by PDG Carl W. Treleaven
As they say, “time flies”! It seems I just began serving as President of the Rotary Action Group for Community Economic Development (RAGCED), but in just a few weeks, my two-year term will end, and I will turn the reins of RAGCED over to Wally Gardiner, the very capable President-Elect. Serving as President has been a great pleasure!
There are a lot of people to thank, particularly members of RAGCED’s Executive Committee and the Board of Directors. Let me begin by thanking Past Presidents Margaret Williamson, Nick Frankle, and Jim Louttit for their invaluable assistance, guidance, and wisdom. I also want to thank:
- Wally Gardiner, our President-Elect, for many thoughtful conversations and contributions
- Gomathy Manickam, our Secretary, Webmaster, and all-around problem-solver
- Rakesh Babuji, particularly for his work to establish the Rotary Fellowship of IT Professionals, along with Gomathy. This new fellowship is pioneering a strategy to provide vocational training in Africa and Asia
- Juliana Corredor, for helping establish RAGCED’s first chapter in Latin America — muchas gracias
- Robin Steele, for her work with DISC’s
- Nilam Bedi, for his service as Chief Technical Officer
- Mary Coward, for a great job helping organize our presence at the 2025 Calgary Convention
- Peter Verbeeck, for serving as our Membership Chair
- Biswajit Ghosh, for serving as our Partnerships Chair
- Bonaventure Fandohan of The Rotary Foundation, who has been particularly helpful to our efforts
- Cristina Calaguian, for her service as head of our Education Committee
- Roberto Ribadeneira, for his talent in creating great videos for RAGCED
- Phil Eiker, for his wise counsel on legal matters affecting RAGCED
- Sunny Akuopha, Adrienne Booth Johnson, and Xavier Sentamu, for their service as at-large members of the RAGCED Board of Directors
- Steve Rickard, the founder of RAGCED, for his wisdom and endless support for RAGCED
Thank you all very much for your generous support!
RAGCED started as the Rotary Action Group for Microfinance, and many people still think of us as being focused on microfinance. Yes, microfinance remains important, but we have expanded our vision of economic development far beyond simply doing microfinance. Instead, we increasingly think of microfinance as one tool in a full toolbox that also includes vocational training, educational scholarships, agricultural development, business incubators, and village savings groups. Each of these is an important tool to aid economic development.
We also realize that if we are to create true sustainability and have a greater impact, we need to focus on both job creation and business formation—the latter as an engine for job creation. Simply put, if the poor of the world have better jobs, they’ll be in positions where they can generate income to solve the problems they believe merit our attention. They won’t need us to figure out what their problems are.
As part of this focus on education and job creation, RAGCED helped start the Rotary Information Technology Professionals Fellowship. The reason we’ve been very involved in this is because information technology is a great way to create good jobs, as well as provide better-paying ones. As information technology becomes ever more important in society, the need for people will continue to grow. The AI revolution will likely do nothing but make IT even more important as a source of employment opportunities worldwide.
The other thing we realize more than ever before is the natural entrepreneurial talents of people around the world. We’re forever amazed at how resourceful people are. They may be poor, but they’ll find ways to solve problems. As such, much of our effort needs to be focused on helping build upon that natural entrepreneurial ability. We’re increasingly working with groups establishing village savings groups. These groups provide a great way for people both to save and to obtain finance. In many ways, it is superior to microfinance.
For every Rotary Club located in a city or town around the world, economic development is an important issue. RAGCED’s worldwide network can connect these clubs with resources to help them advance their local economies. At the same time, we’ve also come to realize that RAGCED can be a resource to benefit Rotarians working in all six other areas of focus:
- Environment
- Water, sanitation, and hygiene
- Basic education and literacy
- Disease prevention and treatment
- Maternal and child health
- Peace and conflict resolution
Going forward, an important part of our job will be to serve as a worldwide resource to Rotarians and Rotaractors working in each of the other areas of focus.
Thanks again to everyone who has been involved with RAGCED over the past two years, and thank you for your ongoing interest in helping Rotarians and Rotaractors advance economic development throughout the world.
Wally Gardiner, RAGCED’s incoming President, will no doubt do a great job! His background as a lead CADRE, as well as a business owner, equips him to head the team. He’s got a lot of great ideas for how to get The Rotary Foundation more involved in economic development, as well as many excellent thoughts and strategies to make RAGCED a stronger resource for Rotarians and Rotaractors around the world. To accomplish that, he’s assembling an excellent team of committed Rotarians and Rotaractors. I envision many great things happening with RAGCED moving forward.
If you can, visit our Booth 439 in the House of Friendship at the Calgary Convention.
Thank you for your ongoing support of RAGCED and The Rotary Foundation.