ISSUE 1 // SHAREmag by EWB McMaster

SHAREmag

Engineers Without Borders McMaster Chapter presents:

Inaugural Issue Summer 2015

UNITE TO UNLOCK

Insights from National Conference 2015

THE YEAR IN PHOTOS

A timeline of EWB McMaster 2014-2015

FROM CANADA TO AFRICA Notes from McMasterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Junior Fellows

mcmaster.ewb.ca

Table of

CONTENTS

2 - 3 Letter from the Presidents About the McMaster Chapter 5-6

Team Overviews

7 - 10

Event Highlights

11 - 12

Meet the Junior Fellows

13 - 26 Unite to Unlock: Insights from National Conference 2015 27 - 28 The Year in Photos: A Timeline of EWB McMaster 2014-15

SHAREmag Inaugural issue Summer 2015 EDITORS Nikita Arora & Souzan Mirza DESIGNERS Stephen Woo & Harry Zhou

Letters from the

PRESIDENTS

Outgoing Presidents Dear Reader, We are Souzan Mirza and Nikita Arora – the outgoing Co-Presidents of the 2014-2015 Engineers Without Borders (EWB) McMaster Chapter. The CoPresident experience has been a tremendous journey through which we have both contributed to the chapter immensely and have also developed personally. When we began our term a year ago, we decided that one of the priorities of our Co-Presidency would be sharing our learning. We had both experienced tremendous growth and learning within the EWB network and knew that many of our colleagues had similar experiences as well. We both felt that we could capitalize on EWB’s expertise in catalyzing learning and growth in a few leaders by sharing these learnings with many more leaders. The intention behind this priority was to share our organization’s vision with more people, as well as to give back to the stakeholders that have contributed to furthering our goals over the years. In an effort to realize this priority of sharing our learning, throughout the year, we ran free weekly workshops called EWB Learn And Share nighTs (EWBLASTs) regarding many complex social issues, open to any student at McMaster. We also partnered with several groups to run events such as the McMaster Engineering Competition and the Médecins Sans Frontières Ethics Conference. In October, we ran an outreach event to increase awareness of EWB and our work at McMaster, such as our Fair Trade Campus Certification Initiative. In January, we invested in 20 student leaders to attend the EWB National Conference in Montreal, which is the only international development conference of its size in Canada. The conference gathers leaders from the EWB network, as well as many of our sponsors and stakeholders to inspire these leaders to realize their change-making ideas. Lastly, we ended our year with our signature events, the Global Engineering Conference and Fundraising Gala. As such, we are excited about the diverse media through which we have shared our learning. This magazine is an end-of-the-year culminating product of our work that showcases the most significant learnings gained by many of our student leaders. If you are a stakeholder or sponsor in our organization, we thank you for your support, financially, or otherwise. Your support has been instrumental in the transformations of the student leaders engaged with us and has allowed us to extend our capacity to contribute to our partnering ventures in sub-Saharan Africa. This year, we were able to contribute to VOTO mobile and the African Junior Fellowship program over the course of the year, and harness rich learning from these partnerships. This magazine will hopefully provide you with a glimpse of the endeavours and learnings to which your support has been integral. If you are a student, we urge you to read about some of the thought-provoking experiences and learnings of other students in this magazine. Feel free to engage with these student leaders if you want to learn more or would like to connect with them. Although our term is ending, we are excited about the extremely capable student executives to whom we are passing the torch. We are proud of our accomplishments with these leaders this year and will, without a doubt, be proud of what is to come for EWB McMaster. Engaging in the challenging work of transforming the world into a better, more equal and sustainable one, is a courageous task. We commend our sponsors, our students and our partners for being involved in such difficult, but rewarding work, and we encourage all of you to continue striving to find new ways through which we can make our work more impactful and meaningful. Sincerely,

Souzan Mirza Nikita Arora

Incoming Presidents Dear Reader, We are Nick Sully and Kathleen Johnson and we are the incoming Co-Presidents for the Engineers Without Borders McMaster Chapter for 2015-2016. We are very excited to be CoPresidents for next year and we are looking forward to working with our great incoming executive team for events! Our vision for this upcoming year focuses on four main points: Chapter Cohesion, Reflection and Accountability, Connections to the National Network and Engagement. Chapter cohesion: This past year, we have seen great success in improving chapter cohesion. With the creation of VP Social as a new role this year, the sense of cohesion within the executive has improved. However, we believe that we can work on improving the number of opportunities for general members to develop connections among themselves or with the executives. We believe that it is equally beneficial for general members and executives to learn from each other. Therefore, we hope to enhance the cohesiveness between the executives and the general members next year. Reflection and accountability: Since 2008, Engineers Without Borders Canada has been publishing an annual Failure Report. The organization values sharing and reflecting on past failures. Next year, we hope to create a culture of reflection so we can learn from our failures instead of repeating them, and build upon our successes. Furthermore, as presidents, we want our chapter to be involved in keeping us, as well as each other, accountable to our collective vision. Connections to national network: Throughout our experience with Engineers Without Borders, we have seen incredible value in being connected with the EWB National Network. Conversations at retreats and conferences, and following what EWB is doing overseas keeps us motivated to pursue our goals. We feel that our chapter needs to work harder to stay connected with this network. We want to build stronger connections with chapters at other universities to have those inspiring conversations throughout the entire year, not just at retreats or conference. We want to consistently learn and share news of what EWB is doing internationally to help us remember that weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re doing everything we do for Dorothy - our organization-wide symbol of who we are serving. Engagement: As we move forward, we also want to place a higher focus on community action. This year, we have seen amazing growth among our executive team and highly involved general members. We believe that we can take this incredible growth in leadership capacity to invest in our local community, in addition to our already expansive investments in our global community. We want to thank all of our partners and donors that helped make this year a success. We could not hold the events that we do without your support. We hope we can build on our successes and failures from this past year to make next year a great year. We want to continue to share our learning, to create more globally minded engineers, to encourage students to be socially conscious consumers and to empower students to make a difference. Sincerely,

Kathleen Johnson Nick Sully

About the

MCMASTER Chapter

At the EWB McMaster Chapter, we house several teams/initiatives that work towards our anti-poverty goals in different ways . This year, we had a Fair Trade team, a Global Engineering team, a Fundraising team, a Branding team, an Advocacy team, and a Member Learning team. The Fair Trade team and Global Engineering team ran several amazing events throughout the year. The Fundraising team was proud to continue hosting our Run to End Poverty as well as our annual end-of-the-year gala. The Branding team, which was started this year, ran our first-ever Promotional week, to engage more diverse students in our work. Our Advocacy team organized exciting educational discussions to promote civic engagement within our student body. Lastly, our Member Learning team hosted weekly workshops to broaden our understanding of world affairs. We highlight some of the work we have done in the following pages. We are also excited to introduce our two Junior Fellows this year - Souzan Mirza and Stephanie Neufeld, whom we fund to work with EWB Canada on larger systemic change projects.

