Minutes of the CORE-Conference in Pforzheim October 20-22, 2023
Participants: About 70 participants (also from Rotaract) at the general sessions and the five workshops, about 120 participants at the festive evening in „Gasometer“
Festive Evening: First the participants enjoyed an introduction and a tour through the Gasometer exhibition, the Pergamon Panorama by Yadegar Asisi. In his dinner speech, former EU-commissioner Günter Oettinger stressed the importance of European cooperations in currently challenging times. Especially the existing cooperation between the “4 European Motors”, which CORE seems to strengthen to a certain degree, is a good basis. In his „Nachgedanken“, Jean-Luc Perrin (D1710; Rotary ambassador to the UN- organizations in Geneva) focused on the importance of Rotary for these challenges due to the massive engagement of Rotarians also in our districts as shown in this conference, our international standing and overall values and mission.
Workshops: On Saturday, five workshops were held: 1) Trinational School Project, 2) Rotary European Stars (International RYLA), 3) Global Grants between the CORE Districts, 4) Club Partnerships and Twinnings and 5) Rotaract and Alumni.
For the summaries of the discussions, the results and ToDo’s, please see the respective attachments: workshop 1, workshop 2, workshop 3, workshop 4 to workshop 5.
The presentations to the workshops shown in Pforzheim are available on request. Plenum:
- The three governors summarized the results of the plenary and the workshops on Sunday morning. The record number of participants was seen as an indicator that now, after the Covid pandemic and the first series of successful activities, CORE has found its role in the world of Rotary.
- Six Rotarians were honored for their extensive support for CORE with a Paul-Harris- Fellow: Carol Bausor (1710), Jean-Philippe Bretin (1710), Michail Perackis (2042), Paolo Rota (2042), Norbert Ratzlaff (1830), Jan Wagner (1830).
- The next CORE-Conference will take place October 18-20, 2024 in District 2042 in Italy.
Communication: the event was well covered by the local press, see attachment
Heidenheim, October 24, 2023
Giving a strong signal in favor of peace in Europe: this is the main objective of the CORE initiative, Cooperation Of Rotarians for Europe, launched in 2021 by the Rotary clubs of Baden-Württemberg, Rhône-Alpes and Lombardy.
The third consecutive annual conference has just come to a close, with no fewer than 130 participants at the Parkhotel in Pforzheim. Participants from all three countries presented the results of current actions and developed new projects. The progress of the first two basic projects, “Trinational Schools” and “Rotarian European Stars”, and the follow-up to them, were the subject of two working groups.
The primary aim of these two projects is to bring young people together for a better mutual understanding of the European ideal, in order to better promote peace.
In a world rife with conflict and violence, CORE aims to strengthen its impact by broadening its field of action. As part of the trinational school project developed and implemented by the Rotary Club of Heilbronn, 18 pupils from France (Bourg en Bresse), Germany and Italy (Sarnico) worked for five months on European themes, with the aim of getting to know each other better, comparing their understanding of democracy and coming together around the European idea.
As part of the second project, the “Rotarian European Stars”, 30 young students from the three districts met for a three-day stay in Bergamo. They worked intensively on various European themes, exchanged ideas with experts in the European cause, made contacts and got to know each other better.
Two further working groups focused on setting up common GGs (Global Grants) for the three districts, and on establishing twinning arrangements between the three districts.
The last working group was reserved for Rotaractors, Rotarians under the age of 35. They organized themselves into a network to collaborate more effectively in the years to come.
Now that the foundations of CORE are well established, it’s time to develop new projects with more clubs and open up CORE to other districts. This is our next objective!
See you in Lombardy from October 18 to 20, 2024 for a 4th edition. Mark your calendars.
