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Home | Community and Vocational

The Committee’s aims are to: Inform Encourage Motivate Stimulate Create awareness So that clubs and District Officers are aware of the RIBI Preferred and other projects contained in the ‘Opportunities to Serve’ booklet. The objective is to give help and guidance to all Rotarians who should endeavour to discover the needs of their communities, and in particular foster Vocational Service using the skills and abilities of all Rotarians. Rotarians whilst working in their communities should at all times promote the work and worthiness of Rotary


The nitty gritty of ComVoc

 Q:    What is Community & Vocational Services. aka C&V; ComVoc? Some Clubs may not have ComVoc so it may come under the auspices of Service Projects.

A:    Community Service is the work undertaken by Rotarians in the Community (pretty straight forward really!) Vocational Service - that's pretty tricky because there is much confusion over what "vocation" means. Read on:

The different areas of Rotary service can broadly be grouped as Club, Vocational , Community, and International; each Rotary Club will usually have committees dedicated to these. Within Clubs, Community and Vocational Services are often combined into a single committee because "we use our vocations to serve and support the local community". Vocational Service is also described as the "forgotten avenue of service". Rotary International defines Vocational Service as: “Through vocational service Rotarians are expected to adhere to and promote:

  • high ethical standards in all their business dealings,
  • recognise the worthiness of all useful occupations, and
  • contribute their professional expertise and skills to addressing societal problems and needs”

The closest that the definition gets to defining practical vocational service within our communities is the use of “professional expertise and skills” I have defined "professional expertise and skills” to “a skill set, an interest in, an empathy with, or anything that appeals to a particular Rotarian to get involved with a need in the community      

Visit the Vocational pages for details of the Rodney Huggins Community and Vocational Awards. Rodney is a Past President of RIBI and keen environmentalist.

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