Team Overview:

FAIR TRADE

air trade is a unique way of looking at trading systems. Fair trade invests in the producers of products and their communities by creating mutually beneficial relationships between the producers and the consumers. It ensures that producers are paid fair wages that account for several factors, including cost of production and adequate living standards. Additionally, a portion of the profit from each product is invested back into producers’ communities for development programs, such as those that enhance health and education infrastructure. Producers must meet stringent criteria in order to meet fair trade standards. They must responsibly and sustainably use pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers. Producers must also practice sustainable farming methods to reduce soil degradation, loss of biodiversity, and greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, producers must not discriminate based on “race, colour, sex, religion, political opinion, national extraction or social origin, which has the effect of nullifying or impairing equality of opportunity or treatment in employment or occupation” as outlined in ILO Convention 111 on Discrimination when hiring labour. Additionally, fair trade producers must not engage in forced or child labour. INTEREST WITHIN THE STUDENT BODY There has been a lot of interest in fair trade within the general student population and the McMaster Students’ Union

(MSU). In 2011, a motion was introduced at the MSU General Assembly to work towards becoming a Fair Trade Designated Campus. The students at the General Assembly voted overwhelmingly in favour of designation, but at the time, quorum was not met at the General Assembly. Other student groups and services such as OPIRG McMaster, McMaster Meal Exchange and MACgreen have expressed interest in Fair Trade as well. FAIR TRADE AT MCMASTER Over the past few years, there has been a significant increase in interest in fair trade within Engineers Without Borders (EWB) McMaster. Two years ago, EWB’s Fair Trade Team had just four members. Last year, membership increased to just over twenty members, and this year, over thirty students joined the team. Approximately two hundred and fifty signatures that were collected during a single event last year further demonstrate student support for Fair Trade Campus Designation. This year, our team worked hard to continue increasing awareness of fair trade within the student body through promotions tables, collaborations on food-related events with other groups and an outreach event with a giant Rice Krispie at the end of the year. Most vendors that serve coffee at McMaster already offer fair trade options. At these locations, the fair trade coffee is sold at the same price as the coffee that is not certified. McMaster’s Union Market al-

ready meets the fair trade tea requirement by serving Four O’Clock FairTrade teas. The fair trade chocolate requirements can simply be met by including one fair trade chocolate bar option, where chocolates are available. Meeting these requirements will not be a significant change due to already existent relationships between McMaster vendors and fair trade suppliers. CONCLUSION McMaster has the potential to create positive change for people living in extreme poverty by becoming a Fair Trade Campus. Fair Trade Campus Designation is an opportunity to engage in a global movement towards ethical purchasing and for McMaster to extend its leadership in sustainability. We invite you to join EWB McMaster in the convening of various stakeholders in order to take the necessary steps to attain Fair Trade Campus Designation.

Nick Sully

<sullynr@mcmaster.ca>

Team Overview:

GLOBAL ENGINEERING

he Global Engineering team aims to change the perception of the engineering profession to be more multi-disciplinary and expand the engineering curriculum to incorporate learning that acknowledges the complexities of working in a globalized world. We believe that both of these goals are essential to preparing McMaster engineering graduates for the competitive job market, where understanding of interpersonal skills, collaboration between disciplines, societal implications and philanthropic work are quickly becoming integral to the work which engineers do. This year, the team hosted numerous workshops for various classes and events throughout the year in order to further these goals, enrich engineering education and spread our message. CAMPUS AND COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

Throughout the year, we had the great pleasure of running workshops in the 2X03 and 3Y03 Engineering and Society classes as well as the 1E06

Health Science Inquiry class. We were also a part of the annual Engineering and Science Olympics and ran a school outreach event at McNab High School in Hamilton. Additionally, we welcomed the 21st Hamilton Pathfinders and their Girl Guides of Canada group to McMaster to run a workshop on water filtration and the importance of clean drinking water. Later in the year, we delivered a TED Talk in Sustainability and Ethics in Engineering (ENG 4A03), and ran a workshop in collaboration with the Oakville PEO for NEM Day. Lastly, we rounded out the year with our fourth annual Global Engineering Conference, which was a huge success! These events allowed us to reach out to diverse populations in order to provide them with unique perspectives on engineering. Elementary, high school and university students alike, learned about the diverse career possibilities which can be pursued by an engineer, as well as the various considerations that are important in engineering work. We are excited about

how we can extend these workshops into permanent changes in course curricula at all levels of schooling and welcome suggestions as we move into the next year. FUTURE DIRECTIONS

The Global Engineering team is looking forward to another great year in 2015-2016. We hope to continue to strengthen the relationships we have built this past year and build even more new ones. In collaboration with EWBâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s National Office and the Faculty of Engineering, we hope to launch the Global Engineering Certificate in September. We are also looking forward to holding our first ever Global Engineering Lecture Series starting in September to explore the effects of globalization on various disciplines. All in all, this has been an excellent year for the GE team and weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re excited to see what is to come.

Mahfuzur Muhith

<muhithmr@mcmaster.ca>

Event Highlight:

PROMO WEEK

he EWB McMaster Promotional Week was a four-day promotional campaign in October. This was one of the most ambitious and exciting events initiated by the chapter this year. The intention behind holding the campaign was to increase awareness of EWB, recruit new students to the club and impact many more students with our vision and work. Through fun and interactive events, the week shed light on many of EWB’s key pillars at McMaster. For example, through the distribution of free Fair Trade coffee and bananas, we were able to increase awareness of Fair Trade within the student body, in order to work towards our goal of Fair Trade Campus Certification at McMaster. Through events at Boston Pizza and the George Hamilton, we attracted large groups of people that we engaged in discussions of

international development. At these events, we highlighted the importance of critical thinking in philanthropic work. We also created scavenger hunt activities to prompt students to get to know our already existing executives and begin talking to them about EWB’s work in sub-Saharan Africa and at McMaster. This promotional week was able to help us dispel the current misperceptions of EWB as an engineering-only club. We are pleased to have greatly diversified our club this year in order to create teams that were much more multi-disciplinary. Although not every student with whom we interacted became involved in the club after the campaign, we were able to incite many important dialogues surrounding critiques of international development, stereotypes regarding marginalized populations, social

implications of current practices in industry and engineering leadership in these students. We believe that it is important for students to have these conversations, whether it is within or outside of the EWB McMaster club, and we look forward to the important social changes which result from these conversations. All in all, the best part about this week was that every event was unique in its own way, and provided a chance for students to learn something new. It was a chance for people to learn how they could make a difference.

Nabil Hamza

<nabil.hamza.nah@gmail.com>

Event Highlight:

THE 519 COMMUNITY HUB

his year, our chapter invited the 519 Community Hub to run a workshop for us regarding the LGBTQIA community. The 519 provides support to this community in many forms, including housing, counseling and healthcare advice. Going into the 519 workshop, I had very limited knowledge about challenges faced by the LGBTQIA community and had a lot to learn from the presentation. The workshop began with introductions to terms pertaining to the LGBTQIA community. In particular, we were introduced

to the difference between sex and gender. The terms, male and female, are related to someone’s biological identity when they were born. Terms such as masculine and feminine are related to gender, which is the way an individual self-expresses through roles, behaviours and activities that society may attach to male or female identities. For example, wearing a skirt is related to gender and not sex. The next part of the workshop was about the life journeys of various transgender individuals during the period when

they began to express their identities. Many of these characters lost parts of their lives, such as their family, friends, healthcare and work. As these characters lost parts of their lives, we were instructed to rip off points on a star which represented their livelihoods. This exercise was very visual and heightened my awareness of the struggles which LGBTQIA individuals have to face in many domains of life, which I often take for granted. Then, we completed an activity where we wrote harsh terms used by society to ad-

dress LGBTQIA individuals, as well as how these terms would make these individuals feel. We also discussed how this activity could apply to any social justice activity. Any marginalized community has stereotypes and harsh dialogue associated with it, which has negative consequences on the individuals who are part of the community. For example, the communities with whom EWB works in sub-Saharan Africa, have negative dialogues of ill health, poverty and conflict associated with them. This often

causes negative feelings within these people and perpetuates continual loss of many aspects of their lives, such as healthcare. In any social justice activity, it is important to be cognizant of this dynamic. Social inequality is no laughing matter and no matter how much we may try to ignore it, it pertains to everyone. Although the relationship between the LGBTQIA community and EWB is not apparent at first, the communities which EWB and the 519 target both suffer from social injustices.

Thus, perhaps we should ask the question, how can we help communities in a country halfway around the world when we cannot recognize and address the social injustices that exist in our local communities? It is a question worth thinking about.

