A project committed to promoting education as a factor of social change

Unfortunately, all boys and girls throughout the world are not given equal opportunities when it comes to education. This is something Maria, Amena and Zareen Ali, three sisters, became fully aware of following a visit to India. On their return to Canada, they immediately set about making their contribution to changing the situation by establishing an organization called the Abhilasha Project, the aim of which is to provide underprivileged children worldwide with an education worthy of the name. To do so, they organized a great number of fundraisers, created partnerships with various university organizations and set up three chapters of their organisation at McGill University, Marianopolis College and the University of Ottawa. Since 2006, they have donated more than $40,000 to the Abhilasha school in India. This summer, they took part in an expedition to India with a group of 16 students. Their goal was to raise $30,000, the amount needed to build a new annex for the school, which accommodates 141 children.

A project committed to providing access to better healthcare services

Since January 2011, thanks to the commitment of five engineering students at the École de technologie supérieure, more than 20,000 people living in the vicinity of the village of Gori in Burkina Faso now have access to healthcare services. For the inhabitants of one of the country’s poorest and most difficult to access regions this proved to be a true blessing that immediately improved their quality of life. To achieve this, the members of the Programme de regroupement étudiant pour la coopération internationale (PRÉCI 2010) spent four months in Burkina Faso supervising and lending a hand in the construction of a health centre enabling inhabitants to benefit from the services of a midwife and nurse, as well as providing them with a place to purchase medication. Thanks to their efforts the students raised $70,000 and were thus able to build the health centre as well as equip it with two composting toilets and solar panels on the roof to generate electricity.

A project committed to promoting the cooperative movement in the Dominican Republic

Every fall for the past three years, the entire Montréal fashion world is invited to attend the Soy fashion show, an ethical benefit event. Orchestrated by the Soy project, the philanthropic evening kills two birds with one stone. First of all, it provides the city’s designers and artisans, whose creations are made from local, organic, fair-trade or recycled materials, with an exceptional free platform for gaining recognition. And secondly, it raises funds that are donated to two organizations in the Dominican Republic dedicated to the development of the cooperative movement. The initiative was thought up by three students who visited the work camps of sugar cane cutters in the Dominican Republic in 2009 and is aimed at raising awareness of responsible consumption among Québec youth while encouraging them to get actively involved in humanitarian and ecological projects.