Sometimes Seeing is Believing

In my role as Academic Vice President & Provost at St. Francis Xavier University I oversee the operations of Coady Institute at a high level. Since I took on the position in May 2022, the Executive Director of the Institute, Eileen Alma, has kept me well informed of the progress, work, challenges, and highlights of Coady. We have come through difficult times: a global pandemic, changes to government funding structures, reductions in international student study permits. Through all of this, Coady perseveres.

Recently, Eileen astutely sussed that with changes to Coady program delivery models and transitions of leadership over the past number of years at StFX, the new StFX executive team had little to no concrete experience of Coady and the work it does. She proposed that a small group of Coady supporters and I join her team at a meeting in Tanzania bringing together participants in the Engage! Women’s Empowerment & Active Citizenship as that Global Affairs Canada funded project reached its conclusion. Thus, I travelled to Dar es Salaam to attend the meeting and experience first-hand the work Coady does as seen through the eyes of the folks from around the globe who benefit from that work.

I was immediately and repeatedly struck by the intensity of the impact Coady has internationally. I knew this intellectually before my trip, but I experienced the impact viscerally during my time in Africa. Coady graduates and participants spoke about the lasting effects of their time at Coady and how it affected their organizations, their communities, and the courses of their lives. The stories of how the asset-based community development (ABCD) education facilitated by Coady had a ripple effect, being passed on from one participant to others in community and beyond resonated.

We had opportunities during the meeting to engage with participants from Tanzania, Ethiopia, Haiti, India, and Bangladesh (the latter only remotely as they were unable to obtain visas to pass through Schengen countries, a poignant reminder of the difficulties associated with this work in the current political climate). We met the people who led programs, participated in programs, and whose livelihoods were improved. We talked through the challenges they faced and the need for ongoing work.

As our group moved on to Kenya, we were able to experience other impacts of Coady. Kenyan Coady alumni assembled in Nairobi, some driving hours simply to attend and connect with other alumni, to share their stories of the profound changes brought about and facilitated by Coady. We visited the Seed Savers Network, another Coady project partner, in Gilgil. This remarkable grassroots initiative blends elements of ABCD, agroecology, and climate resilience, and provides a place and a space for hands on education. I appreciate how important it is for this education to be provided in community to have the greatest impact. I was heartened to hear the Katherine Fleming Women’s Leadership Course run by Coady and supported by StFX Class of ‘85, would be taking place in Zambia soon after I returned home with fresh perspective and much food for thought.

A few weeks after my return, Michael Gillis, StFX Alumni President, praised Coady Institute during the university’s spring convocations, noting that an X-ring, lost in rural Kenya, was discovered and recognized by a Coady graduate and was returned to its owner as a result.  It is an uplifting story that exemplifies the incredible impact that Coady Institute education programs have, and Coady’s importance in helping our university have reach well in communities locally, nationally and globally.