Need expert advice? Ask Rotary’s Cadre of Technical Advisers

By Arnold R. Grahl

The Rotary Club of Dajabón in the Dominican Republic wanted to build greenhouses in rural villages and teach farmers how to use them to enhance their income. The club partnered with the Rotary Club of Everett in the state of Washington to apply for a Rotary Foundation global grant that would support loans to farmers. Coupled with business training, the loans would help farmers launch their greenhouse enterprises. But the application process came to a halt when the clubs had trouble identifying a local financial institution that was qualified to handle the loans.

Enter Wally Gardiner, a Canadian member of The Rotary Foundation’s Cadre of Technical Advisers. A specialist in microfinance and technology, Gardiner used his connections to find a microfinance bank in Dajabón that was happy to assist, and he helped negotiate a deal. With the bank on board and a memorandum of understanding signed, the project moved forward. Score that as another successful accomplishment for Rotary’s Cadre of Technical Advisers.

With nearly 600 Rotary members in about 80 countries, the Cadre has been helping Rotary members tackle complex projects since 1995. Cadre members volunteer their professional skills and expertise in varied areas to help clubs plan and implement projects more effectively. Over the years, they have helped Rotary members pursue larger projects and secure millions of dollars in Foundation funding.

“Our primary work right now is working as a coach with clubs that have an idea they would like to do,” says Cadre Chair Carolyn Johnson, a Maine Rotarian and past district governor (7780) who specializes in basic education and literacy projects. “We try to help them develop something that is deeper and more sustainable.”

Since 2020, every Rotary Action Group has been required to appoint a Cadre member to serve as a technical officer to foster collaboration between the Cadre and the action groups, which also lend expertise to clubs. In addition, the Cadre chair appoints regional organizers, who work to strengthen relationships between the Cadre, regional leaders, and other Rotary members.

Advice and connections

Josephine Wong is the Cadre’s regional organizer for East and Southeast Asia. A neurologist who has worked on over 20 project evaluations, Wong advises members on best practices for grants. She says that language and cultural differences coupled with a lack of global connections are the biggest obstacles for grant applications in her region. Wong likes to help members build international relationships.

Like other Cadre members, Wong can also nudge projects along in unexpected ways. She recalls that, several years ago, a club wanted to use karaoke to curb tuberculosis among Indigenous people in Taiwan. The grant application was originally rejected because grant officers did not understand how karaoke and TB were connected. Wong discovered that the project planners intended to offer karaoke at a community center to get the Indigenous people to visit; once there, they could learn how to be tested for TB. After a more robust strategy tied to disease prevention and treatment outcomes was developed, the grant proceeded. “When some clubs face a difficulty, they just give up,” says Wong. “Clubs need to know the Cadre is here to help them.”

Simona Pinton, a Cadre member from Italy, stresses the importance of thoughtful intervention. “Mediation is a key attitude and skill that we should put at the disposal of Rotarians,” Pinton says. “It’s the means by which you create dialogue and the desire to build something together.”

In one instance, Pinton advised members of the Rotary clubs of Roma Cassia, Italy, and Tunis Méditerranée, Tunisia, about a project to increase young people’s awareness of gender-based violence. The planning involved much discussion and brainstorming, which resulted in everyone, including Pinton, learning more about the issue. “Thanks to Simona’s contribution we were able to focus on the area of intervention,” says Francesco Martinelli, a project organizer from the Roma Cassia club. “Her support helped us to evaluate the cooperating associations, pay attention to the evaluation of the social context, and collect data for measuring the results.”

In Alberta, Andrew Bronson’s Rotary Club of Lethbridge East also benefited from Cadre help. Club members were working with an Alberta nonprofit to replace computers destroyed in 2017 by Hurricane Maria when it struck Dominica, the island country in the Caribbean. Bronson got in touch with Wally Gardiner to see about securing a global grant in partnership with the Rotary Club of Portsmouth, Dominica. Among other things, Gardiner told the clubs they would need to conduct a community assessment, which surprised Bronson.

“I kind of thought, this is like surveying kids if you want to have Christmas or not,” Bronson confesses. “But you know what was interesting? As Wally helped us with our assessment, it became apparent that this was a very important step. Schools that responded with the most enthusiasm received computer and technology upgrades first, which improved the adoption throughout the country.”

The project went great at first. But when the COVID-19 pandemic hit and schools went virtual, unexpected problems arose. Laptops went home with students but many machines didn’t come back, and when the island economy floundered, the government failed to meet its commitments. Once again, Gardiner stepped in with helpful advice, and today the project continues, albeit in diminished fashion. Yet as Bronson acknowledges, even setbacks can provide valuable lessons.

“I think clubs should really understand what they are doing,” he says. “Right off the bat, go find a member of the Cadre. Even if you have a good idea, get another opinion.”

Improved results

Elsewhere, Carolyn Johnson’s work with the Rotary clubs of Ellicott City, Maryland, and Machakos, Kenya, had a happy outcome after an adjustment. The two clubs wanted to use theater to teach children literacy skills. Initially they planned to have children in both countries collaborate on creating a musical, combining their contributions over the internet. The clubs had even lined up an award-winning hip-hop artist in Baltimore to help out.

“It was a really cool program, but it didn’t meet the guidelines of basic education and literacy [global grants],” Johnson recalls. “I was asking things like, ‘How are the kids going to be better readers or better writers? How are their math skills going to improve?’ I didn’t want to dampen the clubs’ enthusiasm, but I knew their project wasn’t going to fly the way they were talking about it.”

Johnson convinced the clubs to go back to their partner organization, Kenya Connect, and find a different way to reach the children in Kenya. The revised proposal provided funding so that Kenya Connect could send its mobile library to more schools that lack books. The project also funded training for the teachers and instructions for parents on how to encourage their children to read.

Abandoning the theater idea “was a really hard shift,” says Temrah Okonski, who coordinated the project for the Ellicott City club. “But we were already working with Kenya Connect and knew their goals for the year. Carolyn came in at the onset and asked all the questions that Rotary International would have asked down the road.”

“It turned into a marvelous project that is working and ongoing in multiple communities,” adds Johnson. “It’s getting kids excited about books and about reading, and it’s getting more resources into teachers’ hands so that they are able to present a better quality education.” Chalk up another win for Team Cadre.

This story originally appeared in the June 2025 issue of Rotary magazine.