mafayo stands proudly outside a cassava processing facility in malawi. we exist to bring an end to...
TRANSCRIPT
Mafayo stands proudly outside a Cassava processing facility in Malawi.
We exist to bring an end to the injustice of global inequality.
We are driven to create meaningful and lasting opportunities for Africans by tackling the root causes why poverty persists.
We envision a world where a girl born in Ghana, Malawi, Burkina Faso, Zambia, or elsewhere in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2010 will expect to graduate high school in 2030, just like a girl in Canada would.
We are Engineers Without Borders.
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Second Decade DiscussionFirst, this is confidential. SCFs, please don’t begin to share yet!
Purpose of this meeting is to start a conversation about EWB’s second decade:– Opportunity to use “birthday/momentum” to being about changes– “Deadline” of conference to force closure and to not lose opportunity
There are two parts to this disucssion, each with some pre-reading:
1. Feedback on Common understanding (30 min)Pre-reading: EWB Africa attached and http://blogs.ewb.ca/seconddecade/ and Slide 3
• Is this an accurate reflection of what’s important to capture in EWB?• Is this a compelling articulation of what EWB is today?
The documents are meant to capture ideas; particular audience articulation will emerge from them.
2. Starting to explore strategic optionsLooking into the second decade will require examining strategic options in more detail. The rest of this document attempts to provide a framework for different areas where changes could occur. This discussion would be to react to, and continue to push, this framework, and then to come back with a process for further discussion. At the end, we’ll discuss the question of who to bring in when.
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Visual change to represent programs (Shayne’s suggestion)
Bottom-up Innovation in
Africa that leads to disruptive
change
Advocating for improved
Canadian policies toward Africa
Engaging Canadians to connect and contribute to
Africa
Helping the engineering
profession serve global society
Advocacy
Connecting Canadians to
Africa
Global Engineering
Rural Infrastructure
(evolving)
Water and Sanitation
Agriculture
Why the change? (and options for visual representation) • Reflects better half-half work• Potentially lower and higher sophistication versions of
this• Africa might not be sector based.
African ProgramsSimple: “Ideas that work”
Complex: Operational innovations to help solve the problem of scale
Canadian ProgramsMobilizing a profession to move Canada from support Africa with Charity to Opportunity
From…
To…
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Outline of this document1. Proposed framework for thinking about
this – pg.52. Review trends in EWB
– Purpose is to discuss and continue fleshing out these trends, and our understanding of them
• Programs – pg.6• People – pg.7• Changes in EWBscape (internal and external) – pg.8
3. Discuss some of the “changed landscape”– Range of specific ideas for changes – pg.9– Where EWB’s impact likely comes from in 2020 and
implications – pg.10
4. Next steps – future process internally and external
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Strategic Options - framework
What are we trying to accomplish with this conversation?– Articulating “what is EWB?”
• Set of aspirations, people, programs, organizational strength/structure
– Better articulation of what we are doing now?– Change in 5-10 year vision? General, specific?– Understanding of new people involved?
• Professional engineers• Alumni• Changes in students?
– Understanding of new programs?• Where do ideas come from within EWB? The masses? Entrepreneurs? How will this be
different in the future?• 10 big ideas to change the world (TED talk like)
– What about changes in organizational strength/structure?• EWB 2.0?• NO strength?
2000-2010First Decade
What’s Different?
2011-2020Second Decade
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Advocacy
Connecting Canadians to
Africa
Global Engineering
Rural Infrastructure
(evolving)
Water and Sanitation
Agriculture
Gradual trends – to see what change we are building off
African ProgramsGradual evolution of African programs over past 24 months.
Challenge is programs can’t grow without more funding.
Overall influencing not growing without significant investment (reputation needed).
Turnover still a major bottleneck.
New program area.
Likely will have program components shortly (e.g. policy, outreach).
Students Alumni in Canada
Alumni with program overlap
Professional engineers
Change insurgents
Strong and consistent program results; Relatively “decentralised”; Good local innovation.
Not reaching scale of large impact; Few die-hard champions taking on new responsibility
Strong education component; Plateauing impact without more resource investment.
Increased corporate, P.Eng, and high school engagement.
OverallChanges in structure creating some entrepreneurial space
Canadian Programs
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More chapter support resources.
Less central to org overall; Less upper level management focus.
