Most of the people ask me what is the purpose of an ICC? I would answer that first is the friendship you are going to develop between the members of an ICC. When Rotarians work together on a project, they become very good friends. In our today world where it is so difficult and seems impossible to maintain peace, it is very important to learn from each other. Thanks to those friendships between our two different countries, we become “ambassadors for peace”. Learning another culture leads to better understanding, opens diplomacy and opens door for durable peace.
Intercountry Committees are created at Rotary district level to embrace more clubs and more Rotarians participation. ICCs are all about exchanges, new ideas, projects, expertise, youth exchange. Rotaract can play a big role in ICC, that’s why we want to encourage you to include the Rotaractors in your ICC.
The second point is the importance of ICC to facilitate international projects and Global Grants. ICC is a large network that you can use to get more money for Global Grants. The network can be use to find the right club partner for your project and it functions so well that it starts working even before the creation of a new Intercountry Committee (example between the country of Colombia and European ICCs from Spain and France).
Friends, I believe that ICC is becoming more and more important and indispensable in our world today. They multiply and keep alive the Rotary International relationships. Let’s continue creating and reviving the Intercountry Committees together.
Look at the video provided by Ellina Kushnir, Rotary International: Bridging differences for peace through intercountry committees – Service in Action (rotaryserviceblog.org)
Submitted by Claudine SchooleyChair of ICC USA-Ukraine/Member of District 5240 Committee for ICC Development
