[D9640general] [eFlash_Rotary] Digest Number 583

[Garry & Anne Krischock]

1186: Development expert honoured with alumni service award 
Posted by: "Sunil K Zachariah" sunilkzach at yahoo.co.uk   sunilkzach 
Thu Jul 13, 2006 11:33 pm (PST) 
Development expert honoured with alumni service award

By Joseph Derr
Rotary International News

For more than four decades, John R. Schott has worked with the 
United Nations, World Bank, U.S. Agency for International 
Development, and other global organizations to help communities in 
Africa and Southeast Asia find sustainable solutions to meet their 
needs. He has ensured that U.S. foreign aid reaches the people it is 
intended to benefit and worked with the Thai and Indonesian 
governments to help farmers and small businesses set up 
cooperatives. He has consulted with major international relief 
agencies and other nongovernmental organizations to help them revise 
policies, programs, and financial management to better address long-
term development issues in the aftermath of natural disasters. 

In recognition of his exceptional career in international 
development, Schott was named the recipient of The Rotary Foundation 
Alumni Global Service to Humanity Award for 2006. He accepted the 
honor during the 2006 RI Convention in Malmö, Sweden, and 
Copenhagen, Denmark, in June. 

Schott says it was his 1956-57 Ambassadorial Scholarship, sponsored 
by the Rotary Club of Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, USA, that charted 
his future direction. At Oxford University's Brasenose College, he 
began the year studying English language and literature, but new 
interests soon began to emerge. 

"Oxford is an education of debate and endless discussion, whether 
it's in the Oxford Union or in the local pubs," Schott 
recalls. "Through those conversations I started to define what I 
wanted to do in life." 

His interests moved from literary to political theory. Through a 
Coslett Foundation Fellowship, Schott stayed at Oxford for a second 
year, which laid the groundwork for a PhD in government at Harvard, 
a subsequent Fulbright fellowship in Uganda, and his later career as 
an international consultant. 

Rotary provided him with not only a scholarship but "a home away 
from home," he says. "E.H. Birchall [1954-55 president of Rotary 
International in Great Britain and Ireland] was a second father to 
me when my father died during my second year at Oxford. His two 
daughters became everlasting sisters to me and have become long-term 
friends ever since. In that sense, the experience continues to this 
very day." 

Schott founded Schott & Associates in 1974 and now lives in New 
Hampshire, USA. Throughout his career, he has says he has seen how 
Rotary's motto reflects his own values. 

"Consciously or unconsciously, I was linked up to Rotary's notion of 
Service Above Self," says Schott. "I wanted to be what was useful 
and helpful to other people." 

The scholarship also cultivated Schott's lifelong interest in 
learning, which inspires his work philosophy to this day. "My 
interest has always been seeking out the kind of people who can tell 
me something that I don't know anything about," he says. 

Throughout his career, Schott says he has felt equally at home with 
high-level politicians, peasant farmers, and small business 
owners. "I felt like I was one of them. It was never my telling 
people, 'This is what needs to be done,' but rather working out with 
them as colleagues what needed to be done." 

Schott believes that service and self can be connected through the 
personal pleasure and satisfaction one gets from serving 
others. "Focusing on what can I do for you - or your project or 
organization - has given me a great sense of satisfaction," he says. 

Schott's advice for current and future scholars is to help heal the 
wounds of hatred and fear in the world by diving into the experience 
with open minds. "Ambassadorial scholars are really ambassadors for 
the entire world, not just their own countries," he says. "You're 
not there to tell how wonderful or good your country is but instead 
listen. You're not telling, you're learning." 

In his acceptance speech at the convention, Schott praised Rotary's 
ideals. "Rotary has done [exceptional work] in respecting cultural 
differences, [and has instilled] in others the notion of Service 
Above Self and promoted cultural interchange and discussion of 
differences. To be honored by The Rotary Foundation of Rotary 
International and people like you is something quite singular and 
very special. You've honored me, may I say I honor you." 

Source: R I Website
Courtesy: eFlash_Rotary

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