Rotary elects first female Governor for Sri Lanka and Maldives

Saturday, 25 January 2014 00:00 -     - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Executive Director of Sun and Asoka Group of Companies Gowri Rajan has been elected as the first female Governor for Rotary International District 3220, Sri Lanka and Maldives. She has been a member of the Rotary Club of Kandy for many years and would lead over 1700 Rotarians representing 61 clubs across Sri Lanka and the Maldives in the incoming year. In preparation of a robust year ahead, Gowri just returned from her formal Rotary training program in Santiago, USA and is due to commence a training program for the local District Committee on 25 January at Hotel Taj Samudra, Colombo. The purpose of this program is to groom the incoming Assistant Governors and the District Committee Members to face the challenges of their year in office. “The internationality of Rotary with differing occupations, cultures, and countries give us a unique perspective and we apply leadership and expertise to social issues — and find unique solutions. We will be placing more emphasis on  sustainable  projects that focuses on important issues like disease prevention and treatment, water and sanitation, maternal and child health, basic education and literacy and economic and community development,” said Gowri. The training program will be organized by the Rotary Club of Colombo, the first Rotary Club in Sri Lanka which takes pride in producing K.R. Ravindran, the first Sri Lankan to be a Rotary International President Nominee. Ravindran is the Chief Executive of Printcare Ltd. and will be the first Sri Lankan to head this prestigious international service organisation and the 10th Asian to hold this prestigious office in the 108-year history of the organisation. “It is a great privilege for us at the Rotary Club of Colombo to be an integral part of this important program as we Rotarians believe in professionalism through fellowship whilst serving our community,” said Pubudu De Zoysa, Chairperson of the Organising Committee. The Rotary network connects 1.2 million members across 200 countries internationally. With a 99 percent reduction in polio cases worldwide since 1985, Rotary has made tremendous progress in eliminating Polio from the world being the second biggest human disease in history after smallpox. In 1988, Rotary spearheaded the creation of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative with its partners the World Health Organization, UNICEF and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Polio eradication remains Rotary’s top priority. To date, Rotary has contributed over US$1.2 billion and countless volunteer hours to help immunise over two billion children against polio in 122 countries. Currently, Rotary is working to raise US$35 million per year through 2018 for polio eradication, which will be matched two to one by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Sri Lanka became the first country in South Asia to become Polio free with a funding of over US$ 2.5 million from the Rotary network. Rotary Sri Lanka also takes pride in rebuilding 20 tsunami affected Government schools in Sri Lanka, at a cost of over Rs. 1 billion, being the single largest project undertaken by a single Rotary District in history.  

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