micro-financing (seed loans) for women for small business opportunities in the Manila area. It's a $50m project with 95% recovery rate.

d. Vision Beyond Aus. This is a project of the Club that is actively supported by the ISC. The project aims to raise funds to support the work of volunteer doctors to travel and work in Rishakesh in India to restore the eyesight of seeing impaired people. As well as finds from the Fiducian Finance Golf Day the committee has raised funds though its International Dinner program.

Let me conclude by thanking all the members of the ISC for their support and contributions this last year and to say to the Club that I have been lucky to Chair a committee with some many very capable, resourced, generous and agreeable people and if one would like to join the committee you would be most welcome