WINTER 2012
EWB Calgary City Chapter Calgary Place, RPO Box 20364 Calgary, AB T2P 4J4 http://calgary.ewb.ca e: calgary@ewb.ca
EWB VISION 2020 EWBers across the country came together throughout 2011 to work on defining the vision and direction of EWB. The result: Vision 2020. We share some of it with you here:
Our Purpose We are EWB. We don’t accept the status quo. We combine passion and pragmatism. We challenge and invest in each other to learn continuously, because that’s what is needed to create change together. We are outraged and hopeful. Our fellow human beings continue to live in extreme poverty, with dramatically diminished choices and opportunities; a mother who can’t feed her family, her husband telling their son that he can’t pay for school. This is an affront to our beliefs about what is right. Her hopes are our hopes. His drive is our drive. We serve their dreams to allow all of us to truly prosper. We create systemic change wherever it’s needed to accelerate Africa’s development and unlock the potential of its people. We incubate systemic innovations – investing rigorously, proving what works by having the courage to fail, and transforming the way people and organizations behave. This ensures the change we create is meaningful and lasting. To do this, we invest in people who will lead systemic change – they do whatever it takes, working tirelessly to learn and grow and transform how people think and how things are done. These exceptional leaders are able to act in the face of ambiguity and drive change together with all EWBers. To read more visit: vision.ewb.ca
1
NATIONAL CONFERENCE UPDATE FEBRUARY 2012
REPORT ON NATIONAL CONFERENCE The 2012 EWB National Conference was held in Ottawa from January 11-14. Its primary focus of "Systemic Innovations" centred on determining how novel innovations can be planned, structured, and executed in manners that recognize systemic complexity with the potential of sustained, systematic, long-term change for Africans living in poverty. An emphasis was placed on recognizing the systemic complexity of effective development. The conference content (speakers, sessions, and workshops) was organized across three themes: Sharpening EWB's focus and capacity for investing in disruptive innovation; Learning from sources both internal and external to EWB while developing new insights and skills; and Creating new innovations in parallel with driving forward current EWB innovations while consistently pushing for positive change both within Canada and in developing countries. Those attending the conference included a broad range of EWB members, non-governmental organizations (NGO's), entrepreneurs, industry partners, academics, and activists. This diversity of attendees who encompass various fields of expertise allowed for effective compilation and knowledge transfer of personal experiences pertaining to the challenges of systemic innovation. Through this collaboration, attendees were able to deepen their understanding of the characteristics behind systemchanging innovations in addition to gaining insight on factors that may inhibit or promote the effective spread of these systemic innovations on a municipal, regional, or national level. New networks and partnerships were built between EWB members from regional chapters across Canada in addition to collaboration between members and those external to EWB.
“I am optimistic that this good example will strengthen the global dialogue on how to learn from failure to achieve the greatest impact for those who are looking to serve.” - William H. Gates, Sr., on EWB’s Failure Report
It was announced at the conference Gala that the 2013 EWB National Conference will be held in Calgary in January 2013. The conference team is one month into planning and is currently creating a vision for what next year's conference should encompass. If you are interested in getting involved, we are recruiting for three teams: • Communications (including website design, use of social media, and/or graphics) • Event Planners • Corporate Sponsorship/Fundraising If you are interested in volunteering on the organizing committee for the 2013 National Conference in any of these areas, please contact Lauren Quan (laurenquan@ewb.ca).
Did you know ... each year EWB publishes a Failure Report, sharing our shortcomings of the previous year. “The development community is failing…to learn from failure. Instead of recognizing these experiences as learning opportunities, we hide them away out of fear and embarrassment.” http://www.admittingfailure.com/
2
PROFESSIONAL FELLOW UPDATE February 2012
Professional Fellowships Our 2011 Professional Fellows, Eric Limacher and Kevin Hanson, safely returned back to Calgary in December. Kevin shares some of his final thoughts on volunteering in Malawi:
“In the morning I finish the last of my packing, sit down for a last breakfast at the house (tea, bread and rice porridge), and we say our goodbyes. I present them with a little beaver statue that I had brought with me to remind them of Canada, along with the maple syrup I had already given them when I showed them how to make French toast the weekend prior. I thank them very much for having me in their home for the last three months, and they reply that they were very happy to have me stay with them and that they will miss me once I am gone. “
The whole sector team framework is relatively new to EWB. They’ve only been around for about four years, before that it was individual volunteers working on individual projects. Having been around EWB for all of those four years, I can definitely say the evolution and sophistication of the teams and the work they are doing over those four years has been pretty impressive. They’ve basically gone from ground zero to having a comprehensive strategy in place for having impact in both the water and sanitation sectors in the country, which is pretty impressive. And this is due to the people on the team. A really great group of people that it’s been my pleasure to work with over the last four months, and I have complete confidence that they are going to continue to do good work with the team they have there running the show. ‘Course nobody’s perfect and I would be the first person to say that there are definitely places where Engineers Without Borders can grow and improve on its current performance. But there is a time and place for such constructive criticism, and this blog isn’t it. So finally, was this worth it? Am I glad I went on this placement and do I feel it was worth the financial and other sacrifices that were required to pull this off? For me the answer was undoubtedly, yes. Opportunities to do something like this don’t come along every day, and I am very grateful that this opportunity came along for me and I was able to take it. A really awesome confluence of traveling to a fascinating part of the world, participating in a useful and important development project, and being able to work and interact with a really great group of people.
3
CHAPTER UPDATE February 2012
Advocacy and Aid Effectiveness Team The Calgary City Chapter's Advocacy and Aid Effectiveness Team was launched in Fall 2011 by Reynold Wuerth and Nicolas Choquette-Levy, and has quickly grown to seven members. This team seeks to promote more effective Canadian foreign aid policy and works closely with EWB's national office to promote nation-wide campaigns, including a current initiative to maintain Canada's foreign aid spending in the upcoming federal budget. Additionally, this team aims to broaden its impact by reaching out to other system actors in the policy-making process, including building a business case for foreign aid effectiveness with local corporations that operate in developing countries and engaging local diaspora groups in conversation on what effective development assistance means to them. The Advocacy and Aid Effectiveness Team is a great way to learn more about development issues and to engage Members of Parliament and other key stakeholders on these issues. We welcome any interested EWBer with open arms! Please contact Nic at nicolas.choquette.levy@gmail.com for more information.
To keep up to date our events visit our updated website: http://calgary.ewb.ca or follow us on Twitter: ewbcalgary Facebook: Calgary City Chapter
Engineers Without Borders Canada is a movement of 50,000 professional engineers, students, overseas volunteer staff, and supporters across Canada. They believe that the next generation of rural Africans should have the same opportunities to improve their lives, that we have right here at home. To help make this a reality, members and volunteers apply all the creativity, technical skills and problemsolving approach for which engineers are known. Their committed and innovative volunteers work in partnership with government, local organizations and communities – combining their knowledge and experience to find unique solutions and devise innovative ways to apply them to create lasting change across Africa and Canada. The Calgary City Chapter is involved in many events, from corporate workplace outreach programs to member learning initiatives. Want to get involved? Volunteers for Engineers Without Borders are not limited to professional engineers but include all professions with a foundation of humility, passion, critical thinking, adaptability, flexibility, awareness of issues and awareness of self. To subscribe to our mailing list: visit my.ewb.ca click on the the Green Sign Up and select “Calgary Professional Chapter”
4