Posted on Jul 18, 2017

Rotary International, District 9110 has held its first Public Image Seminar for the Rotary year, which started July 1.

The aim of the seminar is to encourage more members to join understand the importance of public image in promoting the humanitarian services of Rotary. The seminar also underscored the growing importance of use of social media by Rotarians.

Speaking at the seminar on why Rotary must earn mileage for its humanitarian service, Mr. Fola Adeyemi, the Permanent Secretary at Lagos State Ministry of Information and Strategy encouraged all Rotarians and guests present to make adequate use of social media platform when disseminating information about Rotary to the public instead of just being restricted to the traditional media.

In his keynote address, Fola Adeyemi said that that Rotary was not getting enough media attention despite all the projects that were carried out by Rotary Clubs on regular basis across our communities.

According to Mr Adeyemi, “with membership strength of over 1.2 million in more than 35,000 clubs around the world, Rotary has for over a century served humanity in no small measure through the delivery of numerous people-oriented projects around the world. Yet it remains a puzzle that Rotary has not become a household name in Nigeria.”

The Permanent Secretary also explained that with the adoption of Rotary’s six areas of focus which include Literacy and Education, Water and Sanitation, Disease Prevention and Treatment, Maternal and Child Health, Economic Empowerment and Development, as well as Peace and conflict resolution, each succeeding administration of leaders and executives had strived to adopt a project within its capacity to meet one of the six areas. “Still, across the world today, hunger, disease, malnutrition and unemployment, to mention but a few are serious threats to humanity.”

He further stated that “the public perception is that Rotary is an elitist club and the mode of entry is restricted to the affluent and rich. We need to do a lot of image making. We also need to work on the mode of entry. This is where Public Relation becomes handy. For Rotary International to attract more members across the globe, it must deliberately work on its public image through strategic and innovative Public Relation policy.”

He also identified that, “this is the age of the social media. The conversation has since shifted to the social media where discourse is active, passionate and constant. In contemporary time, the social media remains an amazing platform which diverse organisations could leverage on for better mileage. You need to maintain a notable presence on this platform by showcasing various efforts the District is making to impact on your community. The underlying current here is that you must always spread the word. Let everyone know what your district is doing. It is in doing this that the world could hear and see you. By increasing the public’s understanding of Rotary, we are strengthening our ability to make an impact in our community and earning better mileage for our good work.”