Alisha joined EWB at the beginning of to facilitate the High School Outreach Program (HSO) for Australia and New Zealand. She is based in Western Australia and has an academic background in sustainable development and a professional background in volunteer management, lecturing, disaster response and community disaster recovery.
Alisha lives in a housing co-operative and is always keen to help facilitate meaningful collaborations and assist in co-operative capacity building. She can also make an awesome sourdough!
We asked Alisha a few questions to learn a bit more about her:
Q: How’d you end up at EWB and what do you do here?
I have a background in aid and sustainable development, as well as volunteer management. EWB put out for a coordinator to facilitate the High School Outreach Program throughout Australia and to further build and develop the initiative. A colleague of mine sent me the position description on LinkedIn, I applied, and I started in February. The current plan is to make sure that there are effective communication channels between HSO volunteers, some consistancy in the modules and workshops delivered, and a feedback mechanism for continuous improvement.
Q: Apart from EWB, are there any other cuases you&#;re passionate about?
I am passionate about intra-generational equity and poverty alleviation. I am heavily involved in the support and establishment of housing co-operatives and the co-operative movement in Western Australia, and am actively involved in sustainability education and community disaster response and recovery.
Q: What’s your favorite thing about working at EWB so far?
Definitely the people, both staff and volunteers. All of them are so engaged, enthused and passionate about what they do, and it&#;s fantastic to work with people that love not only the work that they do but also the organisation and movement that they are a part of. I also love the idea of engaging engineering students, graduates and professionals in community development and the humanitarian movement. It is an incredible privilege to work in this space, and the fact that my role works at creating avenues for more and more people to participate is glorious. I look forward to continuing to work with EWB and developing more capacity building opportunities for our volunteers.
Q: About EWB&#;s High School Outreach Program
The HSO Program activities engage school students and teachers in exciting, interactive workshops on sustainable development and engineering. The workshops are designed to inspire and motivate students to explore issues such as global sustainability, human development, appropriate technology, water, structures and the role of engineering in poverty eradication.
Within the past twelve months, EWB volunteers across Australia and New Zealand delivered workshops at schools and involved over , students.