INNOVATION May-June 2014

post-secondary institutions to determine course links to leadership and experiential education. Together, we facilitated discussions with teachers, students and staff about integrated approaches to curricula and material delivery. With this strategic input from teachers and students about our integrated education model that included experience and internship, as well as social enterprising opportunities, we developed pilot initiatives and assessment tools for trials to begin this year. Peter imagines creating an education space through AfriLEAD where students work on real-life projects and activities that are meaningful to them and have impact in the real world. Engineers are professional problem-solvers, applying scien- tific principles to develop technologies, structures and systems. As members of APEGBC, we are required by the Code of Ethics to “hold paramount the safety, health and welfare of the public, the protection of the environment.” With increasing globaliza- tion specifically with regard to business, people and access to knowledge, the engineering profession demands individuals that possess leadership skills, expanded problem-solving abili- ties, global awareness of the impacts of the engineering practice and competency in exploring complex societal issues. Through EWB’s Re-imagining Education portfolio, a pro- gram that is working to integrate social concepts into engineer- ing programs across Canada, EWB intends to equip students with the skills needed to address the increasingly complex social and environmental challenges that we are now facing. Global Engineering is EWB’s collaborative venture to encourage and support the development of a new generation of engineering graduates who are ready to practise in a globalized 21 st century. One of my biggest learnings from my fellowship with EWB is the idea that the social world that we each live in is not absolute. Through travelling, “people teach us that there are other options, other possibilities, other ways of thinking and interacting with the earth,” in the words of Wade Davis. I am so grateful to experi- ence life in more than one cultural paradigm. As our engineering projects move away from the cultural paradigm we are familiar with, and we engage with groups of people that have been historically and/or are currently margin- alized, we have a responsibility to not speak for or on behalf of groups of people, but use our privilege to be a voice for good and create spaces to bring the voices of others to the table. Important decisions belong with the people who will ultimately experience the consequences. Colleen O’Toole, P.Eng., works with Kerr Wood Leidal Associ- ates Ltd. and with volunteer organizations Engineers Without Borders Canada (EWB) and Vancouver+Acumen. Upon com- pletion of a role designing and implementing EWB’s National Conference in 2012, Colleen was selected for a Professional Fellowship through EWB.

Family photo: The incredibly generous Kassim Family who hosted me.

Fufu pounding lessons: Sister’s Namawu and Ayesha gave me the early task of breaking up the yams so that they could cool a bit before the”real” fufu pounding began.

As a part of AfriLEAD’s LEAD Program and African Youth Day Celebrations, we organized a leadership debate competition among high schools in the Tamale metropolis to promote active learning in schools across Ghana. Pictured is the winning school, Ghana Senior High School.

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