The global grant scholarships initiated by the Rotary Club of Edmonton Riverview were unique in so many ways that Renée Reiling felt she had to share them with others.
“I wanted to get people to know more about how impactful global grants scholarships can be,” says the Regional Grants Officer. “They are not as well promoted as our humanitarian projects.”
Riverview’s Misión Claridad, which delivers cataract surgeries and optometry services to people in need living in and near Cuenca, Ecuador, is an example of a humanitarian project.
In her role at Rotary International’s headquarters in Evanston, Il., Renée is primarily focused on processing scholarship applications, reviewing them and ensuring they are eligible before approving them.
Global grants scholarships are partially funded by individual Rotary clubs, other organizations and The Rotary Foundation, which receives donations from Rotarians from around the world. Scholarships are awarded to graduate students studying abroad in one of Rotary’s areas of focus.
The scholarships sponsored by the Rotary club of Edmonton Riverview enabled two young veterinarians from Africa to earn master’s degrees in wildlife health and management.
Current (2024-2025) club president Raemonde Bezenar, who championed these scholarships, is also the founder of the Mountain Gorillas Conservation Society of Canada, which partnered with the Rotary club to make the scholarships possible.
Having completed their studies at Mukerere University in Kampala, Uganda, Adrien Emile Ntwari from Rwanda and Theophile Kiluba, from the Democratic Republic of Congo, are now qualified to work with wildlife, including gorillas.
“This is a very unique situation, because one scholar is from the Congo and the other scholar is from Rwanda, but they were actually internationally sponsored by a club in District 5370 in Canada and hosted in Uganda,” Renée says. “Usually, scholars are sponsored by a club in the District where they live … It was Canada and Uganda, with two scholars from two different countries. That is so cool.”
Most scholarship recipients come from the United States, Japan, Australia or Canada and study at a university in another country. Other recent scholarships initiated by clubs in Rotary District 5370 have seen students from communities within the district boundaries (northern Alberta, northeastern BC, northwest Saskatchewan, the Northwest Territories and Yukon) attend universities in Australia, the United Kingdom and South Africa.
By coincidence, Mukerere University where Adrien and Theophile studied also hosts one of Rotary’s Peace Centres. “It was so great to have Global Grant scholars studying there in addition to our Peace Scholars,” says Renée.
Rotary International’s peace centres are located at seven universities in different countries around the world, where they offer tailor-made curricula to train individuals devoted to peacebuilding and conflict resolution. More than 1,500 peace fellows from more than 115 countries have graduated from a Rotary Peace Centre since the program was created in 1999.
“I have been following these scholars (Adrien and Theophile). I have attended all their presentations. Raemonde has been very good to invite me to all of them,” Renée says. “I thought, hey, you should do this for Rotary staff. Let them know the impact these scholarships are making.”
Renée invited Raemonde and the scholarship recipients to discuss the impact of the scholarships to an online audience of about 100 on May 23.
“I wanted to show Rotary staff know how great these scholarships are. I wanted to let people know that scholarships are really a great way of using grant funds,” Renée says.
“I don’t think I have ever in my 26-year career with Rotary seen scholars who were pursuing these types of studies, which marry medicine with working with wildlife. I thought it was really unique and it also met two areas of focus—community economic development and the environment (which is a new area of focus that we are trying to promote more and more and get more grants from that.) This really inspired me to organize this session.”
Only about five per cent of TRF grants are awarded to projects and scholarships that have a focus on the environment.
Initially, Renée invited all 500 people who work in the Rotary headquarters to attend. Later she expanded it to include Rotarians in District 5370 and members of the Rotary Foundation Cadre of Technical Advisors.
The Cadre is a group of Rotarians who volunteer to use their professional skills and technical expertise in Rotary’s areas of focus or financial auditing to advise Rotarians who are planning and working on Rotary Foundation grant projects. The Cadre is composed of more than 700 members from 75 countries who speak more than 80 languages.
Raemonde provided the background of the scholarships and introduced Adrien and Theophile, each of whom described how becoming global grant scholars changed the trajectory of their careers and how the “One Health” focus of their work will have a positive impact on the well-being of wildlife, humans and the environment.
The World Health Organization describes One Health as “an integrated, unifying approach that aims to sustainably balance and optimize the health of people, animals and ecosystems. It recognizes that the health of humans, domestic and wild animals, plants and the wider environment (including ecosystems) are closely linked and interdependent.”
The website of Gorilla Doctors, an organization dedicated to saving the mountain and eastern lowland (Grauer’s) gorilla species, states that, “Due to the genetic similarity between humans and gorillas, gorillas are susceptible to many of the same infectious diseases that affect people.”
Renée was pleased with the presentation by Raemonde and the two veterinarians.
“I thought the session was great,” she says. “People were all happy with the session. Lots of people came back to me with positive feedback. People called it ‘amazing’ and ‘incredible.’”
For at least one attendee, the session achieved Renée’s goal of increasing awareness of Rotary’s work. “I didn’t know how great the global grant scholarships could be,” the attendee said.
After the May 23 presentation, Raemonde was invited to participate in a virtual focus group to share her experiences with global grant scholarships. The purpose of this exercise is to gather the information needed to inform the next steps for The Rotary Foundation Program Committee and grants team. They are particularly interested in what participants think is working, what needs improvement and how the grants team can better collaborate with Rotarians on TRF’s vision.
Based on the success of the first two scholarships, Raemonde is already working with TRF to offer two more global grant scholarships to African veterinarians who will have the opportunity to study at a university in Spain.
A significant portion of the funding for these scholarships will come from the Mountain Gorillas Conservation Society of Canada.
An important source of funds for this non-profit society is its annual Ice Cream Run, which is scheduled for Saturday, August 27 at Kinsmen Park in Edmonton. Click here for more information and to register for this fun run.
Veterinarians Adrien Emile Ntwari and Theophile Kiluba at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda.
Rotary Foundation Regional Grants Officer Renée Reiling during the May 23 online session
Screenshot of May 23 presentation by Adrien Emile Ntwari
One Health image credit: bigstockphoto.com