Jennifer Jones and other dignitaries during a panel session
The President of Rotary Club International, Jennifer Jones, has pledged to intensify the club’s commitment to community-based service to deliver real long-term solutions in the area of health, peace, and prosperity in District 9102 – Ghana, Togo, Benin, and Niger.
At a media engagement in Accra, Madam Jennifer reiterated that she is committed to connecting members of the 46,000 clubs scattered across the various districts to come together and strengthen their commitment to community service to the world’s most persistent issues.
For 116 years, Rotary members have been addressing challenges around the world. Each year, Rotary members invest hundreds of millions of dollars and countless volunteer hours in sustainable, community-based solutions to promote health, peace, and prosperity in communities across the globe.
Rotary combines global reach, local resources, and highly skilled volunteers with a funding structure that distributes US$200 million annually to skilled volunteers to provide clean water and sanitation, support education, prevent and treat diseases, save mothers and children, grow local economies, promote peace and protect the environment.
Reaffirming the club’s commitment to supporting District 9102, Madam Jennifer said a lot more social projects are underway in District 9102, especially in Ghana where the club has one of the largest programme in partnership with the USAID on potable drinking water for rural communities among other social projects.
“Providing potable drinking water is our second largest funded project after polio eradication initiatives, which is a very big investment to this nation. And part of the realisation is that the rural part of the country here in Ghana lack the access to clean water, sanitation, basic hygiene, and other critical issues.
“10% of the population does not have access to potable drinking water in Ghana. The 9 million the club has invested in that project along with 9 million from USAID is building capacity to provide this basic necessity to the rural folks, and the clubs here have taken ownership of that. We can transform lives in District 9102 and I’m here to reaffirm our commitment that the club with its members are competent to see the realisation of our project,” she added.
She also stated that for more than 30 years, Rotary has been the driving force in the effort to end polio worldwide alongside partners in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. “The club has achieved a 99.9 per cent reduction in polio cases, with less than 150 cases of wild polio reported in 2020 compared with 350,000 a year later in the late 1980s,” she said.
Members of the club have contributed $2.4 billion and countless volunteer hours to protect more than 3 billion children in 122 countries from this paralysing disease.
Rotary International is a humanitarian service organisation that brings together businesses and professional leaders to provide community service, promote integrity, and advance goodwill, peace, and understanding in the world. It is a non-political and non-religious organisation.
Today, Rotary District 9102 has 120 Rotary clubs and 79 Rotaract clubs in all four countries, with 4,605 members in total. Rotarians in District 9102 are committed to increasing efforts in eradicating polio; promoting peace; fighting diseases; providing clean water; saving lives; supporting education and growing the local economy.
BY Prince Fiifi Yorke