Operation 21 Overseas Placement This year we are continuing with Operation 21 and we wish to send someone overseas this summer. We are looking for young, energetic students who are willing to give of themselves and to learn. You do NOT need to be an engineer. You do NOT need to be in 3rd or 4th year (1st and 2nd year students more than welcome). The rationale for the operation 21 program is as follows: Many of our members have asked themselves; "How do I make a positive difference in the world around me?" As members of EWB we all share a common vision of creating a more equitable world. The most basic challenged faced by any development organization is translating good intentions into positive impacts. EWB is embracing this challenge in two ways; 1) as an organization we are focused in Canada on educating our members, and 2) overseas our work is carried out within the social and cultural context of our partners We recognize that the ability to have impact is the culmination of years of learning, the proper approach, and a well structured project with clear outputs that is integrated into a comprehensive program. Operation 21 is one step in EWB's process of creating future development experts and building an organization that is both thoughtful and educated. The program offers chapters the ability to send members overseas to participate in a structured four month placement with one of EWB's established partners. The goal of these placements is threefold; 1) to have the returning volunteer contribute knowledge and leadership to his or her chapter, 2) to expose Canadians both directly (the volunteer) and indirectly (chapter, friends, and family) to the challenges faced by the billions of people around the world who live in poverty, and 3) to provide our partner agencies with "humble entrepreneurs" who are able to fill specific short term niche roles within their projects. Past Op21 overseas volunteers have included; * David Damberger, a third year mechanical engineering student who is urrently the President of the University of Calgary Chapter. David worked in Nilgiris, India where he assisted the locally based Rural Development Organization (RDO) researching the use of rainwater catchment systems to collect drinking water for rural schools. * Janice Levangie, a third year student at Dalhousie, and Monica Rucki, a third year student at University of British Columbia worked together in rural Dili, East Timor on solar food drying technologies. Janice is currently leading her Chapters participation in EWB's High School outreach program and Monica is now one of her ChapterTfs Co-Presidents. There are many other examples; for more information on past projects or volunteers please visit the EWB web site (www.ewb.ca). You can find the application form and the "statement of principle" on the website at: http://toronto.ewb.ca/docs/statement_of_principle.pdf http://toronto.ewb.ca/docs/op_application.pdf (or a.doc file at http://toronto.ewb.ca/docs/op_application.doc ) The applications are due in by email to annam@xxxxxx by 6:00 pm on Saturday, February 14.