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Chapter 18: Other Rotary Action Groups That Complement CED

Why combine expertise

A rigorous CED project rarely unfolds in a silo. Access to water determines economic productivity. Environmental resilience determines whether value chains last. Local peace makes investment possible. Recovery after a disaster depends on a fast economic restart. Hosting displaced people has a central economic dimension.

Rotary has recognized these connections by creating some thirty Rotary Action Groups. Five of them complement RAGCED particularly well for a broader CED project. This chapter presents them, explains how to bring them in, and offers a combination matrix by type of project.

WASH-RAG: water as an economic prerequisite

Who

The Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Rotary Action Group (WASH-RAG) covers WASH, one of Rotary's seven areas of focus. Website: wash-rag.org.

What it brings to CED

Access to safe drinking water and sanitation has massive economic effects, often underestimated. For a CED project:

  • Women freed from fetching water (several hours a day in rural areas) gain the time they need for an economic activity
  • Workers' health improves (fewer waterborne diseases), and so does their productivity
  • Food processing units need quality water to meet HACCP standards
  • Facilities (covered markets, training centers, workshops) must be equipped with water and sanitation
  • In an agrifood value chain project: water quality for processing
  • In an economic infrastructure project (market, market hall): sanitation equipment
  • In a vocational training project: the physical conditions of the center
  • In a CED project in an area where access to water is a major bottleneck

How to bring it in

Contact it through the WASH-RAG website, or through RAGCED. A multi-focus CED+WASH project can be structured as a single Global Grant, provided the components are clearly separated and the project complies with TRF rules for multi-focus projects (to be checked in the Terms and Conditions).

ESRAG: environment and sustainability

Who

The Environmental Sustainability Rotary Action Group (ESRAG) covers the Environment area of focus, the seventh, added in 2020-2021. Website: esrag.org.

What it brings to CED

Environmental sustainability and CED meet on several fronts:

  • Regenerative agriculture: farm value chains that protect soil, biodiversity and water resources. Built into value chain projects.
  • Renewable energy: solar in particular, for processing units, training centers, covered markets and rural COOPECs (savings and credit cooperatives).
  • Waste management: a standard component of community economic infrastructure; economic value chains built around recycling and reuse.
  • Climate resilience: adapting economic value chains to the impacts of climate change (resilient varieties, diversification, adapted infrastructure).
  • Environmental certifications: organic, fair trade and geographical indications that add value to products and open premium markets.
  • Farm value chains with an agroecology component
  • Economic infrastructure to be built to sustainable standards (solar, rainwater harvesting, eco-friendly materials)
  • Community ecotourism project
  • Recycling and waste processing value chains
  • Any intervention in an area vulnerable to climate change

How to bring it in

Contact it through esrag.org, or through a joint referral with RAGCED. Especially relevant for multi-focus CED+Environment projects, which can draw on both TRF's CED resources and its environmental resources.

RAGFP: the Rotary Action Group for Peace

Who

The Rotary Action Group for Peace (RAGFP). Website: rotaryactiongroupforpeace.org. It covers Peacebuilding and conflict prevention/resolution, historically Rotary's first area of focus.

What it brings to CED

Economic development is one of the most powerful levers for building peace. In several contexts:

  • Post-conflict: economic restart as a condition for a return to normal life, support for former combatants, economic reintegration of refugees and displaced people
  • Prevention: creating economic opportunities for young people as an antidote to radicalization
  • Intercommunity coexistence: economic projects shared between groups in tension (documented examples in Bosnia, Rwanda, Colombia and Northern Ireland)
  • Inclusion of marginalized populations: women, minorities, disadvantaged castes, Indigenous peoples
  • CED project in a post-conflict area
  • CED project benefiting several communities with a history of tension
  • CED project for the reintegration of former combatants
  • CED project within a formal peace process (peace agreement, DDR)

How to bring it in

Through rotaryactiongroupforpeace.org or through RAGCED, which knows the RAGFP contacts. Clubs that take on this link must be especially careful about the principle of neutrality (Chapter 4): CED cannot favor one side without compromising its legitimacy.

