News

What's happening, how we're helping

Doing Good in the World is what we do. Giving is also receiving as there’s nothing quite as rewarding as making a difference in communities where there’s need. Our work would not be possible without the generosity of our donors and supporters. They enable us to assist with development activities and to respond when there’s an emergency event.
When people unite to create lasting change in the world, there will always be some good news stories to share.

CELEBRATING 21 YEARS AS RNZWCS LIMITED

December 11th 2024 marked the 21st Anniversary of the establishment of RNZWCS Limited (Rotary New Zealand World Community Service). That was the day we were registered with New Zealand Charities (CC26860).

As some will know, our work began 39 years ago. We started operating under the ROAP (Rotary Overseas Aid Projects) umbrella. One of the first activities was the introduction and promotion of the EMBOX Emergency Box Project in New Zealand, a UK Rotary initiative launched there in 1975.

The ROAP Committee formed a relationship with the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFAT) which enabled it to apply for government funding. The scope of the work broadened beyond EMBOX to include, for example, water projects in the Pacific. Soon, ROAP joined forces with Rotary Australia World Community Service (RAWCS). Together we produced a booklet that listed projects worldwide that required funding.

For many years, the EMBOX project was the main focus, the boxes initially filled with used goods donated by Rotarians. in 2009, an MFAT-funded review prompted a major revamp. A national standard was adopted. EMBOX became ERK (Emergency Response Kit) in New Zealand. It was decided that contents would be new and selected to best meet the needs of the recipients - disaster-affected families in the Pacific.

Over the years, a streamlined and more cohesive approach to funding and activities became necessary. MFAT would find it easier to deal with one entity than the 260 individual Rotary Clubs that sought funding for their overseas aid projects. MFAT also suggested more focus on development in addition to disaster relief to address the health, education and income needs of the most vulnerable. In 2003, after much work and deliberation, RNZWCS Limited was born - a limited liability company with a Board of Directors and with legal charity status.

Of course, none of this happened overnight. It has involved a great deal of work by individuals and groups through the decades and endless fundraising to try and meet increasing need. Our aid and development activities now reach beyond the Pacific to include parts of Africa, South East Asia and India, as well as here at home in New Zealand and in Australia. Collaboration between RNZWCS and RAWCS has strengthened, as have partnerships with Rotary Clubs, other NGOs and governments wherever we work. 

RNZWCS Limited looks forward to the challenges the next 20 years will bring and the opportunity to do more good in the world.

For the latest news on what we’re planning, doing and have achieved, please follow or visit our Facebook pages: https://www.facebook.com/rotarynewzealandworldcommunityservice and https://www.facebook.com/EmergencyResponseKits

READ OUR LATEST NEWSLETTER:
RNZWCS Newsletter October 2024

HELP GIVE A FUTURE TO VULNERABLE CHILDREN

USA RIVER, TANZANIA

Our focus is always on supporting the most vulnerable and ‘Laketatu’ is a perfect example. Construction of a live-in Youth Training Centre - Laketatu - began in 2022 and will continue throughout 2023. It is being built to support up to 140 homeless children and youth offering them a home, vocational training and physical and emotional support. The project is also designed to support local women to grow vegetable and grain crops and raise livestock, providing them with incomes to improve their wellbeing and quality of life.

There will be four young people living in each of the 24 accommodation units. Site works include infrastructure such as irrigation, water and sanitation, a kitchen and dining room, and medical services. Biogas will provide lighting and cooking facilities. The newly opened Faye Can Chem Chem School is within walking distance making it easy for children to attend.

 Laketatu is a sustainable approach that aims to improve the lives of vulnerable children and struggling rural women. It offers vocational and academic education in an atmosphere of hope and motivation with the ultimate goal of lifting people out of poverty. It’s a model that can be adopted by other communities.

 A priority is to reunite families offering those who have left their parents for a life on the street with basic life skills such as sewing, baking, in horticulture and livestock keeping. The same opportunities will be given to their parents and women living on their own. The local community will be invited to use the football and netball fields created at the Centre to help reintegrate the live-in children and young people who had previously fled their homes for Arusha and other large towns. Street children have exceptional survival skills and Laketatu will seek to redirect these energies towards self-improvement and co-operative social skills. This is an exciting project and our hope is that you will want to become involved by donating. Thank you for any gift you can make.

The project number is 316.

Please use this in the reference field when you donate via our bank account or by credit card under Project Partners on our home or donate pages.

Thank you.

RNZWCS Limited 
Westpac account: 03 1702 0192208 02
SWIFT Code WPACNZ2W