I previously authored an article on international cooperation practice, which was published in the Rotary Monthly. In that piece, I described how our IYFR Sapphire Star Fleet had undertaken a small-scale international service collaboration with a sister fleet in the Philippines.

This essay is not an event report. It is a structural explanation.

At present, the two IYFR fleets in Taiwan and the Philippines—IYFR Sapphire Star Fleet and IYFR Makati Circle of Friends Fleet—are formally established sister fleets. However, the corresponding Rotary clubs—Rotary Club of Generation Next Taipei (RCGN Taipei) and RC Makati Circle of Friends—have not yet entered into a sister-club relationship, nor have they jointly applied for a Rotary Global Grant or an IYFR International Service Grant.

This collaboration was anchored in the Adopt-A-Tree Program promoted by Tagaytay Highlands in the Philippines. Launched in 2023 in partnership with SM Foundation, the program combines reforestation initiatives with an educational scholarship mechanism, supported by a clear process, tree-tagging system, and long-term maintenance arrangements.

This was therefore not a symbolic tree-planting event, but a cooperation node that is:

• Verifiable in its outcomes
• Supported by institutional frameworks
• Designed for long-term operation
• Capable of extension and scaling

Before formal institutional structures are in place, testing a cooperation model on the basis of friendship reduces risk while preserving space for future upgrades.

This collaboration was made possible by two fleets that have already established a formal sister-fleet relationship:

• IYFR Sapphire Star Fleet
• IYFR Makati Circle of Friends Fleet

The primary bridge-builder on the Taiwan side was Marina Chen, who had just completed her tenure as IYFR National Commodore for Taiwan. The role of National Commodore is not merely ceremonial—it carries the responsibility of fostering substantive connections and advancing cooperation between international fleets. Marina served as the driving force on the Taiwan end, coordinating directly with counterparts in the Philippines.

The key figure on the Philippine side was Nelia Cruz Sarcol. She is both the founding core member of IYFR Makati Circle of Friends Fleet and the Charter President of RC Makati Circle of Friends. At both the institutional and personal levels, she holds long-standing influence and organizational continuity.

The current president of the Philippine Rotary club is Lily Delos Santos. During our exchange, we engaged in in-depth discussions with the sitting president and her team regarding the club’s long-standing social service projects and shared experiences.

I personally hold a dual role:

• Member of IYFR Sapphire Star Fleet
• Member of Rotary Club of Generation Next Taipei (RCGN Taipei)

The current president of RCGN Taipei, Alex Wang, is also a fleet member. Prior to the trip, I invited the president to participate in person; however, due to scheduling constraints, he was unable to attend and authorized me to represent the club in support of this collaborative initiative.

At the institutional level, the fleets have already established a sister relationship; the Rotary clubs have not. This is precisely why the collaboration carries a testing dimension—fleet friendship leads the way, club membership provides the operational link, and space is preserved for future institutional upgrades.

This was not the first time we visited the Philippines as a team.

Across multiple previous exchanges, I have continuously observed the service practice model of RC Makati Circle of Friends and the broader fleet and membership community it represents. These observations led me to recognize that their service work is not a series of isolated events, but a form of institutional operation with long-term cumulative capacity.

Their service characteristics can be summarized in four points:

1. High execution efficiency — clear project design, well-defined division of labor, and concrete feedback mechanisms.
2. Sustained commitment — not one-time donations, but long-term trackable and extensible engagement.
3. Broad service scope — spanning education, community development, and support for vulnerable populations.
4. Mature operational experience — years of accumulated know-how that has formed a stable operational rhythm.

More importantly, most of their programs are not simply material aid. They integrate capacity building with long-term support mechanisms. In other words, the emphasis is not just on providing immediate resources, but on equipping beneficiaries with the ability to become self-reliant.

This service logic enables projects to combine efficiency with impact, and to sustain continuity across time.

For me, this carried significant learning value. I have long focused on agricultural supply chains, sustainable development, and cooperative symbiosis in practice. When I observed a Rotary team capable of integrating environment, education, and social support into a long-term mechanism, I became even more convinced: if cross-border cooperation is to have depth, it must be built on mature local execution capacity.

This minimum-scale collaboration was therefore not a symbolic gesture—it was a field-level exercise in understanding each other’s service structures and values.

The concrete action of this collaboration was anchored in the Adopt-A-Tree Program promoted by Tagaytay Highlands in the Philippines.

Launched in 2023 as a joint initiative between Tagaytay Highlands and SM Foundation, Inc., the program’s core objectives are reforestation and environmental greening. At the same time, funds generated through the tree-adoption mechanism support educational scholarship programs, particularly assisting families and students in need.