DNA-RAG: recovery after a disaster

Who

The Disaster Network Assistance Rotary Action Group (DNA-RAG). Website: dna-rag.com. It covers disaster response, which is treated in depth in the twin book Rotary Club Guide: Autonomous Disaster Response.

What it brings to CED

After a disaster, recovery goes through three successive phases:

  1. Emergency (0-3 months): survival, shelter, water, food. Led by DNA-RAG and the Disaster Response Grant.
  2. Stabilization (3-12 months): restoring essential services, repairs, first steps back to normal. DNA-RAG working alongside the start of CED.
  3. Structural economic recovery (12-36 months): rebuilding livelihoods, restarting markets, restoring value chains, reactivating local financial institutions. CED in the lead, working with DNA-RAG.

A club that has carried out a DRG in a disaster-stricken area has exceptional assets for then carrying out a CED Global Grant: it already knows the community, has built trust, has mapped the actors and has documented the initial impact. Moving from a DRG to a CED Global Grant is a natural path, and RAGCED and DNA-RAG both encourage it.

  • Post-disaster area, 6 to 24 months after the event
  • Alignment with Sphere's MERS (Minimum Economic Recovery Standards): see the glossary in Appendix C
  • Continuity of the club's work in the same community

How to bring it in

DNA-RAG is the first RAG to turn to for any post-disaster issue. Contacts via dna-rag.com. RAGCED and DNA-RAG have established ways of working together; the handover happens naturally between the two RAGs' coordinators at the regional level.

RAG for Refugees and displaced populations

Who

The Rotary Action Group for Refugees, Forced Displacement, and Migration. Website: ragforrefugees.org.

What it brings to CED

Refugee and displaced populations have specific economic needs:

  • Job placement in the host country: recognition of prior qualifications, validation of prior learning and experience, additional training
  • Micro-entrepreneurship: often the most accessible path for people without work permits
  • Financial inclusion: access to basic banking services, even without complete identity documents
  • Economic reintegration in case of voluntary return: start-up capital, training, support
  • Area hosting refugees or internally displaced people
  • Program for the economic integration of migrants in the host country
  • Economic support for voluntary return organized with UNHCR or IOM

How to bring it in

Contact it directly through the RAG for Refugees website. Linking CED and refugees often involves UNHCR and IOM as major institutional partners, and they should be approached too.

Depending on the exact nature of the project, other RAGs can bring useful expertise without being centrally about CED. Among them:

  • Rotary Action Group Against Slavery: fighting human trafficking and forced labor, an inherent dimension of some CED projects in high-risk areas
  • Rotarians Against Malaria: health and CED coordination in tropical rural areas
  • RAG Mental Health Initiatives: linking mental health and job placement
  • RAG on Blockchain Technology: financial inclusion through blockchain, traceability in value chains

This list is not exhaustive. A club that identifies a need for specific expertise checks the official list of RAGs recognized by the RI Board of Directors (available via my.rotary.org).

Combination matrix: which RAG for which type of CED project

Key: ●● Essential · ● Relevant · (blank) Not a priority

Type of CED project RAGCED WASH-RAG ESRAG RAGFP DNA-RAG RAG Refugees
Microcredit / MFI ●● ●
VSLA/SILC savings groups ●●
Mobile money / financial inclusion ●● ● ●
Vocational training ●● ● (if post-conflict) ● (if refugees)
Youth job placement ●● ● ●
Refugee / displaced job placement ●● ● ● ●●
Agricultural value chain ●● ● ●●
Handicraft value chain ●● ●
Agrifood (processing) ●● ●● ●
Agricultural cooperative ●● ● ●
COOPEC / savings and credit cooperative ●●
Covered market ●● ●● ●
Training center ●● ● ●
Business incubator ●● ●
Slaughterhouse or livestock unit ●● ●● ●
Post-disaster economic rebuilding ●● ● ● ●●
Post-conflict rebuilding ●● ● ●● ●
Climate adaptation of value chains ●● ● ●●
Community ecotourism ●● ● ●●
Recycling and circular economy ●● ● ●●

How to read it

  • A project can legitimately involve 2 to 4 RAGs in its design without becoming overly cumbersome
  • Essential links (●●) mean the RAG concerned should be involved from the project design stage
  • Relevant links (●) mean it can provide occasional expertise or a specific partnership

