Hello Rotarians and Friends,

 

Last week we saw International Women's Day celebrated with many stories of progression in gender parity, with many remaining gaps also highlighted. I take pride in the many community groups and projects supported by Applecross Rotary that assist women locally and internationally including our specific partnerships with Starick, Mama Respond and Living Child (I'm sure there are others!). Much work still to do.
 
I also spent the week in Melbourne where I was fortunate to present on trends in volunteering to state and national sporting administrators at the Melbourne Cricket ground (MCG), with the view to developing a volunteer action plan for sporting groups. The key takeaway from recent findings is that modern volunteer segmentations and intentions reflect societal changes, and that change is occuring fast. The key modern term is "micro-volunteering", which is the new way of saying many hands make light work, but with the added need for a commitment to be (very) short term. Previously a community member may gain the "buzz" we all get from volunteering through joining a local committee or board, these days that same sense of satisfaction is achieved from spending a few hours in the club canteen. 
 
The solution for many larger groups such as Rotary is genuine structural change, and so I was pleased to spend Sunday afternoon online with a number of other local club leaders discussing the new changes to our "Zone 8" (Aus, NZ and the Pacific). We talked through our local trial of the re-focusing of the state based layer of governance which will bring clubs closer to the expertise of professional Zone leaders, while releasing our hard working District volunteers into the grass roots to enact impactful change. These processes can be cumbersome, and Rotary is a large ship to turn, but we are making steps in the right direction and I congratulate those involved on staying the course.