Meeting Minutes January 14, 2009

Posted by Jantine Stam 
 

Presided By:  President Norm Narancsik

In Attendance:  Jantine, Piet, Paul B, Keith, Coral, Mike, Doug, John, Tim, Erik, Gibson, Al, Peter, Rama, Paul L, Norm

Guests:  Tom Hemsworth and Guest Speaker Mark Hemsworth

Happy/Sad Bucks:  We had many happy bucks for trips that were well enjoyed, and trips that will be occuring in the next few weeks.  Norm and John had some happy bucks for curling.  Doug returned from the ShoeBox Program and spoke for a second about it's success.  

 

 

Mark Hemsworth grew up in the Woodstock area, moved to Chatham, and attended a University in Waterloo.  He worked for his father in the cheese industry for a few years, and then joined Engineers Without Borders as an Overseas Volunteer Staff.  Here is a little piece from his blog...

If I could put in point form what I want to say to everyone in Canada - about my last year in Zambia, it would be this.

  • I am enjoying my time - the people are great, and I'm learning a lot.
  • The world is connected - when the world stops buying copper, business in Zambia is directly affected.  Internet looks the same no matter where you are in the world.  
  • Its not going to be easy, but there is hope, and I have seen progress.

www.markhemsworth.blogspot.com

Engineers Without Borders goes overseas and improves the ability of good organizations that work on the ground, while:  learning by rigorous trial and error, and creating development champions.  Money raised in Canada from individuals and corporations is used to send highly trained volunteers on 1 or 2 year placements to work with development organizations on the ground. 

Parts of Mark's Hypothesis

  1. If a firm is using small holder farmers as producers and the firm is not a monopoly, then it is good for deveolpment.
  2. Poverty reduction can be profitable in rural Zambia, however, it is not as profitable and is more risky than other business ventures.  if donor money can be effectively directed towards reducing these risks, more entrepreneurs will start business that are good for development.

Mark discussed some success and failures that Engineers Without Borders has had.
One success Engineers Without Borders has had is a project that Mark is involved with.  It's called Forest Fruits.  Forest Fruits is a private firm running a honey outgrowers system with 6000 farmers.  It has created a situation that is attractive for competition, including some NGO's.  The more competition, the more options a farmer has and therefore the more empowered they are. There has been some challenges.  Some NGO's working in the area claim to be doing capacity building, yet they actually interfere by working with Forest Fruits farmers and they actually buy their honey for more - meanwhile they are not sustainable. Once funding dries up, they will have destroyed the viable business and left farmers without a market.

Please check Mark out on the web www.markhemsworth.blogspot.com .  He would love to hear any questions or comments.  You can also email him at markhemsworth@ewb.ca .

Thank you Mark for coming out and sharing with us!  We wish you continued success.

Please join us tomorrow evening, Wednesday January 21st, as Blain McCutchen from the Tavistock Rotary Club will be speaking about his recent trip to Tanzania where he distributed Malaria Netting.