the 2015 Wavemakers Annual Report

Youth Wavemakers
2015 ANNUAL REPORT
Celebrating 10 years of Wavemakers impact
MICHELLE MACDONALD
Youth Wavemakers Program
Manager
Congratulations to youth and educators
for another inspiring year of action on
local and global water and sanitation
issues!
The 2014-15 school year was a special
one, as it marked the 10-year anniversary
of CAWST’s Youth Wavemakers program.
Wavemakers was born when Calgary
youth contacted CAWST in 2005, asking
how they could help Haitian citizens
following Hurricane Jane. From there, a
movement was launched that has seen
youth reach over 100,000 Canadians with
action projects, and educators across North
America have introduced Wavemakers
resources into their classrooms to engage
and empower students.
Last year, educators downloaded
Wavemakers classroom resources 4,300
times and 167 youth participated in action
projects that reached 6,000 Canadians!
Their projects included water awarenessbuilding events and campaigns, educating
communities about water issues and
installing water-saving infrastructure in
their schools and communities.
We are seeing increased collaboration
between youth and local organizations,
such as the City of Calgary’s Water
Services Department, Puzzle
Permaculture and Green Calgary. Thank
you to our supporters, the Calgary
Foundation, the City of Calgary and the
Teri Taylor-Tunski (T3) Fund.
The world is noticing Wavemakers
youth. The program was a finalist for
the 2015 Alberta Emerald Awards, and
Wavemaker Mahala Morris was named
one of Alberta’s Top 30 Under 30 by the
Alberta Council for Global Cooperation.
University student Hayley Todesco won
a Google Science Fair Award and the
2014 Stockholm Junior Water Prize for
her solution to detoxify oilsands tailings
ponds water. Her inspiration? A CAWST
visit to her Grade 5 class.
Such achievements are one benefit of
turning 10. Youth are moving through
the program and pursuing career paths
that they attribute to their Wavemakers
experience. That’s the sort of impact
we look forward to seeing for decades
to come.
RESULTS
WORKING WITH NORTH AMERICAN YOUTH, THE WAVEMAKERS PROGRAM TAKES AN ACTIONBASED APPROACH TO LEARNING ABOUT LOCAL, AND GLOBAL, WATER AND SANITATION ISSUES.
2,014
167
Youth reached
by educators
delivering
Wavemakers
resources,
2014-15
Number of youth participating
in action projects, 2014-15
YOUTH
ACTION
PROJECTS
100,657
5,975
“My understanding of myself as
a global citizen motivates me to
become involved in local issues
because I understand that every
action that I make on a local level
will impact the world as a whole.”
Number of people
reached by youth
since 2008
Number of people
reached by youth
in 2014-15
“I love the Wavemakers
resources... because the
youth I work with... are better
able to conceptualize water
issues from around the world.
Wavemakers resources help
students put water issues
into perspective and inspire
empathy among youth.”
-Claire, Grade 11
“I believe that most people simply
aren’t aware of some of these
issues that our world and country
is facing. So if we can create
awareness within our communities
and our cities then we can really
create a larger impact.”
-Kira Burkett, Manitoba Council for
International Cooperation
-Jonah, Grade 10
A DECADE OF WAVEMAKERS
First World Water Day
2006
2005
First Wavemakers Summit
First educator
workshops.
2010
Tikho’s Story
slideshow created
in collaboration
w/ CAWST’s WET
Centre in Zambia
and an 8 year old
girl named Tikho.
2011
THE YEAR
AHEAD
CAWST WILL CONTINUE TO STRENGTHEN OUR YOUTH WAVEMAKERS PROGRAM TO MOTIVATE AND
SUPPORT OUR GROWING NETWORK OF YOUTH AND EDUCATORS WHO ARE TAKING ACTION ON
GLOBAL AND LOCAL WATER ISSUES.
In the 2015-2016 school year:
• Provide 40 Calgary classroom
workshops.
The Wavemakers program
seeks to educate, engage and
inspire youth in North America
to take action on global and
local water, sanitation and
hygiene (WASH) issues. Our
strategies to achieve this vision
include:
• Deliver virtual presentations and
workshops via Skype for youth outside
Calgary.
1. Design classroom resources
on WASH and make them
widely available.
• Create a new sharing space for
Wavemakers teams to encourage
collaboration and learning from each
others’ experiences implementing
action projects.
2. Provide professional
development and curriculum
support for educators.
1. We will launch a Virtual
Wavemakers Summit.
3. We will increase the quality of
youth action projects.