Sahar Farshchi

<farshcs@mcmaster.ca>

Event Highlight:

MINING ETHICS WORKSHOP

n October and November, Engineers Without Borders (EWB) McMaster hosted a two-part member learning session in partnership with McMaster’s Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG) around human rights violations committed in Guatemala by Canadian mining companies. We first watched a film, Defensora, which shows the story of a Guatemalan indigenous group, the Mayan Qeqchi people. They are currently in an ongoing struggle to obtain legal justice through the Canadian court system for the human rights violations committed against them by the Canadian mining giant, Hudbay Minerals. In the second component of this learning session, Grahame Russell, the Director of Rights Action and the producer of Defensora, came to McMaster to facilitate a discussion with EWB and OPIRG around the issues presented in Defensora. Rights Action is a non-profit organization that supports indigenous and campesino communities in Guatemala working to prevent environmental harms, human rights violations and oppression committed by Canadian and American mining companies. The story of Guatemala is complex. Guatemala has a history of corruption, poverty, and civil unrest. All of these factors allow easy exploitation of small communities by large mining companies. Why should this matter to Canadians? Canada

is the mining corporation capital of the world. 50-70% of the world’s mining companies are headquartered here, because of our ‘favourable’ mining laws. Among these laws is the lack of legislation governing the ethics of the activities of mining companies in jurisdictions outside of Canada. Moreover, most Canadian pension plans, investments and university endowment funds are also invested in these mining corporations. Thus, Canadians support these mining companies through our financial investments. Although we do not see these effects directly, our money supports serious human rights violations to force indigenous people off their lands, as well as pollution and destruction of these lands. During the discussion with Grahame Russell, we discussed the complexities of trying to solve a problem like this. How can we advocate to the Canadian government to prevent this from happening? How can we advocate to our universities to stop supporting these crimes? If Canada does make stricter mining laws, will this force these companies to move to other countries and subsequently negatively affect our economy? Other questions that I, personally, pondered, were: Why does this matter to me as an engineer? How can we make a difference? This led me to become more interested in EWB’s mining work. EWB Canada just released its new five year direction

last year, which includes a focus on socially responsible mining practices. In line with this vision, EWB has created a new venture, Mining Shared Value, which promotes local procurement by mining companies in developing countries. This is to ensure that the local community can reap the economic benefits from mining projects which are extracting natural resources from these communities. Additionally, over the last few years, EWB Canada has been lobbying the Canadian government to adopt legislation that requires mining companies to publish their budgets for mining projects. This documentation would promote financial transparency and would disincentivize human rights violations because mining companies would not be eager to publicly report their financial investments in unethical practices. This documentation would also allow for legal action against mining companies who do not work responsibly in other countries. For more information about EWB’s mining portfolio, check out ewb.ca, and if you are interested in learning more about Rights Action, please check out rightsaction.org.

Kathleen Johnson

<johnskm4@mcmaster.ca>

Event Highlight:

GLOBAL ENGINEERING CONFERENCE

n Saturday, March 7th, at McMaster Innovation Park, EWB McMaster held the fourth annual Global Engineering Conference (GEC). We were proud to welcome nearly eighty attendees including students, faculty, and professionals to the event. The theme of this year’s GEC was Bridging the Gap: Development & Innovation. The vision of GEC 2015 was to bridge the gap between personal and global development, through innovation. As such, the main take-away of the conference was that development starts with one individual, and has the potential to expand outwards to the world, through the use of innovation. The conference was designed to be a networking opportunity and an educational event featuring inspirational speakers and eight diverse workshops. Our opening keynote this year was delivered by Boris Martin, a McMaster University graduate and the current CEO of Engineers Without Borders Canada. Boris kicked off the day with an inspirational speech about EWB’s past successes, current work and future

goals in sub-Saharan Africa. Following Boris’ speech, the attendees could choose to attend one of the four workshops running for the first session. They had a variety of options to choose from, including workshops on improvisation and creativity, networking in Hamilton, macroeconomics and development, life-cycle analysis and oppression/privilege. This year, we also introduced the inaugural Innovation Showcase. Students, clubs and vendors were invited to show off their innovative projects and products to each other. For example, MacAuto attended in order to showcase a car which they had built last year. This gave attendees a chance to network and learn about many innovative ideas, in order to spark more ideas for innovation moving forward. The event ended with a panel centered around the engineering profession’s stance on financial benefits versus the social implications of their work. This conference has been a signature event organized by the Global Engineering team for the past four years

and continues to grow every year. It was a huge success this year, as we doubled our attendance and restructured the conference in an extremely innovative manner. We are proud of GEC’s capacity to reach a large number of students and share EWB’s knowledge and skills with the McMaster community in a formalized way. GEC inspires and teaches leaders how to better themselves and their global communities. The team of fifteen individuals who put GEC 2015 together worked very hard for over eight months to plan and execute the conference. On behalf of the entire team, we would like to thank all of the facilitators, speakers and attendees for being a part of GEC 2015. We hope to see you all again next year!

Mahfuzur Muhith

<muhithmr@mcmaster.ca>

Event Highlight:

FUNDRAISING GALA

he Engineers Without Borders Fundraising Gala was an end of year event to strengthen and celebrate the partnerships we made this year. The night was full of exciting opportunities for both chapter members and partners to learn, socialize, and meet new people. Throughout the night, our attendees participated in exciting discussions and bid on our silent art auction, featuring pieces from Ghana and local artists at McMaster. Our keynote speaker of the night, Joel Hilchey, delivered an inspiring speech about EWB’s impact on his life and challenged us all to go out and start making changes in our own communities. We also took this opportunity to thank the executive of the

past year and welcome the Presidents and executive of 2015-2016. Throughout the entire night, the underlying theme was the question: “How do you define impact?” Over the past year, many of our members and executives invested their time and energy into very diverse endeavours. Each of these endeavours approached systemic change in a unique way. Although all of these approaches are valid, it is often useful to share our perspectives on what impact is to us and how we go about achieving it. This can help us appreciate the impact of different groups of people and spark ideas to achieve better impact. We hoped that this discussion of impact would fuel us to collectively achieve more impact 10

with our new and old partners. In the end, the Fundraising Gala was a successful night of learning, discussion and possibilities which challenged attendees to conceptualize their potential for impact.

Sahar Farshchi

<farshcs@mcmaster.ca>

Meet the Junior Fellow:

STEPH

y name is Stephanie Neufeld and I am in my second year in the Life Sciences program, specializing in origins research. This year, I was selected to be one of McMaster’s Junior Fellows for the summer of 2015! A question I often get is, “you’re not in engineering, so why are you working for Engineers Without Borders this summer?”

This summer, I will be working with the Policy and Advocacy team at the Engineers Without Borders’ National Office in Toronto. Through this position, I will be helping EWB further its goals of working with politicians and policymakers to increase the quantity and quality of foreign aid that Canadians give to developing countries. As the federal

“I think ensuring all individuals are informed and invested in our communities is really important, and I’m so excited to be a part of the team at EWB making this happen.” I repeatedly respond: EWB is not just for engineers! We advocate for unique and sustainable practices to end poverty in sub-Saharan Africa. As such, the JF placement is a unique opportunity that allows any individual from any faculty to work either in Canada at the National Office, or in Africa directly with a project or venture to work towards this goal.

elections approach, we are quickly mobilizing our networks in order to support us in this endeavour. Specifically, one of my duties is to spearhead public outreach activities to encourage civic involvement. This will include the creation of awareness materials and activities on how to be engaged in politics, how to stay informed about government decisions and how to influ11

ence elected representatives. EWB is working to make sure foreign aid and poverty are topics of discussion for every federal candidate, but the rest is up to you: the community. Lobbying Canada’s MPs has no impact unless YOU, a Canadian citizen, educate yourself on the candidates’ platforms and cast an informed vote! I think ensuring all individuals are informed and invested in our communities is really important, and I’m so excited to be a part of the team at EWB making this happen. Another one of my major duties is to coordinate EWB’s Day of Action in Ottawa, which is an initiative intended to facilitate discussion with over 60 Canadian MPs regarding international development issues. I am very passionate about community engagement, and I hope to channel this passion into the organization of the Day of Action. The annual Day of Action ensures that as many MPs as possible are informed about Canada’s investments in foreign aid, increasing awareness and sparking conversation. During the 2015 election, we want every candidate to have foreign aid on their platform, regardless of which party they belong to. My JF placement is going to be a great opportunity for me to better engage in politics and deeply understand EWB at a national level. I am also excited about the valuable learning I will be able to bring back to EWB McMaster and McMaster as a whole next year, in order to more heavily engage students in advocacy. I’m always open for discussion, so if you want to talk to me about my specific placement, or the JF program, feel free to reach out!

