Chapter 6: Preparing the Rotarian Who Takes On CED¶
A Rotary club that carries a solid CED project does not improvise it. Behind every Global Grant of USD 75,000, 150,000 or 400,000 stands a coordinator who has mastered a precise vocabulary, knows the TRF platforms inside out, can write a budget line by line, and can tell a concept note from a stewardship report. That mastery is not innate. It is built.
This chapter describes the preparation path of a Rotarian who takes on CED: training to complete, documents to master, essential reading, online resources, an annual rhythm. It is not reserved for the coordinator. The Foundation Chair, the three committee members and the club president all gain from following at least part of it.
Required and recommended training¶
The Grant Management Seminar (GMS)¶
The GMS is the technical gateway to the Global Grant system. No club can submit a Global Grant if its district is not qualified, and district qualification requires that certain roles have completed the GMS in the current Rotary year.
| Feature | Detail |
|---|---|
| Format | Online through the My Rotary Learning Center, self-paced modules |
| Length | About 1 hour for the Grant Management Basics version |
| Validity | One Rotary year (July 1 of year N to June 30 of year N+1) |
| Required for | The club's official grant signatories, typically the president, the Foundation Chair, sometimes the treasurer, as the Club-District MOU requires |
| Recommended for | CED coordinator, CED committee members, regular resource members |
| Cost | Free |
| Access | my.rotary.org > Learning & Reference > Learning Center > Rotary Grants |
The GMS covers grant types, roles and responsibilities, qualification requirements, financial management, stewardship, fraud and conflict of interest, and reporting. For a club getting started, it is the bare minimum. Below that, you are not in the game.
The Rotary Foundation Cadre of Technical Advisers (a word on it)¶
The Cadre is a network of expert Rotarians that TRF calls on to audit grants, advise clubs facing technical difficulties and train on methodologies. An experienced CED coordinator can apply to join the Cadre after several successful projects: it is both a recognition and privileged access to the TRF community.
The CED Cadre is coordinated by a dedicated person (Nilam Bedi at RAGCED as of the research date). A club can ask a Cadre member, free of charge, to review a complex concept note or audit a technical component. It only needs to go through the district's DRFC.
RAGCED training¶
RAGCED offers educational programming through its Education committee. The format varies from year to year: monthly webinars (typically on the second Monday), workshops at the annual Rotary International Convention, regional project fairs (West Africa Project Fair, Dakshinpatha), and case studies shared through the newsletter.
A member of the club's CED committee should:
- Join RAGCED (modest dues, to be confirmed for the year)
- Sign up for the newsletter
- Attend at least four monthly webinars a year
- Attend a regional fair or the RI Convention every two to three years
These activities are not decorative. They open access to a network that, in return, greatly speeds up the search for an international partner and the critical review of a concept note.
Recommended outside certifications¶
Depending on the intervention family you are aiming at, some outside training gives you a decisive edge.
| Intervention family | Relevant certifications or training |
|---|---|
| Microfinance & financial inclusion | CGAP online courses, Universal Standards SPM (SPI4) track with Cerise+SPTF, Client Protection Principles training |
| Vocational training & job placement | ILO courses on the Decent Work Agenda, ITC-ILO training (Turin), national certifications in training design |
| Value chains | ValueLinks training (GIZ methodology adopted by UNIDO), UNIDO online courses on industrial development |
| Cooperatives | ICA (International Cooperative Alliance) training; for French-speaking Africa, OHADA AUSCOOP studies |
| Integrated local development | UNDP courses on local economic development, UNCDF training |
None of these certifications is required by TRF. All of them are assets in your relationships with partners outside Rotary, and in the coordinator's credibility with TRF staff on a technical project.
The coordinator's standing document kit¶
A well-prepared CED coordinator keeps a document kit: a set of references within reach, updated every year. The kit has a digital part (a cloud folder shared with the CED committee) and a paper part (a binder kept at the club's premises).
Core Rotary documents¶
| Document | Source | Update frequency |
|---|---|---|
| Rotary Grants Terms and Conditions (latest version) | my.rotary.org | Annual |
| Areas of Focus Policy Statements (includes CED) | my.rotary.org | After each TRF revision |
| Community Assessment Tools | my.rotary.org | At each CNA |
| Global Grant Monitoring and Evaluation Plan Supplement | my.rotary.org | Annual |
| Grant Management Manual | my.rotary.org | Annual |
| Signed Club-District MOU | District | Annual |
| Rotary Code of Policies section 42 (Rotary Action Groups) | RI | Occasional revisions |
| RAGCED Bylaws | ragced.org | Occasional |
Useful international standards¶
| Document | Use in a CED project |
|---|---|
| Client Protection Principles (Cerise+SPTF) | Choosing a partner MFI |
| Universal Standards for Social Performance Management (SPI4) | MFI audit, rate negotiation |
| ILO Decent Work Agenda: pillars and indicators | Vocational training and job placement projects |
| ICA: seven cooperative principles | Cooperative projects |
| OHADA AUSCOOP (Uniform Act) | Cooperatives in West and Central Africa |
| Sphere: MERS (Minimum Economic Recovery Standards) | CED projects in post-crisis settings (link with the disaster guide) |
| Sustainable Development Goals: SDG 1, 5, 8, 10 indicators | Strategic alignment and communication |
These documents are not read in one sitting. The coordinator consults them at the right moment: the Client Protection grid when selecting the partner MFI, the seven cooperative principles when drafting a cooperative's bylaws, the SDG indicators when framing the outcomes.
