Francesco Arezzo
President, Rotary International, 2025-26

October 2025

October is Rotary’s Community Economic Development Month, a time to spotlight our efforts to help communities build thriving, sustainable futures. This month’s observance aligns perfectly with the Rotary core value of leadership.

Leadership means empowering people to guide their own progress. That is precisely what Rotary’s economic development projects aim to achieve.

Take, for example, a recent initiative in southern India in which Rotary members unlocked the power of women of the Adivasi tribal groups through sewing training to earn a living and regain social inclusion. Historically, widows and abandoned women in this region lose social standing and are shunned by society or blamed for their misfortunes. Opportunities to support themselves or obtain training are minimal.

This year, the Rotary Club of Windsor Roseland, Ontario, partnered with clubs in Districts 3203 and 3234 in India — and with the Indian organization Sevalaya Trust — to provide sewing machines and training to 80 Adivasi women. They learned to stitch saree blouses, kurta tunics, and salwar suits, enabling them to support themselves and their families. Each woman received a certificate for completing the program, and the sewing-machine provider offered free long-term maintenance for the machines. The project offered vital income and dignity to women ostracized by society after widowhood.

This story is one example of Rotary leadership in action: local people guiding solutions that address their community needs. Our role is not to deliver charity or to impose outside models, but to foster self-reliance by investing in leadership, skills, and sustainable enterprise.