Stephanie Neufeld

<stephanieneufeld@ewb.ca>

Meet the Junior Fellow:

SOUZAN

have been involved with Engineers Without Borders since my first year, and since then, have been learning more and more about the Junior Fellowship (JF) Program. The JF program is an opportunity to enact systems change on a large scale. What really intrigued me about the program, is the opportunity to experience the successes and challenges associated with enacting systemic change, and the social advocacy which is closely associated with this kind of work. I was also very excited to meet new people with different perspectives and cultural background, in order to strengthen my understanding of our global interconnectedness. This summer, I will be working with the Kumvana program at the EWB National Office located in Toronto, Ontario. In the Malawian language, Chichewa, “Kumvana” means “Unite so we may discuss and understand”. The Kumvana Program strengthens African young professionals’ personal leadership

capacities, builds the organizational capacities of EWB’s African partners, and fosters rich collaborations between Canadian and African professionals. Each year, EWB selects ten to twenty dynamic leaders linked to EWB’s African partners to participate in this program based on their outstanding contributions to their home countries, their exceptional communication skills, and their high potential as young managers. Over the course of this program, Kumvana delegates receive coaching support and participate in a retreat in their home country. They then travel to Canada for an intensive four-week experience that includes EWB National Conference, specifically tailored training programs, and two work placements with Canadian organizations relevant to their learning goals. Kumvana Fellows return home with new skills, ideas, contacts, motivation, and the required means to create change within their own organizations and 12

communities in Africa. The Kumvana program team assists EWB’s ventures with the nomination of Kumvana Fellows. They carry out the selection process, deliver an online learning curriculum, coordinate feedback and leadership retreats, and most importantly, organize home-stays and work placements in Canada. My placement this summer will be centered around the Canadian experience of the Kumvana Fellows. I will be working on coordinating and creating learning opportunities for the delegates while they are in Canada in order to optimize their experience. This includes setting up work placements, home-stays, a delegate retreat in Canada and travel guides for their trip. In addition to this planning component, I will be instrumental in assuring the quality of the delegate experience as I will be their main point of contact. Kumvana is a program which exemplifies EWB’s organizational pillar of investing in people. It is a program that develops the capacity of African Leaders to make change in their own communities. It builds connections and opportunities for these leaders and strengthens the ties between Canadian and African communities. Kumvana challenges the traditional model of international development work, where someone from the West goes to a developing country to make change. Kumvana instead invests in African leaders so that they can create change on a local stage. I am excited to facilitate and be part of the journey of our Kumvana Fellows this summer.

Souzan Mirza

<souzanmirza@ewb.ca>

Unite To

UNLOCK

Insights from National Conference 2015

In January 2015, 20 students from EWB McMaster went to Montreal to attend EWBâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s National Conference. This was made possible through the incredible support of our sponsors and partners. Politicians, entrepreneurs, non-profit representatives and EWB members from all over the world gathered with us to share ideas, resources and stories, centred around how we could all unite to unlock our collective potential. As a chapter, we are excited to share some of our experiences from National Conference with the McMaster community.

SOCIAL INTRAPRENEURSHIP

he first question that comes to mind after reading the title is probably “Did the editor make a typo?”. To answer that question: No, intrapreneurship is something that is being discussed heavily among many major stakeholders in industry. An INTRApreneur is someone who develops an original idea WITHIN an organization and integrates it into the business model in

The world is constantly changing, and with every passing moment, the interests of society are changing as well. Large companies have enormous financial and personnel capacity to move their investments to areas that can make social change. Intrapreneurship can facilitate this movement and leverage this capacity by making change from within companies. This move-

order to cause it to evolve. This is in contrast with an ENTREpreneur who develops an idea for a business model and realizes that idea. To many people, intrapreneurship may seem more difficult than entrepreneurship because it involves more constraints (i.e. the existing business already has a certain way of doing things and it will be challenging to change this). Despite these extra constraints, intrapreneurship is still extremely valuable in order to (a) respond to changing social conditions, and (b) ensure a company remains continuously competitive.

ment can be instrumental in dealing with the complex social issues which our globe faces today. Moreover, traditions are important, but what worked three years ago may not necessarily work today. Facilitating innovative change within a company can show consumers that the company is keeping up with changing times and that the company cares about its responsibility towards society. Additionally, if the image of an organization is one that seems supportive of social intrapreneurship, chances are that it will attract more employees who are potential intrapreneurs and who can improve the

“Large companies have enormous financial and personnel capacity to move their investments to areas that can make social change.”

company over time. Attracting such innovators can be beneficial for a company to maintain and/or increase its profit margin. As such, companies need to reward those who engage in intrapreneurship in order to encourage employees to be intrapreneurs. Sometimes, the constraints associated with intrapreneurship can be a good thing, as they will attract employees who enjoy challenges. However, a formalized incentive that rewards out-of-the-box thinking can be a more effective way to increase intrapreneurship within an organization. In conclusion, the importance of intrapreneurship has grown exponentially over the past decade. Rapidly changing social conditions and an increase in the number of start-ups has made intrapreneurship essential for old companies who wish to remain competitive. If Bill Gates created Microsoft without encouraging new innovations within the company, he would not even be close to having the financial resources that he does now. As such, developing original ideas within a company is just as important, if not more important, as creating new companies.

Haque Shahmat

<haquems@mcmaster.ca>

LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENTS ost of us agree that preserving the climate and environment is incredibly important in order to work towards a globally sustainable future. As such, we are constantly exploring new technologies and ideas to work to this end, but unfortunately, we all come to different conclusions as to which ones are the best. Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) are one way to resolve our differences by assessing any given product or technology through a quantitative approach. If we take a step back and look at human composition, at the most basic level, we see that we are little more than carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, calcium and phosphorus. These six elements make up 99% of the human body. The first step in performing an LCA is very much like this. Assessing the basic composition of any product will yield the amounts of CO2, methane, haloalkanes, metals etc. out of which it is composed. This can be useful since it is a lot easier to assess the environmental impact of a basic compound than of an entire product. For example, once we know the amount of haloalkanes in the product, we also subsequently know the productâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s impact on the ozone layer because this relationship has already been quantitatively documented. Additionally, an LCA goes far beyond evaluating the impact of the materials that make up a product. It applies a reductionist approach to all variables that are involved in the entire life cycle of the product, from the extraction of the raw materials to the disposal. Below are some parts of an example LCA done to compare a combustion engine to other solutions. It is a simplified representation to

Life Cycle GHGs [g CO-eq/km traveled]

Life Cycle GHG Emissions of Different Types of Vehicles 300 250 200 150 100 50 0

HEV

PHEV 30

PHEV 60

PHEV 90

Types of Cars Vehicle production

Gasoline

Electricity

Battery production

Figure 1. Life cycle GHG emissions of conventional vehicles (CV), hybrid electric vehicles (HEV), and plug-in hybrids with all-electric ranges of 30 (PHEV 30), 60 (PHEV 60), or 90 km (PHEV 90).

