Monday Nov 25, 2024
Monday Nov 25, 2024
Monday, 22 July 2019 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Rotary, the only service organisation which has a nonvoting seat at the UN General Assembly with over 1.2 million members and in Sri Lanka/ Maldives around 1,200 Rotarians staged their Annual Awards Night 2019 at Cinnamon Grand Hotel.
The year under review was a signature year for Rotary in Sri Lanka/Maldives under the dynamic leadership of Dushan Soza, where the organisation was managed like a corporate entity as per the stipulation of Rotary International.
Respected business professional Dr. Rohantha Athukorala was awarded the ‘Most Outstanding Rotarian of the Year’ award by Governor 2018/19 Dushan Soza amidst an elite gathering over 500 Rotarians. The Chief Guest at the event was Sri Lanka’s only Global President K. Ravindran.
Incidentally this was the second time Dr. Athukorala won this coveted award as, in the year 2014/15 under the Governorship of Gowri Rajan too he was adjusted ‘The Exceptional Rotarian’.
In the year 2018/19, for the first time all projects were monitored on a Balance Score Card perspective, totally online where it was revealed that an average Rotarian spends 11% of their time daily for Rotary projects.
Rotary also initiated and partnered the Government of Sri Lanka on some land mark projects – the innovative Dengue eradication new product ‘Ovi Trap’ which is at test market stage in Grandpass area, the flagship Cancer Prevention and Early Detection Project, the novel English teaching product – MasterSpeller, the one million tree planting project partnering UN Global Compact agricultural company – HALEYS Plantations apart from the many initiatives on Tourism revival post the Easter Attack on Sri Lanka. This included global initiatives and a program that fully automated the tracking of each of the seventy odd Rotary Clubs across the country.
Governor 2018/19 Dushan Soza said: “It was an amazing year where Rotary as a team drive innovation products with media exposure crossing over Rs. 50 million. The Key KPI being that new membership crossing four hundred that made the year unique in the 90-year-old history of Rotary in Sri Lanka. We acknowledge the leadership that our public image Chairman Dr. Rohantha Athukorala and the contribution he had made to Rotary in my year.”
Commenting on the award, Dr. Athukorala said: “It was great to work for strong leader like Dushan Soza who managed Rotary similar to a corporate. He sure lifted the profile of Rotary with some outstanding projects. We saw a similar year in 2014/15 when the First Lady Governor Gowri Rajan headed the District and membership grew by almost two hundred plus. Sri Lanka right now needs all the support it needs.”
