On the 6th of July of 2011, in Bogota (Colombia), the seventh annual international conference of Engineering, Social Justice and Peace took place at "Minuto de Dios" university. A group of engineers and social workers from all over the world shared knowledge and experiences about working with vulnerable communities.

The day started with an activity named “Getting to know each other “led by professor Juan Lucena. In order to get a better idea of what kind of people was attending to the conference, participants were organized in couples of different countries and were encouraged to respond the following questions:

How and why did they get to the seventh international conference ESJP?

What do you know about engineering and social justice?

What do you expect to get or achieve in this conference?

The result of this little chat was fantastic. All attendees had the opportunity to know more of each one, not only of their professional life but the interests and hobbies that they have as humans. This gave to the group a good start based on confidence and friendship.

At the second section of the morning professor Caroline Baillie organized another activity named "Knowledge and Social Justice". The main idea was to determine what forms of knowledge or skills are required in an engineer to participate or have a role in social justice. To do so, three presentations were given:  “Aprender a ser ingenieros" (Learning how to be engineers) by social worker Luisa Arias, "Universidad como agente facilitador" (University as a facilitator agent), by professors Calderon, Bermeo and Orozco, and "Bringing Social Justice into the heart of engineering" by professor Nieusma. All these expositions aimed to show the importance of Interdisciplinarity when developing social projects. There was a particular emphasis on social work due to two aspects. On one hand, to the presence of "FUNDAMIL", a cooperative which helps vulnerable communities in Bogota teaching recycling process, urban farming and building dining halls for little kids. On the other hand, because it is one of the main careers at Universidad Minuto de Dios and is well recognized all over Colombia. 

After having eaten "ajiaco" as lunch, the typical dish of Bogota, all the group came back to the classroom in order to start the afternoon session. The main topic was Social Entrepreneurship which was explained in four presentations: “Innovación y Desarrollo en el Tolima” (Innovation and Development in Tolima) by professor Enciso, “Social Enterprises” by Professor Bengo, “Ingenieros ONGeros” by professor Richard Arias and “Social Entrepreneurship” by engineers Lizarazo, Gonzalez and Villano. Completed this activity, professor Donna Riley led a discussion among the expositors, in which emerged a rewarding debate full of interesting questions such as:

Which are the real features of a Social Enterprise?

What is the meaning of Social Responsibility? Does it have to do with Social Enterprise?

Which is the relationship between Social Justice, Social Enterprise and Social Entrepreneurship?

Why Social Entrepreneurship is important nowdays?

These sorts of questions were discussed according to all the different perspectives of each participant, giving them the opportunity to reinforce their knowledge about Social Entrepreneurship. However, not all the debate was focused on sharing knowledge, the generation of new questions involving topics like social justice, social value, measuring social work and so on,   was the ending of this section.

At the second part of the afternoon two activities were developed. The first one was a brief intervention made by the president of "Corporación Minuto de Dios" father Diego Jaramillo. He passed through all its history, telling to the audience that all began with a radio program called " El minuto de Dios"(God´s minute) in 1950. It had a huge impact on  listeners, so that many of them started to donate money, services and goods for helping the cause of the program. This situation became bigger and bigger, until the point that the program jumped onto TV and has been transmitted every night without interruptions since its launching (Over 60 years). Then, father Diego claimed that nowdays  "Corporación Minuto de Dios" is considered  as a social corporation that helps  vulnerable communities in Colombia, thanks for counting with kinder gardens, primary and high schools, one university – the one which facilitated all the infrastructure for the group -, libraries and other sort of  organizations that  serve the people in need (Mostly in Bogota).

Even though this presentation was more for inviting father Diego to show him the participant´s gratitude, it turned out to be a great experience hearing such an example of social justice and peace.

The last part of the afternoon was led by professors Jon Leydens and Richard Arias. The main objective was to answer three questions in order to point out the relevant conclusions of the day. Three subgroups were organized and to each one of them was given one of the following questions:

1 With the grain (Positive aspects).

2 Against the grain (Negative aspects).

3 Complexities.

As a common focus, all groups had to answer:

How can we apply what we have learnt today to our different ESJP contexts?

In no more than one hour this task was well developed by the groups. For the first question, all people concluded that:

·         Despite that there were different areas of engineering, the objectives are very similar. Helping people trough strategies that use applied engineering and consider the real needs of poor communities. In addition, those strategies must be culturally and economically sustainable over the time. 

·         Big engineer’s ideas not all the times work out well. It is necessary to know the "real issues" of people. In other words, not working for communities but with them.         

·         Engineering is not the only profession capable of giving solutions to vulnerable communities. In order to minimize risks, it is necessary an interdisciplinary knowledge in which social workers have a crucial role.

·         It is really important to share to the society what have been done in this conference. To do so, all participants agreed that papers and articles are one of the most effective ways to do so.   

·         Engineering must not only be in the most ambitious projects but also to serve the communities unprotected.  

According to the second question, what was concluded by all the members was:

·         Using academic terms and concepts with vulnerable communities might be seen as exclusion. In order to avoid that, it is necessary to soften the language that engineers use developing projects, so that the beneficiaries can understand them and feel they are part of the processes.

·         As engineers, measuring things becomes an essential strategy to resolve problems. However, when it comes to social work, there are not specific techniques for evaluating the impact of projects. For this reason, one of the biggest challenges is to create ways to recognize more easily the satisfaction of beneficiaries.

·         Based on all the presentations that were given during the day, one of the most relevant concerns was which of the projects is the best and what are the reasons for considering it. In other words, although all the projects are focused on applied engineering, not all are deeply involved with the communities. A few are methodical and theoretical

And finally, the last task of the three proposed brought interesting conclusions, especially for those who had not done that sort of activities before. Some of them are:        

·         Project planning without a proper social researching turns out to be hard  if you want to know what people need, why do they need it and for how long are they going to use it.  All these, in order to have projects sustainable over the time while minimizing risks.

·         Social entrepreneurship can be encouraged in engineers only if they are willing to work for people and with people.

·         It is necessary to measure everything?

·         Is the social area a technique?

·         One of the most difficult actions for an engineer is to develop projects that guarantee the ” social welfare”  ensuring that is culturally acceptable.  

- Jorge Enrique Diaz Martinez 

Spaces are limited so be sure to register soon! Registration for the conference will be open until the end of May.

Register here.
More details about the conference here.

The documentary can be listened here:
http://www.mediacoop.ca/audio/2219

Waste for Life Trailer from Waste for Life on Vimeo.