Stronger JF program that looks really good and sustainable.
Students Alumni in Canada
Professional engineers
Alumni with program overlap
Change insurgents
Two types?
1. Some doing conventional engineering;
2. Some doing SPTM engineering,
(Some doing other things)
Increasing levels of high engagement; Driven by entrepreneur (Andrew conf), or relationship (RF on many things), or distributed teams
Little formal network for mutual benefit to being an alumni
Note the new category here: It’s alumni working in areas that overlap with EWB’s programs.
More and more “competition/collaboration/overlap)
Entrepreneurial: Ethical Ocean, AfriCAN, RtO,
Roles in other orgs: (Development, Fair trade, Global engineering, other)
Haven't been able to engage very well, except the natural EWBers who missed the EWB boat as students.
Growing and exciting “pro-JF” program
New group, but maybe growing/ opportunity (people who see problems in sector/exposed to Africa/ development and decide EWB is a good solution)
Gradual trends cont.
Overall• City networks haven't taken off• MyEWB2.0 and self-organizing
groups haven't taken off• SCE program to be proven still
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Significant changes in EWBscape that we might not have noticed
Internal– NETWORK – our network is huge
and growing, and underused. Currently in most-experienced people’s heads (rather than connections captured formally)
– Better reputation (this is an opportunity and risk)
– Used to be ahead of the “world” on IT (social network, web 2.0, etc). Currently doing a great job with limited resources but starting to lag.
– Individual ownership + organisational flexibility, risk-taking, etc. inevitably change/decline without major efforts (these are no longer as “natural”)
External– Major shift in aid reform and
presence of allies– More “capable” organisations
in Africa that could use technical help
– Growth of non-EWB players with overlap in Canada (e.g. TransFair getting better at things, Global Engineering program at UofT)
Note: This is only a start. Would like to develop more.
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Advocacy
Connecting Canadians to
Africa
Global Engineering
Rural Infrastructure
(evolving)
Water and Sanitation
Agriculture
Potential big changes in EWB
Keep on building. Increase impact:1. Through scale of existing programs.
Eg. WatSan work in other countries, 2. Through replicating in other
countries/sectors3. through influence.
Previous bottleneck was opportunity; current bottlenecks are $, leadership, recruits.
Potential significant change in program to decouple with EWB in Canada (go after foundation funding, hire locals etc.); it is currently hard to keep linkages; is our program ideal for link?
Bold new ideas:• Need for African management
experience; program to bring Africans to Canada for experience
• Engineering training• New ideas like open data initiative• Links to EWB-based startups?• New “best technical assistance
ever” program
Inherently a “second level” not entry program?
Link to our work in Africa?
Own policy shop? Better alliances?
Corporate partnerships to increase sophistication and improvement of Canadian African linkages.
Leading or brining together coalitions like MPH or others?
More elements related to travel or investment?
Embedding more deeply within engineering schools.
Mining engineering – partnerships/change from the inside; Mining engineering – advocacy/outside engagement?
Future corporate or P.Eng changes?
Note: This is only a start. Let’s continue thinking!
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The paradox – impact growth would likely come not from student chapters, yet they would remain the necessary foundation
Students
Non-students
Africa
progra
ms
20102020
Student impact growth is incremental, other areas likely order of magnitude.
2010 2020
Africa Non-student Student
Student impact will go from being critical, to relatively less important.
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Structure/people changes?Some People questions:• Ownership – What does it mean? Do people join EWB for the
organization? For the cause/sophistication? People immediately around them? Do they feel connected to/proud of other areas of the organisation?
• Entrepreneurship – How much change is driven by an individual change entrepreneur with a reasonable understanding of an area, a vision for change, and an ability to mobilise people around that? How much innovation is created this way?
• Vision – Are people motivated by a big vision or direction? If so, is this around change/impact, or EWB growth, or both? Or are they motivated by a series of programs that they could lead? A set of specifics?
Structure questions:• Change programming structure in Canada from three outcome areas,
to students and professionals (or better names)?• What relationship to have with “Alumni with program overlap”?
Students Alumni in Canada
Professional engineers
Alumni in program overlap
Change insurgents
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Next Steps
Not sure next steps:– Who to bring into the conversations, when,
with what amount of structure?– 3-4 program staff to be involved in helping to
structure and roll out more broadly– Proposal by Oct 15th