Engineers Without Borders Canada

General information

Engineers Without Borders Canada (EWB) invests in leaders and innovations to create a world free from poverty and inequitable development: a world of dignity and equal opportunity where everyone is able to realize their full potential. We are leading a movement with thousands of passionate members in Canada, as well as staff and volunteers in Canada and in our African partner countries.

Systems thinking is at the core of our approach. Many existing systems—economic, political, and social—reinforce cycles of poverty and prevent people from realizing their full potential. Over the past 15 years, we have learned that using appropriate technology alone does not address the root causes of poverty. That is why we focus on innovations that affect larger systems to address poverty’s underlying causes. We support bold ideas that positively transform the way people, organizations, and governments behave.

This systems thinking approach has led us to invest in systemic innovations and Systems Change Leadership as means for creating lasting change. Innovation and leadership are mutually reinforcing aspects of creating change: every investment in innovation provides more people with opportunities to lead, and every investment in leadership gives people more tools to develop innovations that will have social impact.