Rotarians are ready to foster national development

How much of a challenge do you see ahead as the first female president of Rotary International? 

This is an opportunity for me to open doors for other people. But I am looking at it differently from what we had in the previous senior leadership roles. I believe we are actively talking about organisation and having the vast perspective. It is important to build capacity in leadership for men and women to sit together on the table and have open dialogue on solving the most pressing challenges. I hope that my leadership will inspire other women to step forward, but other men as well and perhaps  say this a little different from what I have seen before. 

We have seen the ministries of Education, Health and the World Health Organisation asking Rotary to help with skilling nurses and teachers.

How do you intend to rally Rotarians around the World to build capacities in these areas?

We met the ministers and we were be able to speak about the existing partnerships. Rotarians are already engaged in conversations on how to create impact together and how we can leverage resources of Rotary and those of government. One of the ways that Rotary brings resources on the table, is through our global grants structure.

Rotarians and Rotary Club members are able to establish projects in consultation and partnership with ministries of Health and Education by looking at the needs of the community. What is important is to have dialogue about what is needed.

We need to ask people their greatest need and the ministries can undertake technical work to understand the greatest needs, then they dialogue with rotarians about the need. Next is to secure grants by engaging corporations that are here, Rotary families and international partners. One of the benefits of our foundation is we win grants by finding international partners who are interested in these projects.

During this trip, we actually had more than 40 international guests, who travelled to observe what is on the ground and many of them will start implementing projects with Rotarians in Uganda. They are going back to tell stories of what they have seen and have discussions with people back in their Rotary clubs in Switzerland, US, UK, Canada on what can be done.

It is an exchange of ideas and thoughts between nations and using the best strengths of our organisation to tackle issues critical in our community.

You mentioned that Rotary is apolitical. Do you think engagement with government can cause friction at some point?

As a non-government, non-political and non-religious organisation, our role is to work with different levels of government to identify needs and work together to create solutions. We stay away from political engagements and only focus on harnessing partnerships aimed at making a positive impact in the lives of people. 

Teenage pregnancy statistics in refugee camps are alarming.  What plans do you have to address this?

The Rotaract Club at Nakivaale Refugee camp has created a sewing centre. Women in this refugee camp are sewing reusable menstruation pads for girls, which is providing an economic opportunity for them to make these products and sell them to generate some income.

But toilet facilities, water, sanitation and hygiene become the pillars area of focus. In the one of the settlements we were in, one of the administrators of the primary school, said the rate of women going from primary school to high school stands at 50 percent.

One of the concerns was that girls do not have education beyond primary school because of teenage pregnancies and child marriages. The only way we can eliminate young marriages and teenage pregnancies is through keeping the girls at school.

Education is the only way we know that can exponentially drop the teenage pregnancies and early marriages.The Rotaract Club is doing an incredible job. Of course this is the case in different parts of the world.

I have met with thousands of Rotarians from different countries, many of whom are working on menstrual hygiene and have programmes they are taking to the communities.

Are Rotarians in Uganda helping the common man?

Many of the people who are leaders in Rotary here are leaders in other companies, corporations and have good relations with people of the highest levels in the county.

They have potential to open doors and when you compare this in a developing nation, you see Rotarians who are highly connected to the very top structure of the country.

Sometimes in more developed countries, it is not easy to find such effective connections with Rotarians as it is here. And obviously, they leverage their positions and connections to take services to those in need.

One of the emerging issues is the climate and environment induced migrations, which are causing conflict in communities. How is Rotary planning to mitigate this challenge?

I am here to engage the Rotary family and the community to create awareness of what the Rotary Peace Centre stands. This is the first and the only one on the African continent.

This Peace Centre should not only be providing education and awareness but also training peace scholars, who come from the refugees settlements to provide lessons for peace-making activities.

There is one who came from Nakivaale refugee settlement and he is providing more than 10 different activities in real time. The impact this centre brings to Uganda and the entire continent, cannot be underestimated.

What are some of these peace activities?

Our peace fellows come from different vocational backgrounds. Some of them work as doctors, some work in different levels of government and others are legal professionals. They come across the board to share different knowledge and skills and create a network of professionals, who can rely on each other to create solutions and to support each other.

You met the First Lady, what did you discuss?

We had an opportunity to meet the First Lady and we briefed her about my visit and the various projects Rotary is implementing in Uganda.

Which countries have you visited during this tour and how do their projects compare to those in Uganda?

The first one was Pakistan, where we have been working since 1988 to eradicate Polio. We brought in partners to immunise children. We need $4.2m to eradicate polio in Pakistan.

I also went to Zambia, where we are piloting a large scale programme to eliminate malaria.

More than 500 health workers have been selected by their communities to provide diagnosis, treatment and drugs for malaria and also identify special needs persons, where they are working. If the community health worker identifies a malaria patient, instead of the patients travelling long distances to health centres, they provide the necessary health support. My next stopover will be in Taiwan, where we are focusing on rural development.

We have farmers who have been working in higher paying jobs and they are transiting to production of higher value crops by farming Chestnut trees. We want to make this a more sustainable business, so that they stop using school going boys and girls as cheap labour.

Next will be Haiti, which desperately needs the water and sanitation problems fixed. The country needs this desperately. My final destination will be Myanmar, where we have an environmental programme to sensitise farmers about the need to conserve butterflies for a sustainable food chain.

What are your thoughts on the cancer burden in Uganda?

You need to strengthen partnerships, relationships and translate them into meaningful change. Cancer is a huge challenge in the country, however, when many cancers are detected early, they are curable. I was personally diagnosed with breast cancer 12 years ago and I beat it.

This is a global disease and disease prevention and protection is one of our focus areas. We are working with international partners and leaders to identify such needs and find the right solution.

Is Rotary working with the media to ensure the information reaches the targeted persons? 

Ohh yes. It is through media platforms that we get to tell people our stories. We have many stories happening in our communities and we would like the world to know about these stories.

Maybe people would like to donate to those causes, but they do not know what is happening outside their world.

What was your impression of Uganda?

It is a country of happy people. Every single place I have gone to, I have experienced joy, love and hope. One of the social sciences experiments that I was doing when I drove around the streets, I would smile and see people smiling back.  I have been to different parts of the world and people in Uganda are kind and generous. It is such a joy to see partners that I mentioned earlier cooperating with the government.

TITBITS

Jones visited several Rotary Projects which included the construction works for the Nsambya Cancer Ward, Mengo Blood Bank, Uganda Heart Institute at Mulago and a concert for the Makerere University Peace Centre. She also presided over a golf tournament for the peace centre, the Rotary Cancer Run, a breakfast meeting for corporate organisations and visiting the Nakivaale Refugee Settlement Camp.

The projects are based on Rotary International’s seven thematic programming areas of peace and conflict prevention, eradication of polio, malaria prevention and control, environmental conservation. In Malawi and Zambia, Rotarians have taken the campaign into every village, which has lowered malaria infections by more than 90 percent.