demonstrate the basic concepts of an LCA. Figure 1 shows the CO2 output of internal combustion engines (CV), hybrids (HEV), and some types of electric vehicles (PHEV) across their entire life cycle. Although electric vehicles use dramatically less gasoline than internal combustion engines, which would lead us to believe that they are more environmentally-friendly, one must consider the fact that battery production significantly contributes to CO2 emissions as well. This is where analysis over the entire lifecycle is particularly useful. As such, LCAs are great tools, but they are by no means perfect. Looking at the previous example in Figure 1, we can see that the margin of error is very high for electric vehicles due to the small sample size studied. It is very important to note that LCAs are completely dependent on the accuracy of the data being analyzed. In addition, the rigid nature of reducing something to its very basic components ignores the systems in which products exist and 15

the effects of the interactions between products and environments. For example, depending on how much a car is driven, at what speed it is driven or how much the brakes are used, its impact on the environment can change. There was another LCA done to analyze electric cars and the conclusion stated that electric cars were worse for the environment than internal combustion engines. The reason came down to the toxic paint being used to coat electric poles in the area. This is completely independent of the actual car and is dependent on the carâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s interaction with the geographical area. Therefore, LCAs are a great way to quantitatively analyze the environmental impact of a product. However, we must ensure that we are critical of the methodology used before making decisions based on LCA results. If you do so, LCAs are definitely something to consider the next time you have a heated debate on electric cars or going vegan. Zair Ahmad Naim <zairnaim@ewb.ca>

NAVIGATING NEW DIRECTIONS: CASE STUDY ON CLIMATE CHANGE

t the 2014 Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Engineers Without Borders, the organization’s stance on climate change was a highly debated topic. A decision was not reached at the AGM, but another concept was introduced: the Navigation Circle. Since the EWB network is so large, it is difficult for EWB leaders to take a stance that is representative of the opinions of the network on complex issues. Thus, the Navigation Circle project was commissioned to solve this issue. The Navigation Circle pilot was launched at the 2014 AGM, and it would play a crucial role in making a decision on EWB’s stance on climate change. Through online surveys, EWB members voted that climate change and environmental sustainability would be the first issue that the Navigation Circle would address. The Navigation Circle was then formed in order to research strategies through which EWB could tackle climate change. During leadership day at National Conference, EWB leaders from all over the country had the opportunity to participate in a session in which they were able to voice their opinions on how EWB should become involved with climate change. We were split into small groups to discuss four groups of actions that EWB could take. The options were Aware/Participate, Incremental Action/Leadership, Donor/Sponsor Action, and Ambitious Action. The Aware/ Participate action group suggested that since the environment is not within EWB’s expertise, we should focus on learning about how climate change affects our existing work and make it a part of our training and educational outreach. Additionally, EWB could partner with environmental NGOs to support their actions in combating climate change. The Incremental Action/Leadership action group suggested that EWB start looking for a niche in environmental action. Change would start at the chapter level, resources would be allocated for environmental work and air travel would be reduced. Donor/Sponsorship Action would involve including environmental performance as part of EWB’s screening criteria for donors. The Ambitious Action group advocated for environmental action becoming a core part of EWB’s

direction. A new venture would be created for environmental work, policies would change across the network, and climate action would be integrated into the work of the current advocacy team. After discussion in small groups, then sharing with everyone else in the session, it seemed that Incremental Action/Leadership was the most popular option. We recognized that members of EWB do not yet have the skillset to address climate change; however, we could start taking steps towards becoming more environmentally sustainable and learn from this preliminary action. Furthermore, we realized that introducing environmental performance as a donor screening criterion could have significant negative impact on our work by reducing the funding that we receive. However, if environmental sustainability is not a screening criterion, we could still actively engage with our current sponsors and encourage them to become more sustainable. The suggestions from the attendees of Leadership Day were recorded by the Navigation Circle. The suggestions were synthesized and a draft of recommendations to the Board of Directors of EWB was created. The recommendations stated that in March 2015, the EWB network would recognize that environmental systems and development systems are closely linked and that EWB would improve their own awareness of these issues. A two-year plan was included for how EWB would learn about environmental change and about how to take action. This plan would follow EWB’s new Environmental Vision: “The environment is an integral part of any systemic change analysis and impact.” I felt that the Navigation Circle process was a very unique and effective way of d e te r m i n i ng

the future direction of an organization. It allowed EWB to create a future vision through a democratic process that polled EWB leaders on their collective opinions. The future EWB vision regarding “environment” will be reflective of the skills and perspectives of the people which compose the organization. Typically, it is rare for such high-level decisions in an organization to consider the opinions of individuals not involved in upper level management. As such, I think the Navigation Circle could be an extremely exciting and innovative technique to change the nature of visioning within organizations in the future.

Nick Sully

<sullynr@mcmaster.ca>

FOREIGN AID: PROS, CONS, AND ALTERNATIVES T

he media continuously provides us with conflicting messages regarding foreign aid, with campaign advertisements advocating for foreign aid and announcements about corruption in foreign governments bombarding our television screens. It is difficult to know if the money is going to where it is supposed to be going. Moreover, even if it is going there, is it actually making a difference? While there is no simple answer to this question, it may be useful to thoroughly investigate the multiple perspectives on foreign aid to develop our own opinions on the topic. First of all, what exactly is foreign aid? Many people use the term “foreign aid” colloquially to describe funds donated to developing countries. However, “foreign aid” is in fact a specific term that refers to the transfer of resources from national governments to other national governments intended to promote economic development and welfare in lower income countries. It only includes governmental transfers and not donations from NGOs. The Harvard economist, Jeffrey Sachs, argues in his book, “The End of Poverty” that there is a “poverty trap” that only sufficient foreign aid can solve. He explains that growth cannot happen if a country has inadequate savings. If aid is planned well, however, it can accomplish much work that NGOs cannot. It can help develop public health and education systems. It can help create infrastructure (roads, electricity, etc.) so that businesses can grow. International development through foreign aid allows for an efficient unification of efforts across the country. Sachs believes that foreign aid does not currently have a tre-

mendous impact simply because countries are not donating enough aid, even though they can afford it. In the Millennium Development Goals, many countries pledged to contribute 0.7% of their national GDP to foreign aid, but none of those countries met this goal. Another leading economist in the field is William Easterly, who strongly opposes foreign aid in his book “The White Man’s Burden: Why the West’s Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good”. He believes that aid fails because it is

shoes to children who cannot afford them for every pair that a consumer buys. While NGOs often operate inefficiently, the nature of these profit-generating social businesses allows them to be sustainable and create lasting enterprises. However, debate arises regarding the ethics of generating profit by using “charity” as a selling point. Clearly, foreign aid is not a black and white situation. Instead of pouring money into donations and “dropping” them into developing countries, we need to shift our focus. That’s why Engineers Without

fundamentally not accountable to the people served. Furthermore, donor countries often allocate funds with ulterior motives to form good relations with other countries instead of donating based on assessments of the level of need for aid in the country. This creates a power dynamic in which the country receiving aid becomes dependent on the donor country. He believes that “grass roots movements”- initiatives that work with the citizens directly - will be better able to address the needs of the people in the country. While some argue for a balance between these two radical views, others seek alternatives. For instance, social entrepreneurship combines the ingenuity of sustainable business models with socially responsible work. An example of a social entrepreneur is Toms - a company that donates a pair of

Borders advocates to generate discussion around foreign aid. EWB is working towards citizen and MP relations in order to encourage commitment and investment of more funds to foreign aid. However, EWB also promotes aid effectiveness - not simply increasing the amount of aid given, but thinking critically about whether it is being invested in the right places. EWB shows us that we need to keep challenging the norms and asking questions. As said by Ian Smillie, “if we knew how to end poverty, we would have done it a long time ago”.

