By Christoph Berndt

On Tuesday, 13th of August 2019, I had the chance to visit the Rotary International Europe and Africa Office, based in Zürich, Switzerland.
The Rotary International Europe and Africa Office is the regional headquarters of Rotary International, responsible for the area of of Europe, Middle-East and Africa. It is a more or less large office with more than 40 employees, responsible for over 8600 regional Rotary Clubs and supporting 7 different languages for its members.
In an very interesting tour of the building and the offices, I had the chance to see all the different departments first-hand, like Finance Services, Club & District Supports, Marketing & Media and Foundation Services. It made me realise that Rotary International is a truly worldwide organisation. It was fantastic to meet all the wonderful people working for the organisation and getting some notions of how much effort it actually takes to run our Rotary International.
Thereafter, a well-structured and clear presentation gave me a complete overview of the Rotary organisation and all its branches. The second part of the presentation focussed more in-depth on the strategy of membership development and the structure of clubs and districts within the Rotary World, which was also extremely interesting to learn about. Following the presentation, I had the chance to make an entry into the official Rotary International guest book. As a Rotarian, it was of course more than just a pleasure to write something in the official Rotary International guest book.
Finally, the satisfying meeting came to a close with a delicious Swiss hot chocolate, just in front of the Rotarian International Europe and Africa Office, at Bellevue place, which is situated right in the city center of Zürich, under clear skies, breading pure air and taking in the splendid view of the lake of Zürich surrounded by Swiss Alps with snowy peaks.
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