In other words, this is an integrated service model combining:

• Environmental restoration (tree planting and long-term maintenance)
• Educational support (scholarships and community assistance)
• Institutionalized processes (adoption tagging, certificates, and official maintenance)

During our visit, Nelia Cruz Sarcol personally introduced us to the program’s structural design, resource flow, and long-term operational framework. This was not a symbolic tree-planting ceremony, but a cooperation node built on an existing institutional foundation.

Its value lies in:

1. Verifiable outcomes — every tree has a clear adoption and maintenance mechanism.
2. Replicable processes — the model is clear and can be extended to different regions or countries.
3. Temporal continuity — this is not a one-off event, but part of a long-running operational plan.

The meaning of sustainability does not reside solely in the realm of ideals. It lies in whether there exists an institutional capacity to operate repeatedly across time.

The significance of this tree-planting initiative, therefore, is not its scale, but the fact that it is embedded within a mature, long-running framework. It responds to environmental concerns, supports educational development, and possesses the qualities of verifiability and extensibility.

This is precisely why we chose it as the starting point for our first collaboration.

Through my experience in Rotary and various forms of social service, I have come to appreciate a structural reality:

If the scale is set too large or the resource threshold too high at the outset of a partnership, it typically entails:

• Substantial upfront investment
• Complex cross-border administrative coordination
• Extended preparation and review timelines

The Rotary system itself operates on a well-defined tenure rhythm. Most club presidents serve one-year terms. When a large-scale international project must be shouldered within a limited window, focus can be diluted during leadership transitions, and execution efficiency may decline due to tempo misalignment.

This is not a matter of capability—it is the structural reality of institutional timelines.

Choosing the Minimum Viable Project (MVP) approach was therefore a deliberate and responsible strategy. The meaning of MVP is:

• With the fewest resources
• In the shortest timeframe
• Test the most essential cooperation mechanisms

This tree-planting initiative did not immediately apply for a Rotary Global Grant, nor did it draw upon IYFR International Service Grant resources. It first used friendship as its foundation, testing whether both sides share a common service philosophy, execution rhythm, and basis of trust.

If the partnership matures, the natural next steps include:

• Applying for a Rotary District or Global Grant
• Applying for an IYFR International Service Grant
• Scaling up into a larger cross-border joint service project

The value of this initiative, therefore, lies not in its scale, but in the fact that it lowered the barrier to entry while preserving room for future expansion.

The true value of a minimum-scale collaboration lies not in the action itself, but in the connections it crystallizes.

In this initiative, we witnessed integration across three dimensions:

• Cross-cultural understanding — mutual learning between Taiwan and the Philippines in values and service models.
• Cross-border trust building — fleet friendship translated into concrete action.
• Cross-organizational coordination — the IYFR framework and Rotary club membership operating in tandem.

Here, special acknowledgment must go to Nelia Cruz Sarcol and Marina Chen for the bridging roles they played. The efforts of leaders on both sides enabled the collaboration to be completed in a natural and steady rhythm.

If cooperative experience continues to accumulate, the path forward is clear. Within the IYFR framework, we can:

• Jointly launch cross-cultural, cross-national, and cross-institutional service projects
• Apply for IYFR International Service Grants
• Evaluate whether to pursue more formal institutional cooperation when the time is right

Once a cooperation model has been verified, it acquires the capacity for extension. In the Asia region, long-standing friendship fleets and Rotary clubs in Japan and Hong Kong, for example, may also become part of a future cooperation network. When collaboration is grounded in verifiable success, the establishment of cross-border sister clubs and larger-scale joint service initiatives will no longer be mere aspiration—it will be the natural outcome of sequential progress.

Those who choose to join a Rotary club or IYFR often share similar traits—a passion for life, a sense of responsibility toward social service, and a willingness to build connections across cultures and borders. It is for this reason that friendship so often becomes the starting point of all cooperation.

This collaboration, too, grew from just such a foundation.

When fleet members gather around a shared love of sailing, when cross-border friendships accumulate trust through years of exchange, a natural question arises: can this connection be transformed into a longer-lasting impact on society?

A single tree planting may be no more than a pinprick of light in the night sky. Yet when such points of light are steadily kindled across different regions, they can trace a more enduring trajectory.

The path of cooperation is clear:

• Begin with friendship
• Establish trust
• Test the cooperation model
• Institutionalize step by step
• Apply for grants
• Operate for the long term

Only in this way does fellowship transcend mere exchange and become sustainable, impactful action.

When the bonds forged through shared seas extend further into tangible contributions to environment, education, and community, the spirit of IYFR ceases to be solely about sailing and gathering. It becomes the capacity to build long-term, stable social-service networks across cultures and nations.