Posted by Gordon Crann

RESI MAKING HEADLINES

Members of District 7090's newest Rotary club, the Rotary E-Club of Social Innovators (RESI) are participating at significant international events. 
 
On February 10, 2018, RESI member Prabha Sankaranarayan, who is Co-Founder and CEO of Mediators Beyond Borders International (MBBI), was a panelist for the “No Sustainability, No Peace” breakout session at Rotary International’s Presidential Environmental Sustainability and Peace Conference on February 10, 2018 in Vancouver, B.C.  Also, this month, Prabha is being joined by RESI club member, Vicki Isler, as members of the MBBI contingent participating in the United Nations’ 62nd Session of the Commission on the Status of Women in New York City. Where, on March 16, 2018, Prabha was a panelist for “Women Using Technology to Advance Agency, Advocacy, Capacity, & Peace” at the Church Center for the United Nations, 797 1st Avenue in Manhattan.
Earlier this month, RESI Corporate Partner CARE USA arranged for Ms. Marilia Bezerra, Managing Partner of CARE Enterprises Inc. (CEI) in New York City, to be our guest speaker for the RESI club meeting. Ms. Bezerra’s presentation outlined how CEI, the impact investment subsidiary of CARE USA, is focusing on the creation of transformative economic opportunity for people experiencing poverty globally, especially women and girls in South-East Asia. A lively question-and-answer session followed in which Ms. Bezerra entered into various dialogues with RESI members in Brazil and South Sudan, as well as across Canada and the United States, which you can view here: https://vimeo.com/259810769.
 
Poverty and peace will continue to be two foci of RESI involvement in the 2018 Rotary International Convention and related post-convention events in Toronto this June. Starting with RESI Corporate Partners CARE USA and MBBI having booths in the House of Friendship at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. RESI members will also be involved in putting on 4 RI Convention breakout sessions as follows:
 
  • 2 RESI Corporate Partner MBBI breakout sessions as follows: “Peace Begins at Home and Doesn’t End There – Handling Club Conflict” and “Women are Building Peace Around the World & Rotary is Helping”
  • Rotary Honouring Indigenous Peoples (HIP) breakout session “Indigenous Leaders – Success in Action” that RESI Member Lisa Farano, who is a HIP Board member, has been helping organize
  • Luis Giay's Vision Realized: PACT Urban Peace Program” on Wednesday, June 27, 2018 between 2:30-3:30 p.m. in Room 715 of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre with RESI President Gordon Crann as Moderator. RESI Member David Lockett, who is Co-Founder and President of the PACT Urban Peace Program, will be joined by Past RI President & RESI Friend Luis Giay and PACT LifePlan Coaching Manager & RESI friend Catalina Chaux for presentations on how, inspired by PRIP Luis Giay's vision of Rotary Urban Peace Initiatives, the award winning PACT Urban Peace Program works to divert young offenders from a life of crime by combining LifePlan Coaching and Grow To Learn (PACT’s urban organic farming and educational program) with vocational training. Learn how PACT is now scaling up to expand internationally through social franchising and how you can introduce this successful Rotary Urban Peace Program into your community.
Immediately following the conclusion of the RI Convention, RESI will be co-hosting - along with the Rotarian Action Group for Microfinance & Community Development (RAGM) and the Toronto International Microfinance Summit (TIMS) – the “Ending Ultra-Poverty Summit” (with RESI President Gordon Crann as its Co-Chair) on Thursday, June 28, 2018 at the Westin Harbour Castle Toronto Hotel.
 
RESI Corporate Partners CARE USA and FINCA Canada will be joined at the Ending Ultra-Poverty Summit by other major international development NGOs, including World Vision, The Grameen Foundation, BRAC International and Opportunity International, for a global conference focusing on how we can end ultra-poverty around the world by 2030 as part of the fulfillment of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
 
A Tall Ship Dinner Cruise on the historic Empire Sandy, during the evening of Thursday, June 28th, will be the bridge between the Summit and an invitation-only Ending Ultra-Poverty Retreat (with RESI Member Bob Sample as its Co-Chair) on Friday, June 29th to brainstorm on how to build a global coalition and movement to eradicate ultra-poverty from the world by 2030.
 
RESI will be letting District 7090 Rotarians know how to purchase tickets online to the Ending Ultra-Poverty Summit and to the Tall Ship Dinner Cruise when tickets become available.