International Programs

Youth Exchange is one of the most popular programs to promote international understanding and develop lifelong friendships. It began in 1927 with the Rotary Club of Nice, France. In 1939 an extensive Youth Exchange was created between California and Latin America. Since then the program has expanded around the world. In recent years more than 7,000 young people have participated annually in Rotary club- and district-sponsored exchange programs.

The values of Youth Exchange are experienced not only by the high school-age students involved but also by the host families, sponsoring clubs, receiving high schools and the entire community. Youth Exchange participants usually provide their fellow students in their host schools with excellent opportunities to learn about customs, languages, traditions and family life in another country.

Youth Exchange offers young people interesting opportunities and rich experiences to see another part of the world. Students usually spend a full academic year abroad, although some clubs and districts sponsor short-term exchanges of several weeks or months.

The Rotary Club of Madison sponsors one to four outbound students (area high school juniors going to another country) and one inbound (one student from another country) each year. Club members host the inbound students at their homes and also take them to several events throughout the year.

To find out more about the Rotary Youth Exchange program go to the Rotary International website. And if you would like an application send an email to the Rotary Club of Madison.

The Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholarships program is the world's largest privately funded international scholarships program. In 1947, 18 Rotary Fellows from 11 countries were selected to serve as ambassadors of goodwill while studying in another country for one academic year. Since that time, approximately US$335 million has been expended on some 30,000 scholarships for people from more than 125 countries, studying in 105 countries around the world.

The purpose of the scholarships program is to further international understanding and friendly relations among people of different countries. Scholars are expected to be outstanding ambassadors of goodwill to the people of the host country through both informal and formal appearances before Rotary and non-Rotary groups. Each scholar is assigned a host Rotarian counselor to facilitate involvement in Rotary and integration into the host culture.

The Rotary Club of Madison offers the scholarship program through Rotary District 6250. The club supplies applications to those interested and then a panel selects one student's application to send onto the district level. (Each Rotary club may submit only one applicant.) A district committee then interviews and selects one student to receive the award.

For more information on the Ambassadorial Scholarships go to Rotary International's web site. Applications may also be downloaded from that site.

Otherwise applications are available from the Rotary Club of Madison. You may send the club an e-mail to request information and an application. Applications are normally available in January and are due May 1 of that same year. Scholarships are awarded a year in advance (for instance applications will be available January 2002 for the 2003-2004 study year).

The Rotary Club of Madison also hosts one or more incoming Ambassadorial Scholars a year who attend the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The student is assigned a club member who acts as a counselor to the scholar, and also as a family. Other club members may take the scholars to outings or host them and other students for dinner during a holiday season.

One of the most popular and rewarding programs of The Rotary Foundation is Group Study Exchange. Since the first exchange between districts in California and Japan in 1965, the program has provided educational experiences for about 35,000 business and professional men and women who have served on about 6,500 teams. The GSE program pairs Rotary districts to send and receive study teams. Since 1965, almost US$59 million has been allocated by The Rotary Foundation for Group Study Exchange grants.

One of the most attractive features of GSE is the opportunity for the visiting team members to meet, talk and live with Rotarians and their families in a warm spirit of friendship and hospitality. Although the original Group Study Exchanges were male only, in recent years teams have included both men and women.

In addition to learning about another country through visits to farms, schools, industrial plants, professional offices and governmental establishments, the GSE teams serve as ambassadors of goodwill. They interpret their home nation to host Rotarians and others in the communities they visit. In recent years, teams of a single vocation or cultural group have been exchanged. Some GSE teams help create humanitarian projects between their countries. Many of the personal contacts blossom into lasting friendships.

Truly, the Group Study Exchange program has provided Rotarians with one of the most enjoyable, practical and meaningful ways to promote world understanding.

Each year the program is offered the Rotary Club of Madison participates through Rotary District 6250. The district program pairs two districts for a cultural and vocational exchange of four non-Rotarian team members and their Rotarian team leader for a period of four to six weeks duration. The team members are ages 25 to 40 and are business and professional people who are neither Rotarians, nor family members of Rotarians, and are selected from nominees designated by the district's clubs. The team leader is an experienced Rotarian with good leadership skills who has the time and strength to lead a team for a strenuous tour of slightly more than four weeks.

Information and applications on exchanges can be obtained from the Rotary Club of Madison.

Polio Plus is Rotary's massive effort to eradicate poliomyelitis from the world by 2005. It was launched in 1985 with the goal of raising US$120 million to immunize the developing world's children against polio for five years. The PolioPlus fundraising campaign that concluded in 1988 raised a record US$220 million, and by 2005, Rotarians' contributions to the global polio-eradication effort will approach US$425 million. Of even greater significance has been the huge volunteer army mobilized by Rotary International. Hundreds of thousands of volunteers at the local level are providing support at clinics or mobilizing their communities for immunization or polio-eradication activities.

In 1988, Rotary joined the World Health Assembly in committing itself to the eradication of polio by 2005, Rotary's 100^th anniversary. Rotary works with the World Health Organization, UNICEF, national governments and others in the global Polio Eradication Initiative, the world's most extensive public/private health undertaking. By 1998, some 120 nations around the world had benefited from Polio Plus grants for polio immunization and eradication efforts, and thanks to the immunization efforts during the decade after 1988, as many as four million children who might have been polio victims were walking and playing normally. As a result of the efforts of Rotary International and its partners, more than one billion children have received oral polio vaccine and are protected from poliomyelitis. In 1994 Rotary helped celebrate the elimination of polio from the Western Hemisphere. The Western Pacific is on its way to being certified as polio-free, and efforts are now focused on Africa, the Middle East and South Asia. Polio can be eradicated for as little as US$0.50 worth of vaccine per child.

Achieving eradication will be difficult (only one other disease, smallpox, has ever been eradicated) and expensive (estimated cost to the international community is nearly US$2 billion). It requires National Immunization Days to immunize all of a polio-endemic country's children under the age of five, continuing routine immunization of children worldwide, systematic reporting of all suspected cases, rapid response to outbreaks, and establishment of laboratory networks.

No other non-governmental organization has ever made a commitment of the scale of Polio Plus. It may be considered the greatest humanitarian service the world has ever seen. Every Rotarian can share the pride of that achievement.

The Rotary Club of Madison shares in the pride felt by many Rotarians who have not only helped to fund the Polio Plus program but also became personally involved. In 1999 several members of the Rotary Club of Madison and members from Rotary District 6250 joined with Rotarians from across the world at a National Immunization Day in India. There they spent several days administering polio vaccines to the local children and learning about the Indian culture. When they returned they shared their experiences with fellow Rotarians. An experience they will not soon forget.