A new gallery wall with interpretive panels featuring Coady Institute's largest ongoing project Engage! Women's Empowerment and Active Citizenship is just one of the ways the institute is celebrating International Development Week (IDW) 2025.
IDW takes place the first full week of February to recognize and celebrate how Canadians and Canadian organizations are helping to eradicate poverty worldwide. Global Affairs Canada's theme for IDW 2025 is Building a Better World Together.
Coady Institute is highlighting its work with partners each day of the week including video releases, a pizza party for StFX students, releasing a new publication, and culminating with a webinar on Friday morning.
"Coady has always valued collaboration and much of Coady's work occurs alongside our partners during education courses on campus and off campus as well as on specific projects," Brian Lazzuri, Communications and Marketing Manager, says. "This year for IDW we decided to create two short videos highlighting our work with the five project partners of Engage and with SeedChange and its partners on the Rural Women Cultivating Change project."
The videos will be released during the week and speak to how all the organizations are Building a Better World Together in Haiti, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, India, and Bangladesh. This includes supporting women farmers and agroecology, advancing gender equality and poverty reduction, and building climate resilience.
Coady will also be sharing its latest publication, a paper entitled "Gender-based violence: Can a more comprehensive definition lead to better strategies for increasing women's economic agency?" This is part of the Institute's ongoing work with Self-Employed Women's Association in India and funded by the Ford Foundation in Delhi and New York.
In addition to the videos and publication release, Tuesday, Feb. 4, Coady Institute, Martimes-Guatemala Breaking the Silence Solidarity Network, and StFX Service Learning are hosting a pizza social for StFX students interested in learning about an International Youth Internship Program offered by the Atlantic Council for International Cooperation with funding from Global Affairs Canada.
IDW ends with a webinar that is part of the Coady Coffee House series and already has 270 people registered to attend. Challenging Hegemony in Development will feature six Pathy Foundation Fellows who are mid-way through their fellowship years completing their social change initiatives in Morrocco, Indonesia, South Africa, Guatemala, Ontario, Quebec, and Alberta. The Fellows will be speaking about how climate emergency, unjust economic order, and deeply polarized political discourse are presenting challenges and redefining what development' should be to foster a sustainable future for the planet and humanity.
"Besides sharing about all of Coady's partnerships and work, I really like that this year's IDW activities are focusing on youth who are sharing their insights, and we are showcasing opportunities that are available for StFX students," Lazzuri says.
Those interested in registering for the Coady Coffee House webinar or those 18-30 years old and interested in applying for the International Youth Internship Program can go to Coady Institute's news and events page at coady.stfx.ca.
