He is the first Past Rotaractor to become District Governor in District 9102 and a fine gentleman who never misses an opportunity to flash a smile and urge others to pursue the mandates and tenets of Rotary. Following his induction into office, we get up close with the District Governor, Jeffrey Afful, to get his thoughts on Rotary issues and what he brings on board.
Q: Roughly a month in office as DG. What has been your experience so far?
Because of the number of training sessions in preparation towards the position, the experience is almost as I expected. Rotary invests a lot in training. There’s the District Governor Nominee Training and District Governor Elect training at the Zone Institute and also a one-week intensive training at the International Assembly so I think it is business as usual because I have been adequately prepared to discharge the roles and responsibilities of a District Governor.
Q: This year’s Theme is ‘Be the Inspiration’. Do you see yourself as an inspiration to this District?
I can personally answer this question at the end of June 2019, when I compare the goals achieved to targets set. I will also leave Rotarians in the District to answer this question. But I must say that I am doing my bit judging from the feedback from my official visits to the clubs I have visited so far.
Q: What sort of Inspiration are you expecting from Rotarians in the District?:
The Rotary International President said it all. We need to awaken the souls in us as Rotarians; the longing in us to want to do more. So, whatever we do, we must begin with Inspiration. I have visited some clubs officially and I told them they should inspire themselves as Rotarians to reach greater heights and achieve their goals. It requires attaining at the minimum, the Rotary Citation and be an inspiration to their communities and the world. So, I expect Rotarians to achieve and even exceed their current club goals.
Q: Let’s now go down memory lane to your time as a Rotaractor. Can you recount some memorable moments you had?
Rotarian Beatrice, you are also a past Rotaractor. Rotaract is fun; I lived by the motto: Fellowship through Service. My memory of Rotaract is something I am fond of; At that level, you are younger, have less responsibilities and in fact the whole Rotaract program moulds you to be focused on achieving your professional targets, moulds you to become a good citizen and a good leader. The activities that we planned and implemented such as Service Projects/fundraising activities, club programmes that featured good Speakers from various vocations, among others went a long way to make us desire to do and connect more.
Progressing into Rotary was therefore a matter of course. Rotaract was good, Rotaract was fun and even more so as a charter member of the Rotaract Club of Ring Road Central and if I recollect well, being it’s fourth president and also organizing the DAC out of Accra for the first time. The experience has been good.
Q: How has Rotaract shaped your leadership prospects/career?
Rotaract is one of the programs of Rotary, geared towards the new generations. The whole idea is to inculcate the spirit of leadership and service in our Rotaractors or young generation early so that when they grow they won’t depart from it. Having been an active member of Rotaract, I got used to problems in my community at an early stage and realized even then that you don’t have to depend on the government to solve the problems that confront us. With so many problems in our part of the world, we can also come together in our own small ways and solve some of the problems in our communities.
Rotaract has shaped me a lot in ways – strive to be honest, to be ethical and guided by the 4-Way-Test and also giving back to society. So being a Rotaractor has shaped my perception about what I can do as an individual, and better still as part of a collective to help society.
Q: As a Rotaractor did you ever envisage yourself taking up the post of DG?
No, no, no, no. I have always enjoyed being a Rotaractor. I was even surprised I was nominated to be president at Rotaract. I saw myself as a good ‘follower’, assisting leaders to succeed. But I also realized it was a privilege for a group of like-minded people to elect you to be their leader. When I joined the Rotary Club of Accra Ring Road Central (RRC) it was not as dynamic as we see it today. I must say it was a struggling club but the experience from Rotaract and working with Rotarians who embraced us and saw the value in us as younger colleagues really helped us and ultimately the club (about six past Rotaractors joined the club at a go). We utilized our energies and enthusiasm as young Rotarians and with some good planning, we took RRC to where it is now.
The whole idea was to enjoy being a Rotarian. I served as Sergeant-at-Arms, played the role of Director for all the Rotary Avenues of Service and became president among others but the fundamental idea was to enjoy Rotaract & Rotary and to serve my community. I never envisaged being a DG when I was in Rotaract and even in Rotary. I realized that it’s been a ten-year span in between – Rotaract President in 1998/99, Rotarian President in 2008/09 and now DG for the 2018/19 Rotary Year. Very interesting.
Q: Is there a link? A strategy or well thought out plan?
There’s no link, you don’t decide when to be a leader in Rotary, it is the group that decides.
Q: What are your thoughts on growth of the District from: D9100 – D9102
The trend shows that when a District is Redistricted, it leads to growth. I joined the club when we were D9100 When we were re-districted, you know the minimum number you need is seventyfive (75) clubs and seven hundred Rotarians before you get the district status, but Rotary International (RI) can grant you that dispensation. So, within five years, we have more than doubled the clubs in Ghana and increase the District by about 33%. I think we were initially just comfortable being Rotarians in our own Clubs, forming new clubs was not part of our culture. But when we were re-districted and needed to sustain the new District, there was an agenda to form new clubs. That is how come today there are 96 clubs in the whole District.
Q: Having been in the District for close to 3 decades now, what would you say are the key challenges that keep recurring in the District
- Dwindling membership: There’s the need to grow our numbers in the Clubs so that we can increase our service reach in our communities. Membership is very key. I wish we could have a Rotary Club in every political District in Ghana. I think we need to give credit to Past Rotary International President Elect of Sam Owori of blessed memory. He had such a structure in mind. In his opinion, if we have a political district, then we should be able to have a Rotary Club in each of the districts. If we go by that, then for each district in Ghana, there will be a Rotary Club. 1 District, 1 Rotary Club. But let me be quick to add that there’s a direct correlation between economic growth and growth of Rotary Clubs in the District because in paying our dues, we have the dollar component and if the exchange rate is not favourable, it becomes a problem. But it is very feasible.
- We are supposed to support our Rotary Foundation. We can and should step up with our contributions towards the Foundation especially looking at what we receive as a District in terms of Global Grants etc.
Q: Some Clubs find it difficult accessing District & Global Grants. As new DG, what is your advice on this?
We have to utilize the resources available through District and Global Grants to undertake bigger, impactful and sustainable projects but first, clubs should decide to access it. Some clubs have been able to do that very well while others have not. One of Rotary Foundation’s main objectives is the use of District Designated Funds, (that is funds set aside for district for projects). We must ensure they are used for targeted projects. I am urging all clubs to access the funds so that we can undertake more impactful projects. The plea is for clubs to make the effort to apply for the grant. This year one of my objectives is to get more clubs to access district and global grants. The District Rotary Foundation and International Service Committees are available to assist.
Q: What are your plans for the District?
- Before the year started, we had the District team training seminar where we sat and went through the District Planning Guide. We have our District goals and they are my plans for the year.
- For Membership we’re looking at a net growth of Four hundred and twelve (+412) in the District
- Rotary Foundation we are looking at a minimum of $200,000 in contributions
- Service projects we are looking at a minimum of $2,000,000 value in service projects
- Making sure that Rotary is visible in our communities, so we must step up our PR efforts.