Templates and forms (keep them current)¶
- Engagement letter template for the CED coordinator
- Host club/international partner club MOU template (Appendix A, form F8)
- CED Global Grant concept note template
- CED Global Grant budget template
- CNA report template
- Stewardship report templates: preliminary, 12-month, final
- Completeness checklist for the file before Grant Center submission
- M&E tracking grid (baseline/midline/endline)
All these templates appear in Appendix A of this book. The coordinator adapts them once to the club's format and keeps them, versioned, in the kit.
Essential reading¶
A CED coordinator who wants to grow reads alongside the Rotary documents. Here is a tight selection of reading that shapes CED thinking without drowning you. Read the order this way: the first two are indispensable, the rest are to pick from according to your intervention family.
Indispensable¶
- Amartya Sen, Development as Freedom (1999): the capabilities framework that underpins modern CED ethics. Why development is not GDP growth, and why it cannot be imposed from above. Reread it when writing each CNA.
- Mary Anderson, Do No Harm: How Aid Can Support Peace, or War (1999): the classic on the unintended effects of aid. Applied to CED: how a badly calibrated grant kills the markets it claimed to support. Reread it when choosing the form of intervention.
Microfinance & financial inclusion¶
- Beatriz Armendáriz & Jonathan Morduch, The Economics of Microfinance (2nd ed., 2010): the standard academic textbook on the Grameen model, VSLAs, interest rates, defaults.
- CGAP notes (downloadable at cgap.org): operational summaries on current topics (mobile money, inclusive insurance, digital credit, over-indebtedness).
Vocational training & job placement¶
- The ILO's World Employment and Social Outlook reports (annual): macro context and framing of the Decent Work Agenda.
- ITC-ILO (Turin) publications on training design in developing countries.
Value chains¶
- GTZ/GIZ, ValueLinks: Making Value Chains Work for the Poor (2007 and updates): the standard methodology manual, adopted by UNIDO.
Cooperatives¶
- International Cooperative Alliance, Statement on the Cooperative Identity (1995) and its commentaries: the seven principles, their history, their present-day interpretation.
- For French-speaking Africa: OHADA: Uniform Act on the Law of Cooperative Societies (AUSCOOP), available free at ohada.org.
Integrated local development¶
- UNCDF, Local Development Finance Initiative: program documents (uncdf.org): an operational framework for community economic infrastructure projects.
A CED coordinator who has read the first two titles, and picks one title in each intervention family they handle, has a solid base for talking with confidence to a qualified international partner or to technical TRF staff.
Attending RAGCED monthly meetings¶
RAGCED holds a video meeting once a month. The rhythm is an asset: it lets a CED coordinator keep a live link with the network without having to travel.
What happens there¶
- Presentations of ongoing projects by member clubs
- TRF updates on the funding model, the Areas of Focus, CED Packaged Grants
- Talks by invited experts (partner MFIs, CED NGOs, UN agencies)
- Q&A on real cases
- Announcements of regional fairs, calls for International Partners
How to sign up and prepare¶
- Join RAGCED (ragced.org, online form)
- Confirm your newsletter subscription
- Receive the video meeting invitation about a week ahead
- Prepare one or two precise questions: the format allows interaction
How to make the most of attending¶
A CED coordinator who attends a monthly meeting should, in the following days:
- Give the club's CED committee a five-minute update (what was said, what is relevant to the current project)
- File the materials in the document kit
- Reach out, if useful, to a contact mentioned during the meeting
Without this discipline, attendance stays passive and does not produce the expected network effect.
The coordinator's annual preparation rhythm¶
A CED coordinator at cruising speed follows a simple annual rhythm, aligned with the Rotary year (July to June).
| Month | Main action |
|---|---|
| July | GMS renewal (if not done), RAGCED membership confirmed, document kit updated |
| August-September | Annual area diagnosis (Chapter 3), minimum standard audit (Chapter 0) |
| October | Annual club training (2 hours in plenary, see Ch. 0) |
| November-December | Review of the ongoing CED project portfolio, preparation of annual reports |
| January-February | Concept note for a new project if relevant, consultation with the DRFC |
| March-April | Drafting and submission if the TRF calendar allows; attending a RAGCED regional fair |
| May | Annual club CED workshop (half day, see Ch. 0) |
| June | Handover and briefing to the president-elect, archiving, preparing the next season |
This rhythm is not mandatory: it is an example. The idea is for the coordinator to experience CED as a structured annual cycle, not as a series of crises and emergencies.
CED Rotarian preparation checklist¶
Hand this checklist to every CED committee member and to the club's Foundation Chair. Complete it before taking up the role, then every year.
- GMS completed and validated for the current Rotary year
- RAGCED membership active, newsletter received
- Attended at least 2 RAGCED monthly meetings in the last 12 months
- Core Rotary documents downloaded and filed (updated less than 12 months ago)
- Client Protection Principles and SPTF standards read at least once (if a microfinance project is planned)
- At least the 2 indispensable readings (Sen, Anderson) done
- Digital document kit shared with the CED committee
- Paper document kit at the club's premises up to date
- Direct contact established with the district's DRFC
- Direct contact with TRF's Regional Grants Officer identified
- Coordinator's skills self-assessed and any training needs identified
A CED coordinator who checks nine or ten items is operationally ready. Below seven, they are taking risks: procedural errors, delays, avoidable rejections. Time invested in preparation pays back a hundredfold during the active phase of the project.
With personal preparation in place, the question is what the club brings collectively: which skills, which networks, which potential partners. That is the subject of Chapter 7: taking stock of the assets the club can mobilize.