How to set up a multi-focus project

A Rotary project can cover several areas of focus within a single Global Grant, subject to TRF rules [to be verified]:

  • The components for each area of focus must be identifiable and budgeted separately
  • The indicators must cover each area of focus
  • The technical partners must be relevant to each area of focus
  • The main area of focus is the one that accounts for the largest share of the budget

Practical example: a CED+WASH+Environment project

A club funds a cassava processing unit in a rural area of West Africa. Budget: USD 180,000. Indicative breakdown:

  • CED component (value chain, cooperative, training, market): USD 110,000, main area of focus
  • WASH component (borehole, water treatment system for processing, sanitation): USD 40,000
  • Environment component (solar power for the unit, residue management, agroecology for the producers): USD 30,000

This project brings in RAGCED (lead), WASH-RAG and ESRAG. The technical partner is probably a generalist NGO (e.g., Mercy Corps, CRS) or a consortium with specialized actors for each component.

The pitfalls of multi-focus projects

Pitfall 1: Spreading too thin

The project tries to tick every box without going deep on any of them. Result: no component reaches the critical mass it needs to make an impact.

Mitigation: 2 to 3 areas of focus at most per project, with one clearly dominant main area of focus (> 50% of the budget).

Pitfall 2: Management complexity

Each RAG brings its own requirements, contacts and standards. The club coordinator ends up juggling several frameworks. Stewardship reports get heavier.

Mitigation: only set up a multi-focus project after completing a single-focus project, so you have the operational maturity it takes.

Pitfall 3: Diluted technical partnerships

A generalist technical partner (e.g., a rural support NGO) may not be an expert in every component. Results plateau below expectations.

Mitigation: partner with a consortium that pairs a generalist lead with specialists for each area of focus (e.g., a CED NGO + a WASH NGO + an environmental NGO, working together under a shared MOU).

Pitfall 4: Mismatched timelines

CED unfolds over 24-36 months, WASH over 12-18 months, Environment continuously. The timelines do not line up on their own.

Mitigation: explicit phasing in the project plan, with dependencies and milestones shared between components.

The special case of RAGCED × DNA-RAG

The bridge between disaster response (DNA-RAG) and lasting economic recovery (RAGCED) is one of the most natural and best-documented links. It typically follows three phases:

Phase Duration Lead Main tool
Emergency 0-3 months DNA-RAG Disaster Response Grant (max USD 25,000)
Stabilization 3-12 months DNA-RAG in support, CED started Additional DRG + start of CED Global Grant
Structural recovery 12-36 months RAGCED in the lead Structuring CED Global Grant

A club that plans for this sequence from the emergency phase onward saves 6 to 12 months on the recovery phase. The Community Needs Assessment for the CED Global Grant can build on the needs assessments already carried out during the emergency phase, with targeted additions.

Documented example: after hurricanes in the Caribbean, several American and Caribbean clubs combined a DRG and a CED Global Grant focused on the livelihoods of affected fishers and farmers. Sequences documented on Rotary Showcase: see the projects in Haiti after Matthew in 2016, the Bahamas after Dorian in 2019, and others.

These sequences are why the disaster response book and this CED book are designed as a pair: some readers will carry out both kinds of projects in the same community.

Multi-RAG coordination checklist

  • Identify the relevant RAGs at the area diagnosis stage (Chapter 3)
  • Contact each relevant RAG from the design phase onward
  • Clarify who leads (RAGCED for a project where CED dominates)
  • Have each RAG involved review the component that concerns it
  • Structure the budget by identified component
  • Bring in specialized technical partners for each area of focus
  • Define indicators for each component
  • Plan stewardship reports with each component in mind
  • Check compliance with TRF rules for multi-focus projects
  • Plan a gradual wind-down phase to avoid breaks between components

The strength of a connected network

A club that brings in several RAGs the right way gains access to a depth of expertise that no single organization can offer. This is one of Rotary's structural strengths as an ecosystem: not the stand-alone power of one agency, but the ability to pool complementary expertise.

The next chapter widens the lens further to partners outside Rotary (UN agencies, development banks, microfinance networks, specialized CED NGOs) that strengthen the setup of an ambitious CED project.