Engineers Without Borders (UK)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Engineers Without Borders (EWB) UK (or EWB-UK) is a UK-based registered charity and NGO, operated primarily by UK-based university students. Its mission is to Facilitate Human Development through Engineering.
EWB-UK is non-operational charity, in that it does not undertake its own projects, but supports those of other organisations. It maintains links, but currently no formal affiliations with, the other international organisations bearing the name Engineers Without Borders.
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[edit] Aims
The aims of EWB-UK are to:
- educate, and raise the awareness of, students and others about issues in human development;
- promote research related to, and actively contribute towards, engineering solutions for human development;
- provide an ongoing supply of competent and knowledgeable professional development workers, and;
- become a mark of excellence for those looking to become involved with development work.
[edit] Approach
To achieve its mission and its aims, EWB-UK:
- trains and educates students and recent graduates in development theory and practice;
- uses student volunteers and academics to undertake research;
- uses professional volunteers to support its work;
- provides suitable students and recent graduates on placements to partner organisations and developing communities to help fulfil their engineering needs, and;
- raises funding from ethical sources (see ethical policy).
[edit] Organisation and Structure
The structure of EWB-UK incorporates a variety of functional units.
- An independent Board of Trustees which:
- oversees the operations of EWB-UK, ensuring they are in line with its mission and its aims;
- appoints the senior management;
- is ultimately responsible for the operations and policies of EWB-UK;
- A National Executive consisting of student volunteers which commits to;
- overseeing the operations of EWB-UK and providing support to its branches;
- organising and co-ordinating worthwhile overseas placements with partner organisations, at a suitable technical level for EWB-UK's volunteers;
- facilitating technical engineering research into development issues at universities;
- fundraising for EWB-UK projects and activities;
- University branches which are run by and for students, focusing on:
- public and student awareness of human development by arranging educating activities such as speaker series, field trips and training courses;
- promoting and co-ordinating research on relevant topics within university departments;
- encouraging and assisting students to volunteer for worthwhile overseas placement work under the supervision of partner organisations;
- arranging social events to encourage involvement and allow students, academcis and professionals to meet, and;
- fundraising activities for the branch and the entire EWB-UK organisation;
- Partner non-governmental organisations which:
- use, train and supervise EWB-UK volunteers on overseas and UK based placement projects;
- suggest topics for research which will meet real needs for developing communities, and;
- work with EWB-UK for mutual support;
- A Professional Network run by and made up of qualified professionals who:
- offer practical support and advice to the other parts of EWB-UK;
- arrange their own events to further the aims of EWB-UK amongst professionals, and;
- provide ongoing involvement for those who have graduated;
- Sponsoring bodies including individual donors and companies which embrace the ideals of EWB-UK and operate under high ethical standards (see ethical policy).
[edit] History
EWB-UK was started by a group of students at Cambridge University in 2001, at the original suggestion of Parker Mitchell (co-founder of EWB Canada) who was then doing an MPhil in Sustainable Development at the university. Sarah Hindle and Richard Sargeant, third year engineer and PSP student respectively, were the first directors and recruited and ran the executive.
In 2002, with the help of an initial £10,000 donation from Anglo American, EWB-UK arranged its first overseas placement in Pondicherry, India, with an organisation called ORSED. The first Clare Farm training course also took place. Work began on building research and knowledge sharing capacity.
In the years since, under a number of different directors, the number and variety of training courses, overseas placements and more recently research projects has grown significantly. The number of branches has now grown to 16, giving the ability to reach and involve thousands of students.
As a student-run organisation EWB-UK has always prided itself on providing a level of service and management equal to that of any professionally run charity and has successful internal training and shadowing to ensure continuity of this professionalism from one year to the next.
[edit] Branches
South East
South West
Midlands and North West
Scotland
