Engineers Without Borders

The term Engineers Without Borders (EWB) is used by a number of non-governmental organizations in various countries to describe their activity based on engineering and oriented to international development work. All of these groups work to serve the needs of disadvantaged communities and people all over the world through engineering projects[1] Many EWB national groups are developed independently from each other, and so they are not all formally affiliated with each other, and their level of collaboration and organizational development varies. The majority of the EWB/ISF (French, Ingénieurs Sans Frontières) organizations are strongly linked to academia and to students, with many of them being student-led.

History of EWB/ISF organizations

The first organizations to bear the name were Ingénieurs Sans Frontières (ISF)-France, founded in the 1980s, and ISF-Spain and ISF-Italy, founded in the 1990s. EWB-Canada, one of the largest of the EWB organizations, was founded in the late 1990s. EWB-UK was founded with the support of EWB-Canada in 2001.

In the USA an organization called EWB-USA was founded in Colorado in 2001. In the same year an organization called Engineers Without Frontiers USA was founded at Cornell University. This organization was later renamed Engineers for a Sustainable World following a dispute with EWB-USA over the name.

A large number of other EWB/ISF groups have since been established around the world, with diverse structures, aims, and activities.

International co-operation

Several of the EWB/ISF organizations are affiliated with the organization Engineers Without Borders - International (EWB-I). EWB-I is an association of national EWB/ISF groups with the mission to facilitate collaboration, exchange of information, and assistance among its member groups. EWB-I was founded in 2004 by Prof. Bernard Amadei, the founder of EWB-USA.

Several other older EWB/ISF groups are not members of EWB-I, for a variety of reasons. EWB Canada, for example, states: "An organization is more than just a name and roughly similar goals. In order to work together,the organizations must have a common strategy and culture, neither of which are currently present in the international network."[2] However, this view is not shared by all EWB groups.

Many of the organizations which are not EWB-I members, such as EWB-Canada, ISF-Spain, EWB-UK, and others, do collaborate with each other and with other similar groups.

Selected EWB organizations

Members of EWB-International:[3]

Not members of EWB-International:

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Who We Are Engineers Without Borders".
  2. ↑ EWB Canada Frequently Asked Questions
  3. ↑ http://www.ewb-international.org
  4. ↑ Engineers Without Borders - Los Angeles
  5. ↑ Engineers Without Borders - Israel
  6. ↑ Ingeniería Sin Fronteras (Argentina)
  7. ↑ Engineers Without Borders - Lebanon
  8. ↑ Engineers Without Borders - Pakistan
  9. ↑ Ingénieurs Sans Frontières - Cameroun
  10. ↑ Engineers Without Borders - Egypt
  11. ↑ Engineers Without Borders - Greece
  12. ↑ Inzeneri bez Granici - Macedonia
  13. ↑ Engineers Without Borders - Nepal
  14. ↑ Ingénieurs sans Frontières Québec
  15. ↑ Engineers Without Borders - Rwanda
  16. ↑ Ingenjörer och Naturvetare utan Gränser-Sverige (EWB-Sweden)
  17. ↑ Ingeniører uden grænser - Danmark (EWB-Denmark
  18. ↑ Ingeniører uten grenser - Norge (EWB-Norway)
  19. ↑ Engineers Without Borders - Iraq

External links