MEDA shortlisted for $1 million Alcan Prize

Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA) made the shortlist for the $1 million Alcan Prize for Sustainability.

MEDA, based in Waterloo, Ont., was selected as one of 10 finalists out of a field of 200 applicants from 55 countries. It is the only Canadian organization on the shortlist.

The prize, sponsored by Alcan Inc., a Montreal-based global aluminum and packaging products company, is one of the most prestigious in the development community. It recognizes outstanding contributions in economic, environmental, and social sustainability by not-for-profit, non-governmental, and civil society organizations.

MEDA’s entry highlighted how its Pakistan embroidery and Tanzania bed net projects promote sustainable economic and social development. The Pakistan project provides market access, through intermediaries, for rural women embroiderers who are confined to their homes by conservative culture and religion. The mosquito net project fights malaria by developing commercial networks that make the insecticide-treated nets available to expectant mothers in rural areas.

MEDA also had to outline what it would do with the $1 million (U.S.) prize, if it wins. It developed a plan to bring plastic waste to urban centres for recycling in Pakistan and get environmental products like solar lanterns from manufacturers down to the poor in Tanzania.

—Wally Kroeker, MEDA News