Youth and their Future in Rotary

In the several places that I have been and the several Rotary leaders with whom I have been talking to, some constant comments always appears and are constantly mentioned:

 The average age of the members of our clubs have been growing steadily;  We have not had successes in attracting young leaders to our clubs;  Rotaractors are not admitted in our Rotary Clubs immediately after they comply with all pre-conditions to aspire such opportunity;  America is a continent with an expressive young population and will maintain this profile for more 30 years.

At the same time, youth in Latin America have fought in great extent and with variable intensity from country to country, with problems in the areas of unemployment, school evasion, social exclusion, poverty, precarious quality of their houses and also in the areas of security and health, in particular related to early pregnancy and the increase of AIDS occurrences.

There exist also some myths in relation to our Youth that must be better understood, which are, between others:

Myth #1 - Young people have no worries. It is a Youth with no motivation - Well, exactly the contrary. If you just stop for a while and talk with them, you will verify that they are in permanent search

of valid causes and have a strong attitude in feeling themselves useful.

Myth #2 - They do not put a great effort in what they do - On the other hand they are given few and restricted opportunities of new jobs.

Myth #3 - They are always raising conflicts - Those who accept this myth, forget that our youth have enough reasons to be in tension, for the lack of interest that is given to their problems and the tension that exists all around them for them to renounce their dreams.

Myths taken apart, other situations contribute unfavorably for them to get stable positions in our society, thanks to the population growth, the economic crises, the not growing per-capita income, the little or inexistence progress in education and in opportunities in participation of the political life and to explore their ideas.

Since its first days, Rotary has given priority to Youth.

In 1913 it was already established in the Rotary Club of Siracuse, a Committee to deal with handicapped childrens.

During the 20’s, under the title “Give each youngster a chance”, the Rotary Club of Chicago invested on Youth to transform each of them in useful and conscious citizens, promoting Camps, Scouts Groups and other similar activities.

In 1917 occurred the first Youth Exchange between North American and Danish young boys.

The Programs of Interact, Rotaract, RYLA and more recently RotaryKids, came in to increase the rendering of service by the young people that had access to these structured Programs, during which it was transmitted to them the values in which we believe on.

I belong, like many Rotarians today, to a generation that lived under a strong ideological tension, polarized between right and left. If in one hand this brought a certain antagonism between people, it generated something that the new Generations do not know: the fact that one has to assume certain risks derived from this choice. This awakens passions. And who is passionate for ideas and as a consequence is passionate for life, do not need any stimulants or drugs.

Let us give a look into what are the aspects to which our partners in service are exposed to.

They live today with a change in their relation to information and knowledge. The college bar where in my time we were used to go, was substituted by a chat room, where young people try to join other friends that have identical way of thinking. The big difference is the international amplitude that Internet offer them today. The new generation that were born under the influence of video games, are graduating in the Universities to become the leaders of the next decades.

Which are their needs today? Which are the ideological beliefs that motivate them? What do they fight for vigorously? What Rotary can offer them?

Maybe the way that was idealized in the past for the participation of youth in our movement and in the sequence attract them into Rotary, was valid many years ago, or maybe it was an historical mistake, like someone says. The reality is that, all over the world we are not being successful in attracting Rotaractors to our clubs. The only concrete action lately, was the creation of the so called New Generation Rotary Clubs.

What was the reason of its success? It was the freedom for them to control their own destiny.

It is also truth that Rotaractors that had joined Rotary, brought with them their typical passion, and all of them were successful in their dedication to serve in Rotary Clubs. Some have become District Governors and paved a very successful service term. We already had the first woman serving as a RI director, whom by the way was one of the founders of the Rotaract Club of Paris.

But let us go back to our initial questions. What motivate young leaders to belong to Rotary? Which kind of clubs do they want to belong to?

 Clubs with projects - that allow them to exercise their idealistic vision of service;  Objective Clubs - because this new generation is used to a new dynamic in life, they reject excess of bureaucracy and static behaviors;  Receptive Clubs - that offer them the opportunities for their effort of “want to be”;  Challenging and outstanding Clubs - capable of transforming anomy in constructive action, capable of joining together the experience and influence capability of the elder with the voluntarism of the younger. Understanding this principle allowed nations to be rebuilt.  Participation on decisions towards the future - For instance by giving them opportunity to participate on their sponsor’s Club

Board;

Other aspect we must provide is the integrated planning of the structured programs dedicated to youth. By looking at these programs on an isolated form we may do one or the other well, but we

may forget to interconnect them efficiently, allowing continuity and smooth transition from one to the other and finally into Rotary.

To do this task better, in an integrated manner we should maintain in the three levels of our organization a interconnected strategic plan that guarantee this action.

At the club level, where everything happens it is necessary to create a Permanent Committee dedicated to Youth, which joins some members of the club that will dedicate themselves to think and plan the club activities towards youth. They will coordinate the priorities of actions in a joint action with the others Avenues of Service.

By the way, the approval on the last COL of the Fifth Avenue of Service dedicated to Youth, provided that RI’s activities dedicated to youth raised to a higher level, from simple Structured Programs to a philosophy of action that will allow them to have:

 More interaction in Rotary clubs humanitarian projects;  More involvement in community actions and projects;  Act in helping young members of the community we serve to run away from crime and drugs, rescuing them into a new life with activities dedicated to cultural, sport and semi professional activities;

Another useful activity is to maintain track and contact with those young members that leave our programs because of any reason, either because of their careers of for lack of time in their daily life. A reliable database will take care of that. I am sure that a Rotaractor that momentarily have to stay away from his/her club would love to receive in their mailbox a electronic copy of his sponsor club bulletin or the Governor’s Newsletter. He/she will feel cared about and that

they still are part of the family of Rotary. The first opportunity they have, they will surely come back to Rotary.

Young people are the bridge we build towards the future, making them useful assets to their community, in our effort to build a better world to live in.

They are a certainty of the perpetuity of the values that we believe that it is worthwhile to fight for.

The youth we will be able to inspire are those that will guarantee the future of Rotary. An ethical group of people, resistant through their principles to a society in some degradation.

More than showing them the way, it is more important to walk it with them.

Youth is an important part of our present, but they are 100% of our future.

Let us build it together.