D-2483 DG's Newsletter December 2016 - January 2017

DG Velibor ZOLAK GOVERNOR'S NEWSLETTER No. 6 - December 2016/January 2017 Hyatt Regency Belgrade, 25 February 2017 A DIFFERENT KIND OF CELEBRATION Celebration of TRF Centennial and RI Anniversary One century of the Rotary Foundation and an anniversary of the Rotary (112th) will be commemorated on Saturday, 25 February 2017 at the hotel “Hyatt Regency” in Belgrade. The programme for celebration of these important dates is primarily aimed at informing the public in Serbia and Mon- tenegro about the actions of the Rotary organization and the contribution of the Rotarians to their communities. Through short videos (stories), the programme will present the work of the Rotary and Rotaract clubs, and the performances of the Rotarians who are actors, musicians and business people will show a wide spectrum of successful people giving a considerable contribution to the community – they all are the Rotarians, although the general public is not aware of that. A Committee for Commemoration of Anniversary has been set up to prepare the Celebration and it comprises: 1. Lola Stanic, ADG, PP RC Beograd Metropolitan, Chair of the Committee 2. Aleksandar Radojcic, President-elect (PE) RC Beograd Skadarlija 3. Srbislav Novakov, President RC Zemun 4. Sveta Milovanovic, President RC Beograd Stari grad 5. Zoran Cirovic, President RC Beograd Singidunum 6. Milorad Djukanovic, RC Beograd Dunav 7. Daliborka Bradic, PE RC Beograd Sava 8. Gradimir Dragutinovic, PE RC Beograd Metropolitan 9. Ivana Zdravkovic, PP, RC Zemun. A District Secretary is a Committee member by default. At its first meeting, held on 19 January 2017 at the hotel “Park”, the Committee defined a concept of celebration and the tasks to be carried out during the preparations.

 Page2    A Great Humanitarian Action of Pancevo Clubs Starts PROCUREMENT OF 4D ULTRASOUND SCANNER FOR PANCEVO MATERNITY WARD Finalization of the Action planned until 30 June RC Pancevo and RC Pancevo-Mihajlo Pupin have launched an action for procurement of a 4D ultrasound scanner for a maternity ward in their city, worth around €25,000. The 4D ultrasound is currently the most advanced technique of medical examination, providing the image of an unborn baby with very precise details. It allows us to determine the level of the baby’s neurological development, early detection or elimination of a disease with unborn babies, and is also used for diagnostics in gynaecology. The Pancevo clubs are in the final stage of preparations for the campaign with the slogan “Let me be born healthy,” featuring a brochure, billboard advert- isements, TV videos, PR campaign on the local media (newspapers, radio and local TV channel), and the teams who will be visiting other Rotary clubs and presenting this major project. The clubs will make sure that the campaign is produced and the public media services are used free of charge, as a contribution of these media to this humanitarian project. The clubs plan to finalize the action and deliver the scanner by the end of this Rotary year. The fact that the personal mobile phone numbers of the presidents of the clubs, Teso Markovic and Daliborka Bojkovic Breti, are in the brochure for this action, while separate bank accounts have been opened for the donations, demonstrates how keen the Rotarians of Pancevo are when it comes to this action. We invite all clubs to support this and similar actions. Not only do they give a significant contribution to the community, but also considerably boost the visibility and reputation of the Rotary in every local community. Well designed and organized actions always improve the image of clubs and organization as a whole, attract new members, attract new generations and strengthen the position within the Rotary Foundation! District 2483 will support this major and joint action of the Rotary clubs of Pancevo. 

One Half of the Rotary Year Passes Page3 WHERE DO WE STAND? How Are the Goals Set by the Rotary International Achieved? The District 2483 Assembly and all clubs have assumed an obligation to achieve their goals in six different fields, set by the Rotary International at its Assembly in San Diego: in the field of membership recruit- ment, contribution to the Rotary Foundation, adoption of online tools, humanitarian ser- vice, new generations, and image improvement. An obligation to reach an initial number of 20 members was introduced for all members at a District Assembly and, along with the standing obligations towards the Rotary Foundation, the recruitment of new members was defined as the most important task of every club because of the multiannual membership loss trend!  Attracting and Engaging Members RC BEOGRAD STARI GRAD – THE MOST SUCCESSFUL! The Rotary Club BEOGRAD STARI GRAD, which had started the Rotary year with 16 members, achieved the best result in terms of attracting new and engaging the existing members. The Club recruited the first member in the current year as early as on 3 July, and the latest one, the renowned Opera singer Anna Sinicki, on 14 December, becoming the most successful club in this field thanks to the recruitment of a total of 7 new members. Congrat- ulations on this result to the President Svetislav Milovanovic! Apart from RC Beograd Stari Grad, considerable progress has been made by the Rotary Clubs RUMA (started the year with 5, now has 12 members), PIROT, which recruited 4 members (currently has 20 members), CACAK – 3 new members, NIS MEDIJANA – 3 members, POZAREVAC – 3 members, and so on.  

