Jun 10 2010 @ 16:54

Our co-CEO in the Toronto Star!

“Two things stand out about Engineers Without Borders,” says Toronto Star journalist Carol Goar, “… the first is that it gets things done. The second is that it doesn’t seek the spotlight.”

While this may generally be true, EWB is certainly taking a different approach with our ongoing campaign to improve Canada’s foreign aid. Goar recently spoke with George Roter, our co-CEO, and featured the interview in a column published earlier this week.

Read ‘How to move ahead on foreign aid’ in the Toronto Star now

Dubbed the ‘ACT’ campaign – EWB is working to make Canada’s foreign aid more Accountable, Creative, and Transparent. We have long believed that Canada can be an international leader in this regard, and are working harder than ever to make this a reality.

With ACT, EWB’s recommendations include establishing an arm’s length agency to evaluate effectiveness of Canadian aid projects, creating a $150 million innovation fund to support expansion of successful projects, and publishing Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) project data to make successes and failure public.

Goar spoke with George about his recent trip to Parliament Hill, where EWB brought all political parties together in support a comprehensive agenda that will vastly improve Canada’s lackluster foreign aid spending.

In just one day, EWBers from accross the organization met with 40 MPs, to push forward the critical ACT agenda.

“…it’s hard to see why [Stephen Harper] would reject a proposal that, according to the engineers, would buy an additional $500 million worth of benefits without any increase in the aid budget,” says Goar.

Read the article now

True enough, but EWB is still working hard to build awareness throughout the country about the importance of improving Canada's foreign aid spending. Next up: sending 10,000 signatures to Parliament Hill in favor of the ACT petition in the coming week.

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