News

For Grebel Peace Incubator participant, Union: Sustainable Development Co-operative (Union Co-operative), summer 2021 has been marked with progress. As Union Co-operative moves closer to purchasing its first property, Member Engagement Coordinator, Melissa Bowman met with Centre for Peace Advancement Communications Assistant, Katie Fry to discuss Union’s recent and upcoming developments.

“What are you listening to right now?” has become a popular topic at Centre for Peace Advancement coffee breaks, and with good reason. As a popular medium for storytelling, podcasts have become instrumental in provoking nuanced and multidimensional dialogue around peacebuilding and conflict. Available on a wide variety of free and paid platforms, podcasts make peace dialogue more accessible, consumable, and enjoyable for many.

On Tuesday July 13^th, 2021, Grebel Peace Incubator participant GeoMate launched the first ever Accessible City Challenge (ACE). Created to help Canadian cities meet the population’s growing need for accessibility, ACE is GeoMate’s invitation to municipalities to collaborate for transformative change and embrace a more accessible future.

For the first time this Fall, a student enrolled in Conrad Grebel University College’s Master of Peace and Conflict Studies (MPACS) program will receive a new scholarship honouring the legacy of Malcolm X. Grebel Peace Incubator participant, Majid Mirza of ESGTree, was instrumental in bringing the Malcolm X Peace and Conflict Studies Scholarship to life with support from dedicated donors and the approval of Malcolm X's family. 

“If you don’t have anything to compare your data with, you don’t know where you are standing at,” reflects ESGTree Customer Success and R&D Lead, Pedro Alguindigue. After wrapping up its first year of business in April, incubator participant ESGTree shared that client feedback prompted the platform to grow in new and exciting ways. Rather than stopping at creating an outstanding reporting platform, ESGTree is expanding its services to help users address the question “Now what?”

Friday, June 11^th 2021 marked the end of another cycle of the Map the System pitch competition. Teams from around the world dedicated their time and effort to addressing systems change in their local campus semi-finals, national finals, and finally the global showcase throughout 2021.

Sparked by anti-Black racism protests this past summer, the Centre for Peace Advancement team has been reflecting on our strengths and shortcomings as we work to confront and challenge white supremacy. Read Centre Coordinator, Michelle Jackett’s article in the Spring 2021 issue of Grebel Now.

On May 8, 2021, Founder and Executive Director of The Ripple Effect Education, Katie Gingerich, was recognized as an outstanding representation of the incredible peace work of Canadian women. Gingerich received the 2021 Kim Phúc Award for Youth Peace Leadership for her work supporting youth through conflict resolution. Following the award ceremony, staff from the Kindred Credit Union Centre for Peace Advancement caught up with Gingerich to discuss what the award means to her.

On May 5^th, the Kindred Credit Union Centre for Peace Advancement, The Ripple Effect Education (TREE) and Kindred Credit Union celebrated the 2020-2021 Peace Innovators Scholarship and Mentoring Program participants. Supporters of the program heard from students about the social issues they tackled, what they learned, and how they are going to continue to build peace in their communities.

On Friday May 7^th, 2021, eight teams of students from across Canada competed in the Map the System Canadian Finals for the chance to present their research on a global stage. For their incredible presentation and systematic investigation of the precarious foreign labour conditions in Malaysian palm oil plantations, Leah Feor, Ewomazino Iyanu Oluwa Odhigbo and Muhammed Ahsanur Rahim will be representing the University of Waterloo as one of four Canadian teams at the Map the System Global Finals from June 9-11.