Press Release: Impact and Innovation Award

The Canadian Council for International Cooperation (CCIC) and World University Service of Canada (WUSC), in collaboration with the trustees of the Lewis Perinbam Award, are pleased to announce the recipients of the Impact and Innovation Awards in Honour of Lewis Perinbam.

Jim Cornelius, the Executive Director of the Canadian Foodgrains Bank, and iDE Canada are this year’s individual and organizational award winners. Both have shown the commitment and spirit to create long-lasting impact through new ways of addressing the world’s most complex challenges.

“During a long and fruitful career, Jim has demonstrated that Canadians of good will, from all walks of life, can effectively address food security, one of the world’s most basic needs, with imagination and empathy,” says Jean-Marc Mangin Chair of the Trustees of the Lewis Perinbam Award. “In particular, Jim’s leadership at the Canadian Foodgrains Bank mobilized many Canadians, notably rural Canadians, in this struggle. Jim’s work reflects well on the legacy of Lewis Perinbam as his work demonstrates that Canadians are uniquely positioned in imagining new innovative and hopeful approaches to the wicked challenges that the world is facing.”

Ian Hamilton, Chair of the organizational award selection committee, said iDE Canada showed tremendous innovation through the Sama Sama project in Ghana.

“iDE Canada’s project has successfully addressed a massive sanitation challenge using a scalable and sustainable business model and blended financing solution,” said Hamilton. “They have tested new approaches to addressing the hardest to reach in rural areas where transportation is a challenge; addressed skills gaps during production through training; and iterated their approach to navigate an environment where over 26 languages are spoken. iDE has truly greeted challenges with inventive solutions, grounded in the local context and based on the needs and inputs of those using their product.”

About Jim Cornelius

Jim Cornelius has served as the Executive Director of the Canadian Foodgrains Bank for more than 20 years.  In that time, he not only led the organization, but in many ways also led the broader sector and food security community. Jim was instrumental in building innovative partnerships and uniting diverse stakeholders in strengthening Canada’s food aid responses. He also played a leadership role in facilitating the international development sector’s ongoing positive collaboration with the government. Not only has Jim supported the development of an impactful and aligned community in support of international development, he has also dedicated his time to mobilize Canadians in support of global challenges.

About iDE Canada

iDE Canada creates income and livelihood opportunities in development countries around the world. iDE Canada with partners across iDE has developed an innovative model to solve the significant challenge of sanitation in rural Ghana.  Driven by local engagement and leadership, the organization established a standalone business focused on selling sanitation products and services in a challenging market.

Honouring Lewis Perinbam:

Lewis Perinbam, O.C, (1925-2007) was a pioneer in building the international development sector in Canada. He was the founding Executive Director of CUSO, the first full time Secretary General of the Canadian National Commission of UNESCO and the Executive Director of World University Service of Canada (WUSC). He joined a fledging Canadian International Development Agency in 1969 and became the founding director general of the NGO division. He later became the Vice-President of the Canadian Partnership Program where he launched several programs that made Canada a leader in civil society-government collaboration. He led the 2000 Task Force on the Participation of Visible Minorities in the Public Service which generated deep change throughout Government. The awards recognize his outstanding contributions and provide a reminder and a call for action that ambitious system-wide innovation is always possible.