U of T's chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB) is a community of passionate and dedicated students who continue to make a difference abroad. With a focus on helping alleviate severe poverty in Africa, members have been to Ghana, Malawi and Zambia in the past year.
The Engineering Newsletter spoke to EWB President
Amir Allana (AA - EngSci 1T2), as well as leadership team members
Jocelyn Light (JL - EngSci 1T3),
Shankar Manoharan (SM - MechE 1T1 + PEY) and
Elmira Reisi (ER - EngSci 1T2 + PEY)
about their inspiring work.
Tell us about the work you've done in the past year. Where have you gone?
ER: During my four months in Ghana, I partnered with YGL, a socially-minded cocoa buying company, as part of EWB’s Agriculture as a Business program. I helped to enhance the field staff’s capacity to provide business-enhancing advisory services to farmer groups.
JL: My four months with EWB’s Agriculture Value Chains team in Malawi saw me work alongside RUMARK, an NGO that increased the capacity of agrodealers (merchants selling agricultural inputs to farmers). I contributed to RUMARK’s efforts by working with agrodealers to strengthen their distribution network.
AA: One of EWB-U of T’s biggest wins in the past year was our political advocacy work where we built relationships with MPs and put pressure on the federal government to smarten Canada’s foreign aid spending. Our voices, along with those of EWBers from around the country, were heard when Canada signed the International Aid Transparency Initiative in November.
What are your biggest takeaways from being a part of EWB?
SM: EWB offers students a space to channel their passion for international development. The supportive community of social change leaders encourages creativity, tough questions and a healthy dissatisfaction for the status quo.
Why do engineers/engineering students have a responsibility to improve the world we live in?
ER: Our increasingly globalized and interconnected world necessitates that engineers address some of the planet’s most pressing and complex problems. Our society’s decision-making has seen the sourcing of metals from war zones, such as in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the driving of fossil fuel consumption to ever-higher levels. Engineers, equipped with tools to shape our world’s physical, environmental and social infrastructure, have a responsibility to address such problems.
What does 2012 have in store for U of T's EWB members?
AA: We have seen rapid growth and engagement over the past three years. [This year] will hold a renewed focus on bringing global engineering and multidisciplinary thinking into the Faculty, starting with National Engineering Month in March. The U of T chapter will be putting an increased emphasis on developing knowledge and leadership in its members as well as the student body.
How does the experience of EWB affect you as an engineering student? Has it affected what you plan to do with your engineering education after you graduate?
AA: Having been heavily involved with EWB for three and a half years, I recently accepted a position to join our teams in Africa as an African Programs Staff for at least two years after graduating. EWB is on the leading edge of harnessing amazing skill sets that engineering education offers, marrying it to leadership and social issues, and investing in people to fully leverage their education. I am excited and passionate about using my engineering skills in new and creative ways, and to tackle relevant, complex issues that challenge me in ways a problem set simply cannot.
Is there anything else you'd like to add?
AA: An important point worth mentioning is that EWB’s work is sophisticated with no place for charity and handouts. We believe in working in partnership, at the cross-section of citizenry, business and the public sector, to create long-term systemic change that will increase opportunity for the world’s poor to prosper and pull themselves out of poverty.
Learn more about U of T's Engineers Without Borders chapter.
