CSR Students Aid African Water Project

St. Mike’s 180 strategic plan was brought to life this year as students in the Graduate Diploma in Social Responsibility and Sustainability (G. Dipl. SR&S) worked to increase climate change resilience for local populations half a world away in the lakeside community of Sô-Ava, in Benin, Africa. The project focused on increasing awareness around climate change, improving Sô-Ava’s water quality, demonstrating the impact of collaborative governance through research, and on advancing the local economy.

This social impact project stemmed from a partnership between the SR&S program and Umalia Inc., a Quebec-based societal engagement company specializing in building multi-stakeholder partnerships for social impact. The students’ attention and efforts were directed to the Benin-based Climat’Eau, a project Umalia has led for the past three years, involving local Beninese partners, the Sô-Ava municipal government and the Sô-Ava Collective of Civil Society Organizations, the Canadian company Technologies Ecofixe, and Université Laval.

Five teams, members who were all working full time in organizations across Canada, the US and around the world, applied their skills to five areas: governance, business ecosystem development, environmental and water quality, climate change, and funding. Over a four-month period, they spoke to partners and individuals from the community and conducted research on the impact of the three-year project.

Teams recommended:

• A community knowledge-sharing hub to centralize, standardize and disseminate knowledge gained throughout the project for the long-term empowerment of communities
• Integrating climate education into the community through a student mentorship program in schools to drive climate change awareness, increase the number of children in school and encourage intergenerational learning
• Leveraging a communal union of producers as potential “orchestrators” of a broader business ecosystem
• A governance model that is multi-dimensional, participatory and flexible
• Building long term social and environmental impact funding through global strategies of achieving sustainable development goals and the circular economy.

“Our team realized that a project of this nature…is very complex and detailed to plan and execute,” noted Tamar Epstein, General Counsel Canada, Corporate Secretary; Director, ESG, International Petroleum Canada in Alberta. “The primary intention of the project was to improve the community’s resilience to climate change by bringing cleaner water to the communities where the installations occurred. However, the project was multi-faceted, involving mobilization and education of water brigades, use of new technology including solar panels, understanding potential related impacts and the formation of multi-disciplinary partnerships comprised of local, international, public and private members. Taking all of these factors into consideration requires significant commitment to the time period from idea to implementation.” This project is an example of collaborative experiential learning that SR&S students participate in.

St. Michael’s SR&S program accepts 35 participants annually from across Canada and around the world. The program enables participants to take their career in Social Responsibility and Sustainability to the next level. Graduates receive the post-nominal letters G. Dipl. SR&S.