Diplomats, government officials and business leaders have renewed calls for stronger collaboration with Rotary to address pressing community challenges and promote sustainable development.
The call was made during a diplomatic fellowship luncheon organised by the Rotary Club of Kampala at the Sheraton Kampala Hotel on March 5, 2026.
The gathering brought together diplomats, Rotarians and development partners to explore how strategic partnerships can accelerate humanitarian work and strengthen peacebuilding efforts.
The District Governor, Rotary district 9213, Geoffrey Martin Kitakule urged diplomatic missions to integrate Rotary structures into their development strategies, saying the organisation’s deep community networks position it well to deliver tangible results on the ground.
“I am looking forward to walking with you to work together to make a difference in this society. Please integrate us within your community strategies so that we can actually improve lives within the communities,” Kitakule said.
Delivering the keynote address, the British High Commissioner to Uganda, Lisa Chesney, emphasised that lasting solutions to global and local challenges can only be achieved through partnerships built on shared values and cooperation.
“We put service at the heart of what we do. We engage in the global challenges around us, however difficult they are, and we seek to make things better for everybody,” Chesney said.
She noted that diplomats and Rotarians share a similar commitment to service and collaboration.
“We have got that in common, and we share a belief with Rotary that actually it’s relationships and collaboration that is where real change happens,”she added.
Chesney also highlighted how global crises are increasingly interconnected, pointing to conflict, migration and climate change as issues that demand coordinated action.
“Conflict drives migration, a climate shock in one place unsettles an economy,” she said.
He noted that partnerships across sectors are essential to addressing such complex challenges.
According to the president of the Rotary Club of Kampala, Jacqueline Ayuya Mukasa, Rotary’s longstanding community trust and professional volunteer base make it an effective partner for organisations seeking to implement development programmes at grassroots level.
“My call to action to all the diplomatic missions and international partners present is to look at the Rotary Club of Kampala not just as a charity but as a strategic implementing partner,”Mukasa said.
“We have the local networks, the historical trust of communities, and the volunteer professional expertise to ensure that development agendas reach the last mile. Let us move from parallel paths to a shared journey of impact,” she added.
Globally, Rotary remains one of the largest service organisations with more than 1.4 million members across over 180 countries, focusing on humanitarian work ranging from disease prevention to community development.
During a recent visit to Uganda, the president of Rotary International, Francesco Arezzo, praised the vibrancy of Rotary activities in the country and the organisation’s strong collaboration with local communities and partners.
“Rotary has helped immunise over three billion children against polio,”Arezzo said.
He added that the Ugandan Rotary movement remains closely connected to community needs and local leadership.
Former permanent secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Uganda, James Mugume, observed that Rotary’s areas of focus mirror the global development agenda and align closely with the Sustainable Development Goals.
“All the Sustainable Development Goals are encapsulated in the seven areas of Rotary,” Mugume said.
He explained that the organisation’s work targets key priorities including peace and conflict prevention, fighting diseases, providing clean water, saving mothers and children, supporting education, growing local economies and protecting the environment.
The annual diplomatic fellowship, held under the theme Partnerships for Sustainable Impact: Bridging Diplomacy and Community Service, aimed to deepen cooperation between the diplomatic community and service organisations with participants expressing optimism that closer collaboration will strengthen humanitarian initiatives and deliver lasting benefits to communities across Uganda.