 Page4  Recruiting and Engaging Members CLUBS IN CRISIS?! Novi Sad-Dunav, Beograd-Vracar, E-club, Smederevo and Nis Aside from the clubs in the District that took the most important task seriously, there are several clubs that have unfortunately failed to retain even the existing membership in the last six months, departing considerably from the set expansion-related goals. This has annulled the positive results achieved in the previous period by these and other clubs that had increased the number of its members since the beginning of the Rotary year (Beograd Centar, Novi Sad, Krusevac, Stara Pazova, Nis Centar, and others), calling into question the overall efforts of the District to stop the membership loss and disappearance of the District. The greatest membership loss was seen by RC NOVI SAD-DUNAV, which lost 7 members, RC BEOGRAD-VRACAR, which lost 6 members and, which with 10 members left, entered the zone of the clubs that need to merge with others, E-CLUB, which lost 5 members and now has only 17 members, SMEDEREVO, which lost 5 members, and NIS, which lost 5 members. A loss of one of two members within a period of six months should not be treated as a crisis in club management, as this can be restored easily and is part of the process of membership fluctuation and renewal. On the other hand, the loss of five or more members is the loss of one-quarter of the membership in small Rotary clubs and is therefore a wake-up call! I therefore call upon the presidents of the clubs Novi Sad-Dunav, Beograd-Vracar, E-club, Smederevo and Nis: Konstantin Pluzarevic, Dr Zoran Aleksic, Zdenka Kovacevic, Aleksandar Curovic and Spomenka Kovacevic, to urgently prepare and convene extraordinary meetings of the Management Boards of their respective clubs to discuss the state of affairs concerning their membership and failure to meet their goals, as the only order of business. The relevant ADG, the Chair of the Membership Development Committee, Vesna Latinovic, and I as a District Governor, should be invited to this meeting. Each president of the aforementioned clubs is obliged to hand over the club to the next president with at least the same number of members as at the beginning of their term of office!  Good News – New Generations NEW INTERACT CLUB: SREMSKA MITROVICA After six months of intensive activities, RC Sremska Mitrovica has established the Interact Club Sremska Mitrovica. The Club was opened on 19 July 2016, and certified by the Rotary International on 19 January 2017. Formal certification and presentation of the Interact Club will take place on 24 February at the hotel Srem in Sremska Mitrovica, during Kobasicijada, a traditional action of RC S. Mitrovica. Congratulations to the President of RC Sremska Mitrovica Danilo Ljevnaic, and the District Interact Chair Nikola Pejovic. 

 Page5  www.rotary.org NEW WEBSITE OF OUR ORGANIZATION People of Action – A New Definition of the Rotarians A new website of the Rotary International has been launched – more dynamic, more contem- porary, and more attractive. It is the first step in the process of refreshing the RI’s web presence during 2017. The changes made improve the overall online experience of the Rotary members, presenting Rotary’s contribution to making the world a better place in a nicer way. The second improvement is related to the Official Directory, which is now more user-friendly, offering more details on clubs and districts. It is now possible to search the Rotary by main categories: pages, documents, districts and people, after signing in to My Rotary account. People of Action – is the first definition of the Rotarians. We connect people, transform communities, solve problems.   New Rotary Members  WELL-KNOWN OPERA SINGER JOINS THE ROTARY The Only Yale Scholarship Beneficiary from This Region The well-known Opera singer, mezzo-soprano Anna Sinicki, became a member of the Rotary Club Beograd Stari Grad on 14 December 2016. Anna received her Bachelor of Music degree in opera performance from the Academy of Fine Arts in Belgrade. She received a scholarship of the Yale University in the United States of America, where she obtained her Master of Music Degree. She is the only artist from this region to have received a scholarship at this university. She has performed at Teatro Comunale Vittorio Alfieri in Siena, Teatro Giuseppe Verdi in Piacenza, Auditorium di Milano, in Moscow, New York, and so on. Besides opera performance, she holds Bachelor degrees in Arts Management, as well as in Banking and Trade. She is a winner of a series of awards for her performances. She speaks English, Italian, Russian, French, Spanish, German, Macedonian and Serbian. 

Changes in the ICC Functioning ICC MONTENEGRO & SERBIA IN FUTURE Harmonization with the Rotary Rules In order to ensure efficient operation, harmonized with the rules, instead of the practice from the previous 12 months, all ICCs will belong to the District in future and have the official name of District 2483 Montenegro & Serbia – ICC Montenegro & Serbia. According to the Code of Policies, the task of an ICC is to promote cooperation between districts and clubs, rather than between the countries that comprise a district: \"ICCs promote contact between districts and clubs in two or more countries and increase fellowship and intercultural understanding among the people of various nations.\" (Article 37.030 Rotary Code of Policies) and (37.030.3. National Sections) \"An intercountry committee is comprised of the national sections that represent the districts in each participating country.\" The current chairs of all ICCs (including Austria and Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Israel, Italy, Hungary, Macedonia, Germany, Romania, Slovenia, Switzerland and Liechtenstein) are each obliged to appoint one Committee member from Montenegro. If the clubs from Montenegro decide that they are not interested in participation in certain ICC, the appointment of members from Montenegro is not mandatory. The current National Coordinator Vladimir Matic hereby becomes an ICC Montenegro & Serbia National Coordinator and is obliged to monitor and report on the implementation of this decision.  Page6