Engineers Without Borders – International
Engineers Without Borders – International (EWB-I) is an international association of some national Engineers Without Borders/Ingenieurs Sans Frontieres groups, whose mission is to facilitate collaboration, exchange of information, and assistance among its groups that have applied to become part of the association. EWB-I helps the member groups develop their capacity to assist poor communities in their respective countries and around the world.[1]
Organizational structure
The main office of EWB-I resides in the USA with regional offices in Mexico, India, Belgium, and Egypt. The regional offices serve as the first point of entry for those national EWB/ISF groups that wish to apply for membership of EWB-I and represent the EWB/ISF groups that are part of the association. EWB-I is run by an international board composed of representatives of many EWB/ISF groups.[2]
The member groups 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 new dimensions of experience for engineers, engineering students, and similarly motivated non-engineers. EWB-I creates links between like-minded organizations and cuts across national borders. EWB-I works in collaboration with various partner organizations affiliated with its member organizations.
Projects
Projects conducted by individual EWB/ISF member groups are grassroots and small and are not usually addressed by in-country consulting firms. It is a matter of policy that 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 UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) through capacity building in their projects. EWB-I also endorses the Earth Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
EWB-I provides a platform for its member groups, affiliates, and outside organizations to:
- 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
- Create synergy between their members
International co-ordination
While each national group is fully independent and autonomous. The function of EWB-International is to facilitate multinational collaborative projects and enhance the effectiveness of individual EWB’s/ISF’s, especially start-up groups in the developing world.
EWB-I consists of member groups, provisional member groups, and start-up groups ([3]). All groups function autonomously. Membership requires that all members adhere to high professional and ethical standards as stated in the EWB-I By-Laws. EWB-I also accepts requests from existing organizations interested in joining as partner organizations([4]).
Selected EWB-I member organizations
- Ingénieurs Sans Frontières (Belgium)
- Ingenieurs zonder Grenzen (Belgium)
- Engineers Without Borders (India)
- Engineers Without Borders (USA)
- Engineers Without Borders (Palestine)
- Engineers Without Borders - Lebanon
See also
- Engineers Without Borders - includes information about similarly named organizations not affiliated with EWB-I