Engineers Without Borders

Engineers Without Borders International (EWB-I) is an international federation of national Engineers Without Borders/Ingeneiurs Sans Frontiers (EWB/ISF), member associations whose mission is to facilitate collaboration, exchange of information, and assistance among its member groups. EWB-I helps its member associations improve their capacity to assist underserved communities in developing countries.

The member associations of EWB-I share a similar mission, which is to partner with disadvantaged communities to improve their quality of life through education and implementation of sustainable engineering projects while promoting global experience for engineers, engineering students, and similarly motivated non-engineers. EWB-I creates links between like-minded organizations and cuts across national borders.

Projects coordinated by individual EWB/ISF member groups are grassroots and small and benefit underserved communities in developing countries. As a matter of policy, prior to taking on projects EWB-I member groups make sure that they are not competing with private engineering firms. EWB-I member groups and partner organizations contribute to meeting the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) through capacity building in their projects. EWB-I endorses the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Engineers Without Borders International facilitates links and collaboration among its member groups with the goal of improving the quality of life of disadvantaged communities worldwide through education and implementation of sustainable engineering projects, while also promoting new dimensions of experience for engineers, engineering students, and similarly motivated non-engineers.

The vision of Engineers Without Borders International is to be recognized and respected as an international organization whose members deliver sustainable solutions to developing communities worldwide and make use of their diverse technical expertise to solve critical problems affecting the health of the planet. EWB-I provides a unique platform for its member groups, affiliates, and outside organizations to create a new generation of global engineers; contribute to meeting the MDGs through capacity building in local projects; collaborate on projects and studies worldwide; share ideas, experiences, technical knowledge, and documentation; develop partnerships on community projects; address more global issues and projects; coordinate student exchanges, internships, and professional volunteers; advertise meetings and events; train and connect engineering professionals and students around the world; and create synergy among its members.

Engineers Without Borders in the United States’ (EWB-USA) community-driven development programs are driven by sustainability and collaboration and are underpinned by a minimum five-year commitment. The programs originate with a community self-identifying its needs and requesting support from EWB-USA. Within a program, chapters implement multiple projects to address the needs identified by the community. The chapters work directly with the community to assess, design, implement, monitor, and evaluate appropriate engineering solutions for small-scale infrastructure projects. Staff at EWB-USA’s headquarters assist chapters by facilitating a robust quality assurance and quality control process that enables the chapters to work on hundreds of programs across the globe each year. In addition, the EWB-USA Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), comprised of experts in their disciplines, reviews and approves all project designs. This approach is based on the organizational principles of development.

The hands-on engineering work occurs at the project level. The scope of these projects is diverse, ranging from the construction of a health clinic in Peru to the implementation of household biosand filters in Cameroon. Only technologies that are determined to be the most appropriate solution for a community’s identified need are implemented. Both the chapter and the community provide equal input into the project process. The chapter must work with the community to implement projects within a program that can be sustained by the community in the long term. The community must have the financial, administrative, technical, labor, and material resources available to operate and maintain the installed facilities without outside assistance. EWB-USA’s Engineering Service Corps offers the expertise of the most seasoned volunteers to organizations in the international development sector. EWB [Page 485]collaborates with nongovernmental organization (NGOs) and governments that use a community-driven approach and that lack access to the resources needed to design sustainable and appropriate solutions to engineering challenges. The Engineering Service Corps performs a variety of services, including engineering studies, owner’s representation, planning, design, and monitoring and evaluation.

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