Americas : November 2008

CECI wins the Bill McWhinney Award of Excellence in International Development

Montreal, 25 November 2008 – CECI is proud to announce that it has won the Bill McWhinney Award of Excellence in International Development. Given out by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and its President, Margaret Biggs, the Bill McWhinney Award acknowledges an exceptional volunteer project or program that helps improve the future prospects of a community in a developing country and contributes to sustainable development.

“An Aguayo for Risk-Free Childbirth” is a project in Bolivia that is directed at mothers and newborns. At the award ceremony, volunteer Miriam Rouleau-Perez told a moving story: “When I came to this little Altiplano village with my husband and two children, I quickly realized that it was like a great big quilt: the municipality, the midwife, the doctors, everyone was there with their individual expertise, like wonderful pieces of a still-to-be-made quilt. All the skills were there to ensure that women can give birth in a safer environment. I was the needle and thread that sewed all those pieces together! Today, the project is ongoing and is being replicated in other communities. It belongs to the communities.”

Prior to the project’s implementation, mother/child perinatal mortality was very high and only 15% of births were attended by health professionals. Today, over 85% of women give birth in the health centre, which allows traditional medicine to play a role and also places a value on the role of health professionals in enhancing people’s wellness. Proud of the project’s impacts, the municipal government has made health a priority by providing 60% of the funding for the project. This will help to guarantee the durability of the results, and so to reduce gender inequalities in the area of access to health services.

This concerted action between Bolivian government and health system actors makes plain the importance of working together to solve public health problems. Said Pierre Racicot, President of CECI, who also attended the award ceremony, “We wish to share this award with WUSC, our partner in the Uniterra volunteer cooperation program, which as we know has become one of Canada’s largest international volunteer programs.” The innovative Uniterra program, operating in 13 countries, has forged close ties of partnership between Canadian and Bolivian organizations.

Michel Chaurette Executive Director of CECI, Myriam Rouleau-Perez Uniterra volunteer, Margaret Biggs Presidente of CIDA, Pierre Racicot Chairman of CECI

Learn about this project [read more]