WELCOME: A MESSAGE FROM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR EILEEN ALMA

Together with partners in Canada and around the world, Coady will continue to #GoForTheGoals! and work with emerging and established community leaders.

At Coady Institute we have been commemorating International Development Week (IDW) from February 4 to 10 and highlighting how we remain committed to advancing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations 2030 Agenda. The SDGs guide governments and civil society as we work with partners to build a resilient, inclusive, and sustainable world.

This newsletter tells the story of what the Coady Institute team and our partners have been working on during the past eight months here in Nova Scotia, Canada, and countries around the world. Not only have we welcomed participants here on campus at St. Francis Xavier University, but program staff have also been teaching online and in communities everywhere. Coady graduates continue to flourish and are putting their knowledge and experience into action to create social change. One of many initiatives, Global Affairs Canada funded project Engage! continues to progress in five countries and includes the launching of climate schools by SEWA (India) and climate-focused online and in-person courses being co-facilitated by CCDB (Bangladesh) and Coady as well as social enterprise competitions organized by CLE (Haiti), TGNP’s national gender festival in Tanzania and ongoing support for women’s livelihoods in Ethiopia led by WISE.

Our focus in Canada pertaining to the SDGs includes good health and well-being (SDG 3), quality education (SDG 4), gender equality (SDG 5), climate action (SDG 13), sustainable cities and communities (SDG 11). Work contributing to these

goals is elaborated on in this newsletter. Youth’s leading role in shaping the future is absolutely critical to the success of these goals. In this regard, the 2023-24 Pathy Foundation Fellows are now midway through their fellowship and five of them shared their experiences during our monthly Coffee House (held February 7) that took place on campus and online. You can also learn about the Centre for Employment Innovation’s Nova Scotia Youth Focused Community of Practice (YF-CoP) and the 2023 Nova Scotia Career and Employment Student Symposium. Also, shared here are the experiences of St. Francis Xavier University (StFX) students Emma Jewkes and Sydney Anthony who traveled to Ahmedabad, India as part of the Sears Internships in Social Enterprise Program – an initiative launched as part of the John T. Sears Chair in Corporate Social Responsibility at StFX’s Schwartz School of Business.

This coming period will be a critical time for Coady as we develop a new strategic plan that informs our work to 2030 and beyond. Together with partners in Canada and around the world, Coady will continue to #GoForTheGoals! and work with emerging and established community leaders. This work would not be possible without the support of our donors and partners. Thank you for your commitment and I hope you enjoy reading how we are creating the social change the world needs now.

Eileen Alma Executive Director