“In the Millennium Development Goals, many countries pledged to contribute 0.7% of their national GDP to foreign aid, but none of those countries met this goal.”

Jean Wang

<zhuojingwang@gmail.com>

IS IT OPPRESSION OR POVERTY? P

overty can be defined as not having enough money to meet basic needs, such as food, clothing and shelter. It can be a crippling trap, from which many people do not emerge their entire lives. When we try to dissect the problem of poverty to find a solution, we might think that the answer to lack of wealth is to provide wealth. However intuitive this may be, international development organizations have been doing this for hundreds of years, and it has not been working. Why? Is there another approach that could work better? Is there a blind spot here? Is there something else we should be considering? Why exactly do these populations suffer from poverty? Some would propose that an oppression framework is more useful to understand and dissect this poverty. Oppression is when a dominant social group exploits the difference between their group and other groups to maintain privilege. The dominant group also denies the existence of this power dynamic in order to maintain the method of societal organization that ensures the dominant group continues to wield privilege. In today’s society, many kinds of oppression exist. There are many dominant and oppressed group pairs, including white (dominant) and non-white (oppressed), men (dominant) and female/intersex/transgender individuals (oppressed), rich (dominant) and poor (oppressed). There are three levels at which this oppression exists: individual, cultural and

Figure 1. Examining the levels of oppression

structural. The individual level consists of the negative attitudes, thoughts or judgments made by individuals. The cultural level comprises the shared values that are an assumed consensus within society. Pop-

Figure 2. World income distribution

ular culture and the media are used as a way to transmit and maintain the shared values of the dominant culture as the norm. This often leads to ethnocentricism in these societies - a world perspective based on one culture. For example, the media may portray criminals as mostly men, and as such, we may accept it as a norm that most criminals are men. Structural oppression is how society has institutionalized the dominant group’s privilege through systems, such as government, education and law. For example, a law that does now allow homosexual persons to marry is structural oppression.

the poverty trap in which it is stuck? If the income triangle and the oppression triangle were not related, then the lowest strata of the income triangle would not have an over-representation of women, non-white individuals, disabled individuals etc. Yet, it does. This is why the oppression framework is useful in addressing the poverty problem. For example, without dismantling cultural oppression that poses barriers to women accessing life-saving healthcare, it can never be possible to pull these women out of poverty. To get to the root of prob-

All three levels of oppression can reinforce each other in conscious and unconscious ways. I think it is important to note that although we often see social justice issues such as oppression as very different from income issues, such as poverty, they are very interconnected. How can we address a skewed income distribution in a population when we are not acknowledging the root causes of this income distribution? In a society where an oppressed population is not afforded the same privilege as the dominant group, how do we expect this oppressed group to extricate itself from

lem in developing countries, we must work to dismantle the social structures in place which systematically oppress these low-income populations. The dismantling of the income triangle will follow on its own.

“In a society where an oppressed population is not afforded the same privilege as the dominant group, how do we expect this oppressed group to extricate itself from the poverty trap in which it is stuck?”

Nikita Arora

<nikitaarora@ewb.ca>

ART IN ACTIVISM M

adeleine Co. is a Toronto-based creative arts agency that specializes in socially innovative content. They contrast the idea of design thinking, which is generally practiced by analytical thinkers, with art thinking, which is used to evoke emotions and connections. Art thinking is useful in activism because art invites participation from the viewer. To me, art is like an unfinished story. By allowing the viewer to interpret the piece through their own lens, art thinking lets the viewer write the remainder of the story. This allows the viewer to become engaged in the activist’s movement by making them think about the message being communicated through the art piece. This helps overcome one of the most challenging aspects of activism: awareness and engagement. Due to its participatory nature, art can easily help accomplish both of these goals. In fact, social activism is actually a quite popular medium of activism that can be used to address diverse social justice issues. One of the most well-known activist artists is Ai Weiwei: a contemporary artist in China who uses his art to critique the government’s regime. Some of his work includes a piece called “Forever Bicycles” which was on display at the Toronto Nuit Blanche in 2013. Another artistic movement is called

the insideout project, which was started by two freelance photographers who travelled the world and took pictures of faces. They posted huge prints of the faces they photographed in warzones and in the slums of Kenya and India. The objective of this was to share individuals’ personal stories through their facial expressions and bring voices to the unheard.

activist messaging? How much is up for interpretation and how much is extrapolation by the observer? In my opinion, I think that the beauty of art is within this ambiguity. It speaks to each of us in many different ways. How it speaks to us is a product of our opinions, experiences and understanding of the world. With this in mind, I also think that

On the other hand, activist art is a very small portion of the art world. Most art is made for art’s sake, bringing light to the concept, “l’art pour l’art”. For example, Lolita by Vladmir Nobrokov, which is about a European man who is obsessed with his American step-daughter, is often described as a commentary of America’s appropriation of European culture. However, in interviews, the author admits to writing the piece simply because it was a taboo subject at the time. In this context, the art was not intended to have social impact. After considering this example, one must ask, how much meaning does art really have? Can activist art exist within the same space as art with no intended social

the artist has some control of the message being communicated, which makes art a great technique for engaging audiences, especially in the social justice sphere. To me, art is an unfinished sentence or thought, and it is up to the viewer to figure out the rest - whether they wish to interpret it as art for the sake of art or art with social impact. It is this collaboration between artist and viewer in creating the art’s meaning that makes it so powerful.

“To me, art is an unfinished sentence or thought, and it is up to the viewer to figure out the rest.“

Souzan Mirza

<souzanmirza@ewb.ca>

TRANSFORMING THE LENS ON SUCCESS

enefit corporations, more commonly known as B Corps, are companies that willingly strive to meet higher standards of performance: increased transparency, accountability and social awareness. The B corp certified organizations must pass an impact assessment which grades them on their dedication to employee standards and environmental wellness, as well as their commitment to do good in the community. B corps are changing the way we look at success in the business world. The B corp definition of success has evolved to include not only profit margins, but also societal impact. As B corp certified corporations raise their standards of business practice to include these new performance criteria, they influence other businesses to do so as well, in order to remain “B Corps might turn out competitive. The so-

to be like civil rights for blacks or voting rights for women - eccentric, unpopular ideas that took hold and changed the world.”

cial good aspect gives businesses an edge: customers feel good about buying their products. Ben and Jerry’s is a widely known example of a B corp. Ben and Jerry’s has several ethical standards in place for their business, including strategies to promote worker satisfaction and keep employees happy. They also only use locally sourced and fair trade ingredients in their products. This may add up to increased expenses, but it helps Ben and Jerry’s remain competitive in a diversifying market and allows them to work towards supporting social change as well. The idea of B corps seems new and radical now, but as Esquire magazine says, “B Corps might turn out to be like civil rights for blacks or voting rights for women - eccentric, unpopular ideas that took hold and changed the world.” Concepts such as altruism, social responsibility and sustainability are increasing in popularity in our world today. Consumers want to know that the companies from whom they are buying products care about them. This requires businesses to take action and cater their business models to this shifting public mood.

