International Development Grant
Engineers Without Borders - Volunteer Sending 2009-2015
Project Number: CA-3-S064585PRG
Status: Closed
Country/Region:
Maximum Contribution: $2,540,000.00
Start Date: July 01, 2009
End Date: July 31, 2015
Duration: 6.1 years
Project Description
This volunteer sending program supports the assignment of 96 volunteers who transfer project management and organizational support skills such as monitoring and evaluation and organizational diagnostics to partner organizations in developing countries. Interventions include: addressing different aspects of food security such as the availability of and access to food as well as food transformation and storage; improving health through the provision of safe domestic water sanitation and hygiene education; and facilitating the growth of rural small-scale enterprises to create opportunities for the rural population (mainly women) to generate an income outside of agriculture. The program’s public engagement component furthers the promotion of development awareness within Canada. An amount of $80 622 has been added to the total amount for each of the Volunteer Cooperation Agency programs for CIDA-led program evaluations.
Progress & Results Achieved
Results achieved as of the end of the project (March 2015) include: (1) 90% of developing country partners reported having increased their skills and knowledge within their organization through training and support related to agriculture governance and rural infrastructure business development and water and sanitation sectors; (2) there were 110 volunteer placements (49% female and 51% male) with 43 partner organizations in Ghana Zambia Burkina Faso and Malawi; (3) in Ghana volunteers worked with 175 Ministry of Food and Agriculture staff to serve over 250 000 farmers with the ‘Agriculture as A Business’ curriculum; (4) in Malawi volunteers supported the water and sanitation sector with the development of a National Monitoring System for Rural Water provided training at the district-level for improved water point functionality and supported the Malawian government’s development of a monitoring and evaluation framework; (5) 98% of interviewed returned volunteers reported a significant improvement of their professional/technical skills as a result of their volunteer placement; (6) 72% reported a significant improvement of intercultural awareness/skills; (7) 81% of returned overseas volunteers gave presentations in their communities about their experience working abroad in the international development sector; (8) 12 returned overseas volunteers undertook a cross-Canada public outreach tours reaching thousands of Canadian university students; (9) 80% of returned overseas volunteers continue to play an active role by recruiting and training new volunteers and engaging in action-based initiatives related to international development in their local communities; and (10) in Canada the project engaged over 3 million Canadians on global development issues including nearly 200 000 Canadians in the engineering sector as well as training over 9 000 global development champions through Engineers Without Borders’ (EWB) cross-Canada chapter network. These results have
Key Information
Executing Agency:
Engineers Without Borders
Reporting Organization:
Global Affairs Canada
Program:
YFMInternaAssistPartnershp&Programing Br
Last Modified:
September 19, 2025
Development Classifications
DAC Sector:
Aid Type: Donor country personnel
Collaboration: Bilateral
Finance Type: Aid grant excluding debt reorganisation
Selection Mechanism:
Pre-APP