Community Economic Development¶
Rotary Club Guide: Community Economic Development
Guillaume Bourgogne, 2026
A Rotary operating framework for local economic development
A bonus book, the first in the series
This book lays the groundwork: community economic development, in normal times. The third book, Restarting the Local Economy After a Disaster, covers economic recovery after a disaster, and the Disaster Field Guide covers the emergency response itself.
Two neighboring Rotary clubs, the same member profiles, the same project for the women of the same neighborhood. Two years later, one has 3 beneficiaries out of 40 with lasting income; the other, 45 out of 60.
The difference is not money or goodwill. It is the framework. Community economic development is one of Rotary's seven Areas of Focus, and one of the least funded, even though clubs bring together exactly the skills it requires.
This guide gives your club that framework, from assessing your area to scaling up. You will learn how to:
- Meet the ten criteria of the minimum standard
- Run a rigorous Community Needs Assessment
- Choose among the five families of CED interventions
- Build a Global Grant with qualified partners
- Plan exit and sustainability from day one
“This book is written so that your club is Scenario 2.”
What you will find inside¶
- The CED doctrine in seven steps (understand, diagnose, design, fund, implement, document, sustain) and the ten criteria of a club ready to carry a project
- How to structure the club: CED coordinator, committee, skills matrix, networks activated before the project
- The Community Needs Assessment as the cornerstone of every project
- The five families of interventions, one chapter each: microfinance and financial inclusion, vocational training and job placement, value chains, cooperatives, integrated local development
- How the district, The Rotary Foundation and its Global Grants, RAGCED, the other Rotary Action Groups and partners outside Rotary fit together
- Exit and sustainability, documentation and reporting, an After-Action Review adapted to CED, and scaling up
- Seventeen practical sheets by type of project, ten operational forms, a contact directory, a glossary and online resources
Who it is for¶
Rotary members, club presidents and boards, CED coordinators and committees, district and Foundation leaders. The book is written for the professionals clubs are made of (bankers, accountants, entrepreneurs, lawyers, agronomists, trainers): it does not teach management or finance, it gives the framework specific to community economic development carried by a Rotary club.
Read it online¶
The full book is available chapter by chapter, free, in the online edition: Chapter 0, twenty-four chapters in five parts, the practical sheets of Chapter 25, and appendices A to D. Use the search bar to jump to a form, a project sheet or a glossary entry.
A French online edition is also available: Version française.
Download the PDF¶
Download PDF
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Author's edition, 170 × 244 mm, for printing and reading on screen.
Not affiliated with Rotary International¶
This is an independent work. It is not approved, endorsed, or sponsored by Rotary International or The Rotary Foundation. “Rotary” and the names of Rotary programs are used for descriptive purposes. Rotary Foundation rules change: always check the current version on my.rotary.org before setting up a project.