Stephanie Neufeld

<stephanieneufeld@ewb.ca>

ENGINEERS THROUGH THE YEARS A

s I am a graduating student this year, I was especially interested in learning about the role of engineers in the world outside academia this year. Through EWB, I was happy to learn that the skills which engineers have are applicable to almost every field outside of engineering. That being said, the definition of an engineer is still not very clear. In fact, throughout history, the role and definition of an engineer has shifted tremendously. For example, in the years 18801920, the role of engineers was to build foundations. The engineer was seen as an entrepreneur and a leader in the community; engineers were pioneers in making the world an easier place to live. The next era was from 1930-1970, and can be described as the allegiance stage. In other words, engineers started to work with corporations

and become an important part of them. They were part of the decision-making processes of these corporations and they were the leaders behind the emergence of innovative technologies. Since the 1970s, engineers entered the commodification era. They are now seen as the invisible force behind giant corporations. Their value is almost always attached to money, which, unfortunately, minimizes their role as leaders and entrepreneurs. They are no longer seen as problem solvers but rather, the people behind the creation of the next computer device. Yet, given that our world faces very complex issues today, it is crucial that professionals who are trained to solve problems take leadership roles in our communities. That is why I argue that the role of the engineer in molding the future of humankind

is more important today than it ever was. I encourage engineers to consider taking leadership positions in their communities and places of work because the perspective that we bring to the table is unique and instrumental in tackling the global issues we face together.

Russul Al-Rawi

<russul.alrawi@gmail.com>

THE POWER OF PERSEVERANCE T

here were many speeches, sessions, collisions, and moments over the three days and four nights at the Engineers Without Borders National Conference this year that resonated with me. However, there was one keynote speech that particularly stood out to me, and with which I felt a strong connection: the speech given by Nafisa Adams. Nafisa is a woman from Ghana who has had an extremely difficult life. She was born in a village, expected to work manual labour jobs and get married at a young age, deprived of the opportunity to acquire an education, and was physically, as well as verbally

ference, and having an impact on her community. She started grade one at the age of ten, only to be promoted to grade four after one year of incredible hard work. Nafisa carried the same attitude towards her work and education all the way through university, during which she would sell bracelets to fellow classmates as a way of paying for her tuition. While listening to her speech, I could not help but draw a parallel between university life as we experience it here in Canada, and what Nafisa had experienced. I compared my life, in which I have to balance my social life and ac-

“Despite the countless obstacles that life has brought her way, Nafisa follows her dream - the dream of implementing change, making a difference, and having an impact on her community.“ abused while she was growing up. Nafisa faced many other challenges that would make life unbearable for any ordinary teenage girl. However, Nafisa was different. Despite the countless obstacles that life brought her way, Nafisa followed her dream - the dream of implementing change, making a dif-

ademics, to Nafisa’s life of incredible struggle where she worked full time while trying to maintain an acceptable academic standing. Although both lives are extremely different, we both struggle to balance competing forces. Even though Nafisa struggled tremendously with balance, she kept going.

Personally, I drew inspiration from her to continue balancing the competing challenges of my own life. Following her graduation, she started her own company called Beads of Hope, and as a successful business woman, she is helping approximately 50 women in her community earn an income to support their families. There were several parts of Nafisa’s approach to life that stood out to me. Firstly, her perseverance was admirable. Despite the many setbacks that she faced, she never gave up. Secondly, the sense of purpose that she created in her life in order to help her community was incredible. The last point is about her quick decision making. During her speech, it was very clear that at some turning points in life, she had to make very rapid decisions in order to be able to succeed. Overall, Nafisa serves as a role model for many of us, and for her fellow Ghanaians.

Sahar Farshchi

<farshcs@mcmaster.ca>

ER IN G NG IN E NE CU SO FO

THE GLOBAL ENGINEERING INITIATIVE

ne of the highlights of my experience at EWB’s National Conference in Montreal was learning about the Global Engineering Initiative (GEI) and the Certificate Program on which the EWB National Office is currently working. I have had the privilege of being a part of the Global Engineering (GE) team at McMaster for the past two years, and this past year as Vice-President. Global Engineering is a movement which seeks to create more globally aware leaders within the engineering profession who not only have strong technical skills, but can also apply those skills to interdisciplinary environments. The Global Engineering Certificate is a collaboration between engineering programs across Canadian universities and Engineers Without Borders Canada. It is an opportunity to recognize students who look beyond the technical aspect of their engineering education: a supplementary element to one’s engineering degree that gives students an edge as they jump into their careers. More importantly, it provides future engineers with the skills and experience necessary to tackle the challenges our society faces in a sustainable manner. To receive a GE Certificate, stu-

dents must demonstrate that they understand the underlying concepts of Global Engineering. The key learning outcomes of the certificate are: 1. Awareness of globalization and its impact on engineering practice 2. Capability of practicing leadership and interdisciplinary skills 3. Competency in exploring complex social issues 4. Ability to apply technical skills in a global context Students would have to complete four key requirements, which blend

It is a certificate that has been successful at a few universities across Canada already, including the University of Calgary and Memorial University of Newfoundland, and I would love to bring it to McMaster by September 2015. Adding to the current Engineering & Society program, as well as the recent addition of Sustainability courses offered to engineering students, I think that the GE Certificate would fit into the McMaster curriculum very well. Moreover, the certificate would be welcomed and appreciated by students as a way to enhance their portfolios and their skillsets. Over

“It is an opportunity to recognize students who look beyond the technical aspect of their engineering education” theoretical and practical experience, to qualify for a GE Certificate. These four requirements are: 1. Introduction to Global Engineering course 2. Discipline-specific course covering GE topics 3. Project-based course activity 4. Experiential GE practice The Global Engineering Certificate provides students with the opportunity to be recognized as a globally aware citizen and engineer. 22

the next few months, I am looking forward to working closely with the GEI team from the EWB National Office, McMaster students and the Engineering Faculty to implement the program at McMaster as soon as possible. Mahfuzur Muhith

<muhithmr@mcmaster.ca>

G RI N EE NG IN NE SO CU FO

GROUP BRAINSTORM

ince it was my first time at National Conference, and being relatively new to the organization, I did not really know what to expect. I knew that I wanted to use this opportunity not only to learn more about EWB, but possibly more about myself. Going into the conference with an open mind, I tried to do as much as I could to step out of my comfort zone, and attain the full conference experience. The sessions and speakers were consistently interesting and informative. One thing I learned from the first session was that you only gain as much as you put in. Being active in the discussions and workshops allows you to take in much more information and makes the sessions much more rewarding. However, the most remarkable part of the conference was a session that I attended on engineering edu-

cation. We pooled our creativity in a group to brainstorm ideas related to sustainability, and then tried to create radical new courses or education systems that incorporated sustainability. This session made me realize that there are many ways in which the current education system can be improved. It was amazing how many good ideas came out of the group discussions. Seeing the topic from multiple perspectives allowed me to develop new approaches to my own ideas, as well as build on

â&#x20AC;&#x153;I gained new angles on old issues.â&#x20AC;? the ideas of others. This was especially valuable when I worked with individuals from other chapters that shared the same responsibilities and 23

problems as myself, as I gained new angles on old issues. The most important thing I learned is that, when brainstorming, no idea is bad. It is crucial to express your thoughts. Even if your ideas do not end up being directly helpful, they may lead to another idea, or take the discussion in a different direction that allows for new perspectives to be expressed. National Conference is definitely something worth experiencing. When going to a conference like this, you have nothing to lose, but everything to gain.

Jack Liu

<liujy3@mcmaster.ca>

ETHICS IN GLOBAL ENGINEERING

midst current complex global systems, there is increasing pressure on engineering companies to complete their work in an ethical way. Some of the ethical issues which companies face can be extremely challenging because they may involve compromising on profit margins to do “the right thing.” Additionally, it is difficult to know what the right thing is, how to go about doing it and if it is worth disappointing shareholders to do the right thing. For example, a typical issue which many engineering companies face is the displacement of communities when building a project area, such as a mine. In this case, there may be conflicts between funders, managerial bodies, employers and personal ethi-

cal beliefs. Depending on where an employee is within a company and the degree of power they possess, they may feel uncomfortable bringing up their ethical qualms. Even if they do have power, they may be conflicted between their direct responsibility to their shareholders and their indirect responsibility to society. However, as a society, we must consider the sustainability of our environments and our economies as we move into the future. Furthermore, the public is becoming increasingly conscious about social issues and how decisions made by engineering companies affect people and their environments. It is imperative to make formalized changes that promote ethical decision-making within engineering companies.

