 | During this month dedicated to Literacy and Education, the Rotary clubs of French Guiana chose to join forces around a common initiative: the Great Dictation, organized to raise awareness about illiteracy. More than 200 participants came together simultaneously across 7 different locations, some more than 300 kilometers apart. |
But behind these numbers lies, above all, a truly collective adventure.
First, we had to share the idea and convince the clubs to embark on this journey together. Then came the work of writing the dictation, finding venues, mobilizing partners and participants, organizing each location, coordinating the teams, and taking on an additional challenge: connecting all 7 sites simultaneously so that everyone could share the same experience.
Each club took responsibility for its local organization, with its own teams, partners, and local realities, while contributing to the creation of one shared event.
And that is probably what made this day so special.
By connecting all the sites, speeches and messages could be delivered from different locations and shared with everyone. Even hundreds of kilometers apart, we could see the other rooms, hear their reactions, and feel that we were all taking part in the same event.
As Assistant Governor, this is certainly what touched me most: beyond the success of the Great Dictation itself, seeing the clubs work together, share responsibilities, and finally experience together the result of several weeks of preparation.
This experience also naturally echoed an approach promoted this year by our District Governor, Maurice: encouraging clubs to work more closely together in clusters.
This approach is still new to many of us. But what we experienced in French Guiana showed us just how valuable it can be. It takes nothing away from the identity or autonomy of each club; it simply allows us, when a project lends itself to it, to combine our energies and give our actions a dimension that would have been much more difficult for any one club to achieve alone.
Above all, this experience convinced us of one thing: working together, beyond the success of a single project, is already a way of embracing this year’s theme, “Create Lasting Impact.” It is a vision championed by our Rotary President and our District Governor Maurice: to build stronger connections between our clubs, combine our energies, and ensure that what we create together can continue to have an impact long after a single event has ended.
The Great Dictation was not intended to raise funds. Its impact lay elsewhere: raising awareness about illiteracy, bringing together more than 200 people, increasing Rotary’s visibility, creating opportunities for people to connect, and strengthening the bonds between our clubs
Joël FRANCILLONNE
AG 2026-2027
FRENCH GUIANA
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