Rotary: Give Every Child A Future

PICTURED: The Rotary: Give Every Child A Future (RGECAF) project was supported by 23 separate global grants, made possible because of the grassroots understanding of the participating communities.

By Steven Sundstrom, Regional Grants Officer

Many Rotary Down Under readers will be familiar with Rotary: Give Every Child A Future (RGECAF), which aimed to immunise the most disadvantaged children in the South Pacific against rotavirus, pneumococcal disease and HPV, and strengthen the local health systems to create a sustainable vaccination program for the future.

The first round of applications for RGECAF was approved in March 2020, but planning had begun years earlier. Rotary members had been discussing the program with UNICEF Pacific, which became the cooperating organisation to implement the projects.

In November 2018, I had my first phone call with James Allen, of the Rotary Club of Sydney, NSW, who became the project director. He told me then that the project would take place in nine Pacific Island nations and take place over a span of about three years.

I received information collected in partnership with UNICEF and the local health offices in each nation about the children, and the willingness of families and health workers to participate.

Rotarians from the islands where the project took place were on the host sponsor committee, and a full plan designed on national policies, regional strategy, local needs and capacity was put together.

In the end, 23 separate global grant applications were approved, each with respective details on the country where the project was taking place. This strategic series of projects was only possible because of the grassroots understanding we had of the communities participating.

At present, I’ve received final reports on 22 of the applications, and a final project – continuing HPV vaccination in Kiribati – remains active today. The hard work at the drawing board paid off, and these nations now have the capacity to purchase, transport and administer these life-saving vaccines in a sustainable fashion going forward.