“It is difficult to know what the right thing is, how to go about doing it and if it is worth disappointing shareholders to do the right thing.”

Some possible changes include developing and delivering training workshops for ethical decision-making within the engineering profession in partnership with regulatory bodies such as Engineers Canada. A more company-specific strategy might be the creation of an ethics division within a company, so that decisions can be rated by a third-party against an ethics doctrine before implementation. Power dynamics, which, as mentioned previously, can cause conflicts when tackling ethical concerns, can be addressed through the facilitation of discussions by the ethics division. A key take-away is that these solutions require input from all stakeholders. Regulatory authorities must set out ethical guidelines and monitor companies in order to ensure they are following these guidelines. At the same time, companies must make structural changes to their business models in order to accommodate these guidelines. Lastly, employees must take initiative to voice their ethical concerns when they face them. Transforming engineering company decision-making to be more ethical and socially responsible is indeed a collective effort. Raj Gujare

<gujarerp@mcmaster.ca>

FO RI

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ENGINEERING OUTREACH: TAKE 1

ing.” EWB deals with problems like unsustainable government policies, unethical business practises, poverty, discrimination, and disease. Students from faculties like business, health sciences, humanities, and social sciences can all find at least one component of EWB that is relevant to their interests. However, many of them are simply not aware of the scope of our work. By showing non-engineering students that the problems that EWB deals with are very diverse and require many different skillsets - many of which they possess - we are more likely to help them find some aspect of EWB that appeals to them and convince them to join the chapter. This strategy would also make non-engineering students more aware

facets to it, and by making these more visible, it becomes more likely that prospective recruits will find something that interests them. In fact, by applying this approach to an organization or field of study, it is possible not just to increase the number of interested individuals, but also to create higher quality solutions.

Evan Amalfitano

<evan.amalfitano@gmail.com>

“Students from faculties like business, health sciences, humanities, and social sciences can all find at least one component of ewb that is relevant to their interests.”

NE NG

EE R

of the diverse nature of problems that exist in the world, and how they can apply their skillsets to address these various problems. This method of recruiting can be applied to a variety of organizations and fields of study, not just EWB. Nearly every organization or program has many different

hroughout its existence, one of the challenges which EWB McMaster has faced is reaching out to non-engineering students. I have encountered many interested students at our recruitment events and workshops who think that because they are in a non-engineering faculty, they either cannot join the club, or they would have nothing to contribute if they joined. A similar problem is faced by the engineering discipline itself; many prospective students immediately discount engineering as a career option because they think they are not good enough at math, science, or programming. One of the workshops I attended at the EWB National Conference directly addressed this problem. Workshop participants were split into groups and tasked with designing a hypothetical promotional booth to attract high school students to the engineering discipline. The objective of the challenge was to overcome existing biases regarding engineering, as well as regarding the types of people that can and cannot be an engineer. The strategy that our group created to overcome this challenge was to focus on the many different kinds of engineering, and the different skill sets needed for each of them. For example, an environmental engineer requires knowledge of biology, ecology, and public health: areas which are normally not associated with engineering. Showing students that the subjects in which they are already interested can be applied to engineering can allow them to see engineering as a more viable choice for their future education and employment. Similarly, EWB chapters can use such a strategy to increase awareness among, and recruitment of, non-engineering students. The majority of EWB’s work is not what would traditionally be considered “engineer-

G RI N EE NG IN NE SO CU FO

ENGINEERING OUTREACH: TAKE 2

ne of the workshops I attended at National Conference that impacted me the most was called the “Global Engineering Outreach Booth Design Challenge” workshop. The objective of this workshop was to gain a deeper understanding of how to promote the engineering discipline to the general pub-

time, all engineers have the ability to problem solve using the engineering approach, which relies on tackling a problem using specific frameworks. Thus, by conveying the message that engineers are both diverse and similar at the same time, the general public’s perception of engineers will transform to be more diverse. Overall, I gained a lot of valuable lessons out of National Conference and my involvement with EWB in general. I challenge anyone who is uncertain about EWB to learn more about the organization. To me, my experience with EWB expanded my understanding of the components of the structure that how I can give back to society using require electricity. All perspectives are the engineering knowledge that I have of equal value. In fact, diversity within gained from the classroom. the engineering field is not just accepted; it is critical. Not a single engineer Clement Wong in this world can go about achieving a <clementwong117@gmail.com> successful project without collaborating with other engineers. At the same

to demonstrate the multi-disciplinary nature of the field. Different engineering disciplines will approach problems in different ways. For example, if we ask a team of engineers to build infrastructure, civil engineers will look at the landscape of the structure, whereas electrical engineers will look at all of

“Diversity within the engineering field is not just accepted; it is critical.”

lic. The workshop was run by one of the venture strategists from “Engineers of Tomorrow”, an EWB venture that focuses on inspiring future generations on pursuing a career in engineering. One of the most important takeaways from this workshop was about reframing our engineering promotions

Year in

PHOTOS

Regional Retreat During Regional Retreat, all of the EWB Chapters in Ontario convened to build greater synergy and strategy. Attendees were able to learn more about EWBâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s strategy, challenge their thinking on development, and develop great leadership skills.

Defensora Screening & Graham

During this 2-part Member Learning sessi punity with which Canadian resource ex around the world.

Advocacy Round Table

Sep

519 Worksh

The Advocacy team and Leaders in Global Health Transformation McMaster invited students and faculty - Dr. Galleguillos, Dr. Preston, and Dr. Felipe - to a round table discussion about foreign aid.

Oct

Engineering & Science Olympics

The 519 is a co works with their munities to buil together. The 51 ternational is that surrou at a loca

Nov Fair Trade at Mills During exams, the Fair Trade team brought chocolates and coffee for students who needed a study break at Mills Library.

As a part of the Engineering & Science Olympics in October, the Global Engineering team created a design challenge for students to partake in.

Promo Week EWB hosted a week long promotional event that included a Boston Pizza Night of networking and international development trivia, as well as a night of discussions on key world issues.

Social Change as a Professional During National Engineering Month, EWB held a panel discussion about what it means to be a globally minded individual and create social impact while working as a professional.

EWBlast Nigh

During March, EW national develop workshops on Ca International De B-Corps and Soc ship, Engineering 21st Century, The P and Human Cente

2014 - 2015 National Conference In January, EWB McMaster went to Montreal to attend EWB’s National Conference. People from across the country and around the world came together to discuss how we can Unite to Unlock our potential.

me Russell Workshop

on, we learned about the imxtraction companies operate

hop

ommunity hub in Toronto that r neighbours and LGBTQ comld healthy, welcoming spaces 19 ran a workshop on the inssues and social inequalities und the LGBTQ communities al and international level.

Dec

B hosted an interpment night with anada’s stance on evelopment Aid, cial EntrepreneurEducation for the Power of Privilege ered Design.

Run To End Poverty As a part of the Road2Hope Hamilton Marathon, runners had the opportunity to fundraise money for our Junior F e l l ow s h i p Program!

Jan

Global Engineering Conference

Mar

As a part of National Engineering Month, EWB hosted the 4th annual Global Engineering Conference to bridge the gap between Development and Innovation. Development starts from one individual, and has the potential to extend to the entire world!

Fundraising Gala The Gala is a night of celebration of EWB’s achievements and partnerships throughout the year. The event was also a fundraiser to raise money for the Afrilead Institute, a project supported by Engineers Without Borders Canada.

Innovation Competition The Innovation Competition was created to encourage students to innovate and create novel change-making ideas for the local or global community. Some targeted areas were increasing awareness of ethical consumption and lowering poverty rates in Hamilton.

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