Growing Local Economies

Nearly 800 million people live on less than $1.90 a day. Rotary members are passionate about providing sustainable solutions to poverty.

Our members and our foundation work to strengthen local entrepreneurs and community leaders, particularly women, in impoverished communities.

We provide training and access to well-paying jobs and financial management institutions.

How Rotary makes help happen

We create opportunities to help individuals and communities thrive financially and socially.

Microloans

Entrepreneurs use microloans to become street vendors, rickshaw drivers, weavers, and tailors.
Agricultural opportunities

Entrepreneurs in rural communities can borrow money to buy livestock or plant crops, or get training in sustainable farming.
Adopt a village

Rotary members use a multifaceted and coordinated strategy to break the cycle of poverty in extremely impoverished communities.
Human rights

Rotary helps Tanzanians with albinism overcome stigma and superstition to find safety and a livelihood.

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Training

Rotary International and Heifer International are teaching farmers to extend their growing season and help residents eat healthier, local food.

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The power of light

Rotary members team up with the Navajo Nation to bring solar lights to remote, off-the-grid homes, allowing people to work and learn at night.

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Our impact on local economies

Rotary members train people to become resources for their community, offering networking activities, advice on new business development, and mathematics and financial management training.

Rotarians make amazing things happen, like:

Breaking the cycle of poverty for women: Most of the women living in rural Guatemala do not have the collateral to get loans from regulated financial institutions. The Rotary Club of Guatemala de la Ermita helped 400 local women complete financial literacy courses so they could pool their money and fund their own microlending program.

Skills development, business training: In Esmeraldas, Ecuador, Rotary members helped grant more than 250 microloans and train more than 270 community members in sewing, baking, plumbing, microcredit, business management, and leadership.

Sustainable farming: In west Cameroon, soil erosion and loss of soil fertility have significantly reduced farmers’ harvests. Rotary members gave farmers the skills they needed to improve soil fertility, control soil erosion, and market their produce. The results: increased crop yields and profits.

$9.20 mil
The amount The Rotary Foundation has spent to grow local economies and reduce poverty last year
795.00 mil
people — or 1 in 9 people in the world — do not have enough to eat
60.00%
of the world’s hungry people are women and girls
70.00%
of the world’s poorest people live in rural areas and depend on agriculture and related activities for their livelihood