International Service Committee
Approximately 50% of our Club's funds are used for international services initiatives. The other 50% is put back into aiding our own community.
Our humanitarian aim is to improve lives and meet human needs, and thus advance world understanding, goodwill and peace.
Our local club has been involved in numerous projects from eradicating polio; providing shelter, clean water and food, improving medical facilities and many more. Through our partnerships, we have made a positive impact on thousands of lives.
Our areas of focus are to:
- PROVIDE CLEAN WATER, SANITATION & HYGIENE
- SUPPORT EDUCATION
- FIGHT DISEASE
- PROMOTE PEACE
- GROW LOCAL ECONOMIES
- SAVE MOTHERS AND CHILDREN
- SUPPORT THE ENVIRONMENT
As we embrace these opportunities, we also gain professional development and join networks of other Rotarians and humanitarian workers in support of initiatives in all corners of our world.
Rotary International encourages us to develop projects that address priority needs identified by the communities they serve, to help people help themselves, and to ensure projects are environmentally sustainable.
Currently Funded International Projects:
- Jacana Honey Project, Chipata, Zambia
- Disaster Relief for Ukraine
- Doctors Without Borders - Gaza relief
- Nepal sanitation and toilet project
- Trauma Healing and Reconciliation Center (THARS) - Burundi
- Maternal Health Project in Mali
- Water Project in Mozambique
- Cooperative for Education in Guatemala (literacy)
- School Feeding Project Kenya/Ethiopia/Somalia
- WASH Project in Malawi
NOTL Rotary undertakes a WASH project in Malawi
Ten Rotary Clubs Band Together to Fund Humanitarian Project in Malawi
Under the leadership of the Niagara-on-the-Lake Rotary Club a total of 10 Rotary Clubs from both sides of the Niagara River have joined together in providing funding for Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Health Facilities (WASH) in Rumphi District, Malawi.
Interest in the project was inspired by The World Health Organization and UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) recently released ‘WASH in Health Care Facilities - Global Baseline Report 2019’, a global assessment presenting the stark inadequacy of water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services in Health Care Facilities (HCFs).
Background
In 2018, Transform International (TI) and their partner, the Desert Research Institute (DRI) were approached to undertake a program to develop a tool kit that would improve sustainability of WASH systems in HCFs.
To date they have taken the following steps:
- A global landscape review of literature on improving sustainability of WASH systems in HCFs
- On-the-ground research in Rumphi District, Malawi, gathering data from 18 HCFs in the district (2 hospitals, a few outposts, and 13 clinics most of which offer maternity services and outpatient departments) on barriers to sustainability of the WASH systems
Transform International is working collaboratively with the Rumphi District Council to build a program addressing infrastructure shortcomings in these 18 HCFs, and this project will be the first element in this program - addressing WASH shortcomings at the Chisimuka Clinic.
Young also points out that “sustainability is of fundamental importance to ensure that the functioning of installed infrastructure is maintained in the future”.
About Malawi
Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world, with 50.7 percent of the population living below the poverty line and 25 percent living in extreme poverty.
Wash Project for the Pastoralists of the Maasai Mara
The main objective is to improve access to WASH facilities and training on hygiene and conservation skills for about 1600 primary school learners and staff.
The project will construct RWH storage tanks complete with guttering and hand wash stands, build latrines and hygiene training for two schools in the Conservancies next to the Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya.
The schools are near an important ecologically sensitive area, we will include wildlife appreciation education and tree planting.
Participating Rotary Clubs
- Rotary Club of Niagara-on-the-Lake
- Rotary Club of St. Catharines
- Rotary Club of Niagara Falls ON
- Rotary Club of Niagara Falls Sunrise
- Rotary Club of Simcoe
- Rotary Club of St. Catharines South
- Rotary Club of Buffalo Sunrise
- Rotary Club of Fonthill
- Rotary Club BNMC (Buffalo Medical Center)
- Margaret Andrewes (Rotary Club of Lincoln)
Contact
Patrick MacNeill, Project Coordinator
tel: 905-468-3482,
email: patrickmacneill3@gmail.com
Overview of Jacana Honey Project – Chipata, Zambia – March 2021
The Rotary Club of NOTL, with the assistance of a District 7090 District Grant, is providing funding to the Jacana Business Centre in Chipata, Zambia, for the purchase of Honey Processing Equipment. The Jacana Business Centre is a Zambian NGO started in 2015, and is supported by Transform International (Canada), of which Rotarian PDG Nancy Gilbert is Program Director.
The Jacana Business Centre is working with the Eastern Beekeepers Co-operative (EBC) to develop a beekeeping and honey producing business in the Chipata area of Zambia. Apiculture is among the sectors that have been identified with great potential to enhance economic growth and poverty reduction in Zambia.
The purchase of the honey processing equipment for US$6,600 was scheduled for 2020, Year 2 of the Jacana Five-Year Business Plan, and this fitted nicely with the timing of this District Grant cycle. The US$6,600 funding is made up of a contribution of US$3,600 from the Rotary Club of Niagara-on-the-Lake, and a 7090 District Grant of US$3000.
This Project will support the Rotary Area of Focus aimed at Growing Local Economies. It will enhance economic and community development in the Chipata area, will create opportunities for decent and productive work for young and old, men and women, and will strengthen local entrepreneurship. It will also support the Rotary Area of Focus Supporting Education by contributing to vocational education and training.
The aim of the Jacana Business Centre is to create opportunities for small entrepreneurs, so that they can grow economically and create better living conditions for themselves and their families. The Centre is based on the SMART philosophy:
Simple
Market-based
Affordable and
Repairable
Technologies
Having established the Eastern Beekeepers Co-operative (EBC) in 2019, Jacana has to date trained 160 promising beekeepers who want to expand their businesses. The biggest beekeeper has 50 hives. They all face the same problem: processing honey in a hygienic way and bottling for the local market. Jacana is guiding the group and is building a processing plant which will add value to the honey and will collect valuable wax that is now wasted. For the beekeepers it is too expensive to start their own processing plant at this stage and that is why they wish to use a clean processing room at the Jacana Business Centre, fitted out with the stainless steel equipment provided under this project. This processing room will be certified to meet food-grade standards by ZABS (Zambian Bureau of Standards).
In summary, this project will help the beekeepers and their families to reduce poverty in a truly sustainable way in a poor area of Zambia, by supporting small business development.
School Feeding Project: Hadad Primary School in Kargi, Kenya
These photos are from John Boot's (International Committee Chair, Rotary Club of Niagara-on-the-Lake) trip there in October with an engineer to assess expanding a water supply to nearby villages, and to deliver much-needed food to the community. The club has been helping Kargi via global & direct grants over the last 10+ years. The delivery was at a crucial time. Due to a food shortage, the administration was considering a temporary closure for the school where students stay from Monday 'til Friday every week.
From John's notes:
"Kargi is on the front lines of the fight against global warming — 25 km from the expanding Chalbi desert. They have suffered through 4 years of drought and this year doesn’t look promising. On our 8-hour drive over incredibly rough roads we saw little wildlife. Most men are away herding with what is left of their cattle, camels and goats. There is competition (and conflict) for pasture with other tribes.
They stay because it's their home. They’re almost all from the Rendille tribe. They’ve been there for as long as they can remember. Also, there is a borehole near the town and people from neighbouring villages come there for water. Our Rainwater Harvesting Tank is now their water holding tank."
A picture below at the school includes a prominent message crediting the NOTL club for its support.
