January's Monthly Rotary Theme is Vocational Service. Consider how your club can benefit from this powerful aspect of Rotary focus in 2022.

Vocational Service calls on us to empower others by using our unique skills and expertise to address community needs and help others discover new professional opportunities and interests. January is Rotary’s Vocational Service Month, a great time to leverage vocational service in your club projects and activities, and plan events for the coming 12 months.

Here are six ways you can incorporate vocational service in your club activities:

1. Host a club meeting at your work place and share about your profession; take time to learn about fellow members’ occupations.
2. Use your skills and expertise to serve a community.
3. Practice your profession with integrity, and inspire others to behave ethically through your words and actions.
4. Work with local businesses to create mentorship, internship, or practicum opportunities to help young people achieve their career goals. Run Employment and after Secondary Education Career and Employment Expos, which offer the opportunity for students, job seekers and career changers of all ages to connect with organisations for guidance, clarity and opportunities in relation to career options.
5. Guide and encourage others in their professional development.
6. Plan a Pride of Workmanship Award Gala Night, or get involved with organising a RYLA event in your area.

Below are some examples of clubs taking action around the world:

• Members from the Rotary Club of Melbourne Park in Australia come from a variety of vocational backgrounds. Not only do they utilize their skills within the club, but they also have something to offer to a wider audience. They started the ‘Rotary Skillshare’ series with their Past President Jason Reynolds, who owns a financial advisory business and offered to conduct a series of presentations designed to help club members make smart choices when confronted with financial decisions. The club hopes to continue the series, highlighting a different club member’s profession to learn from their expertise.
• The Rotary Club of Kakuri-Kaduna in Nigeria organized a career guidance and entrepreneur workshop for students from their local secondary school. Students were surveyed beforehand for insight on their future career goals. Various speakers from different walks of life met with students to discuss their future plans.
• The Front Royal Rotary Club in the United States partners with the local Chamber of Commerce to put together an ethics workshop for high school seniors in which they are presented seven ethical dilemmas and have to determine the best route to solve each of issue.
• The Rotary Club of Bangalore Vijayanagar in India started a vocational training center offering computer training and tailored classes to help low income and unemployed men and women gain skills to become independent and self-sufficient.
• The https://www.facebook.com/potrotaryclub/

•   The Port of Townsville Rotary Club presented on November 3 2021 a very special night for this club with their 44th annual Pride of Workmanship awards night. They acknowledged 8 employees who always give 110%, working hard, supporting their colleagues and having a smile for everyone. I would like to congratulate the club on this Vocational initiative and 44 years is awesome!! 

Rotary Club of Mareeba run a very successful Careers EXPO for their local students. They also help develop employment skills by organising a Student Public SPEAKING competition annually called Rotary Youth Speaks.

Many Clubs continue to have inspirational vocational guest speakers, and this broadens our horizons and educates us. Recently, the Rotary Club of Hervey Bay Sunrise hosted Guest speaker, David Bruce, Field Officer, Queensland Boating and Fisheries Patrol, Department of Agriculture and Fisheries. 

He provided members with a comprehensive brief on the role of the local fisheries department in managing our amazing sea life and pristine environment.

So, plan to include Vocational Service and Development, in any of its many forms and activities,  into your Club's 2022 calendar of events, and you will all be the richer for it. 

Happy New Year from myself and Karen to you all and your families. We have seen 83 out of 84 clubs but will need to return to Barcaldine for their official visit and also complete our own club, Discovery Coast Rotary. It has been such an amazing and inspiring journey. We look forward to catching up with many of you again in 2022, and hopefully at the wonderful Mackay conference... the first ever CONFERENCE FOR ROTARY DISTRICT 9560. I am so excited already to see you all there.

Regards from District Governor Martti Kankkunen