• An online version of our Wavemakers
Summit event to provide access and
support to North American youth
Grades 7-12 unable to attend our
annual Wavemakers Summit in-person.
• Host over 100 youth at our Calgary
Wavemakers Summit event.
• Youth teams will share and learn from
each other online, as well as from
CAWST and local water experts.
• Participants will be eligible for our
$500 action grant.
2. We will strengthen our training for
educators as they engage their youth
in global and local water issues.
• Deliver 10 professional development
workshops for teachers.
• Improve accessibility and functionality
of our online resources for educators.
• Organize Wavemakers resources into
sections for both youth and educators.
• Co-deliver workshops with local
water experts in Alberta and
British Columbia.
4. We will seek opportunities to
provide continued, multi-year
support to educators.
• Build and strengthen longer-term
relationships with educators, starting
with helping existing educator clients
to deepen their impact.
• Collaborate with educator Boards
and organizations.
3. Support youth to take
action on global and local
WASH issues.
5. We will support CAWST Global
Services to pilot a small overseas
Youth Wavemakers’ project.
• Support our WET Centre partners’
youth programs and “Water, Sanitation
and Hygiene (WASH) in Schools”
initiatives.
Flood of Change
documentary released with
over 70% of footage taken
by youth in Nepal.
2013
2012
Kids of Kayele online game
created w/ Hygiene Club in
Zambia.
2015
2014
Educators reach
over 13,000
Canadian youth
since 2011 using
Wavemakers
resources.
Wavemakers
celebrates
10 years
of youth
education
and action!
STORIES
Youth Story
Wavemaker among Alberta`s Top 30 Under 30
Since 2005, over 1,000 youth have taken action on local and global water issues through the
Youth Wavemakers program. Among those youth is Mahala Morris who first participated in the
program in 2011.
Through Wavemakers, Mahala founded Drops of Change, a group dedicated both to raising
awareness about global water issues and also to help local companies in Black Diamond, Alberta
to reduce their water consumption.
Mahala approaches these issues by taking incremental steps to create lasting impact. “Making
a difference in my community starts with small steps,” says Mahala. “So, in order to reach the
bigger goals you have to start with creating awareness and getting the attention of the people
in your community in order to make changes.”
Last year, Mahala was named one of Alberta’s Top 30 Under 30 by the Alberta Council for
Global Cooperation for her work connecting local actions for global impact in water and
sanitation. Mahala also received a travel scholarship for her speech entitled “Water for Life”,
which had her spend the summer of 2015 traveling across North America to deliver her
inspiring speech, including travel to the United Nations General Assembly in New York City.
“Youth Wavemakers has taught me that I’m not too young to make a difference in this world
and I can start making changes now for a better future,” Mahala says.
IT TAKES A VILLAGE
TO MAKE WAVES!
The success of the Wavemakers
program is rooted in the efforts
of our volunteers and donors.
Countless hours have been spent
supporting the administration
of the program, facilitating
workshops, engaging the public
and being overall champions of
our cause!
Our volunteers are diverse,
dedicated and powerful
ambassadors of CAWST and the
Wavemakers program, and come
from all walks of life, including
Wavemakers youth alumni,
educators, Calgary’s corporate
community, retired Calgarians and
long-time supporters of CAWST.
We are especially grateful to the
Calgary Foundation, the City of
Calgary and the Teri Taylor-Tunski
(T3) Fund for their financial support
this year. It truly does take a village
to make the Wavemakers program
a success. Thank you for making
waves with us!
Educator Story
Educator takes learning
from the classroom to the
community
Calgary teacher Shannon Boyle is always
on the lookout for resources that help
her extend students’ learning beyond
the classroom.
“This approach gives students the opportunity
to be open-minded, global and to incorporate
environmental issues into their learning,” says
Boyle, who teaches at Calgary’s St Michael School.
“It’s a must in today’s world.”
Boyle has embraced the Wavemakers program since being introduced to it four years ago.
Boyle leads a student club called the Water Warriors, who have done several years worth of
action projects through Wavemakers, ranging from public awareness campaigns, retrofitting
urinals and water fountains to conserve water and discourage plastic water bottle use and,
most recently, organizing a “Water Walk” in May 2015.
The youth organized a six-kilometre round-trip walk to the Bow River to educate students
about the lengths many people have to go in the developing country just to collect water.
“The impact Wavemakers has on the students isn’t limited to the four walls of the classroom
that I teach in,” she says. “The experience changes their world. It creates awareness in their
own lives and what they can do to make change for the better.”
Contact us: CAWST.ORG/WAVEMAKERS
WAVEMAKERS@CAWST.ORG