Hello, my name is Joaquin Cacho-Sousa and throughout my life, I've lived in Spain, Peru, Argentina, Brazil, and Canada. This experience has made me adaptable, open-minded, and passionate about helping others and the environment. In high school, as part of the International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma, I wrote a 4,000-word paper on sustainable mining practices, exploring the gaps between corporate promises and actual actions. During my second year at Western, I initiated a fundraiser for children with disabilities in remote regions of Peru. Currently, I'm volunteering as a BCG consultant with, The Graced Life Leadership Centre, aiming to foster Africa's next generation of innovative leaders.

What is your personal definition of sustainability?

To me, sustainability is much like a circular economy, just with more advanced features, covering a larger set of areas, from the supply chain to workers and human rights to climate. What I mean by the comparison between the circular economy and sustainability is that the aim remains to be no leftover by-product in the form of waste throughout the process. Sustainability, to me, represents the ability to do things right to promote a better world overall and, through it, create a prosperous world for the next generation to follow and enjoy, almost like stewardship.

What role do you see sustainability playing in your professional career?

Through my life experience and life goals, I have developed a strong passion for sustainability, social impact, and international affairs that have the potential to create a better world for everyone. This experience has exposed me from a young age to witness extreme economic and social disparities among populations in the global south. Here, I also saw the power that governments and international organizations like the United Nations (UN) or NGOs could have, creating a goal of mine to one day work for a branch of the UN and use the resources for good. Further, in my first two summer internships, I worked for a copper and lithium corporation out of Vancouver with assets in Chile and Peru. Here, I did a lot of work regarding community relations, ensuring that the local people in which the mines operated received and benefited from the incentives the corporations would provide to operate on their land. This is something that still needs a lot of work in the metals and mining industry, specifically regarding ways of measuring such impact, which is one of the main reasons I am pursuing this certificate.

What sustainability projects have you been engaged in?

This summer, I am working for an international NGO called Good Neighbors, which is actively working towards the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Two key projects I am working on this summer are called “Better Life 4 Girls” and the “Clean Water Program.” The first project works to empower young girls (ages 8-18) in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Cameroon. This after-school program provides English classes, financial literacy, sexual harassment prevention, and empowerment workshops to break the continuous cycle of taboo and gender stereotypes of these rural regions, specifically targeting SDGS #4, 5, 10. The other project specifically addresses goal #6; by fundraising to build 6 water wells in Zambia, where children usually have to walk 4 hours to their nearest source of water, which is often contaminated, bringing diseases back to the community. As the fundraiser lead, I have established partnerships with Liuna Local 183!, which has donated significant amounts of money to both programs. I have created long-lasting relationships with the council generals of El Salvador and Guatemala, as well as the Hispanic Canadian Heritage Council, who again are supporting the projects by co-hosting a fundraiser event at the Feria Latina, where we had our own booth for free