EWB-UK Annual Review 02/03

EWB Review 2002-03

‘bright ideas for a better world’

Engineers Without Borders

EWB Review 2002-03 2

Contents:

Director’s Statement 2

EWB at a Glance 3

Internships 5

Projects 7

Other Aspects of EWB 8

Events and talks 8

Website 8

ResearchSpace 8

Publicity 8

The Core 8

Publicity 8

New Branches 8

The Year Ahead 9

Financial Statements 10

Guidance & Support 11



Director’s Statement EWB-UK has enjoyed a highly successful first year from its inception in November 2001, with a growing membership of over 500 students, academics and professionals, branches in Leeds, Liverpool and Cambridge and our first completed internships and projects already underway. The core team worked hard to build links with NGOs in time to offer internships for summer 2002. Two students travelled to southern India to conduct a feasibility study into solar power amongst the local community, and have returned with ideas for further partnerships with the NGO there. Their experience has emphasised how contingent the technical aspect of the work we do is upon grounding development within the context of the local community’s experiences, skills and concerns. Central to the focus of EWB is the raising of awareness of development issues, especially with regard to the appropriate application of technology.Over a dozen talks were held, including speakers such as Lucky Lowe from ITDG and Richard Carter from Cranfield University. It has been fantastic to see the enthusiasm which students have shown as they find out more about international development. Relationships with NGOs such as Intermediate Technology Development Group (ITDG) have been established, with EWB currently assisting them with their work, for example, in the conversion of paper technical drawings into their more versatile electronic counterparts. We have also started to build a panel of advisors consisting of development experts and other professionals who can help direct EWB’s activities. These include Peter Guthrie (RedR founder), the Vice Chancellor of Cambridge University and Catriona Laing (Deputy Director, DFID). It has been a thoroughly encouraging 12 months, and I am confident that the seeds we have planted, with students, experts, and most importantly, the developing communities themselves will continue to grow, seeing real impacts for our work in 2003. I want to thank all of our supporters, members, and advisors who have contributed so much of their resources to make EWB a reality. Sarah Hindle Director, EWB-UK


EWB

EWB at a Glance

EWB helps people in developing countries gain access to the technologies they need to improve their lives

There are many unsolved technical challenges:

o One billion people lack access to potable water o Two billion people have only poor lighting after sunset o 100 million landmines remain around the world o 2.4 billion people lack access to adequate sanitation o 80% of the world has no reliable access to telecommunications

Developed world engineers are a largely untapped resource in helping developing countries and development efforts are fragmented: if a solution is found to a local problem, it does not spread elsewhere.

EWB sees its role as offering developed world engineers - particularly students - a comprehensive vehicle to supply technical and human resources to local NGO’s, to help research, design, and to implement technology that is appropriate to the local context. Secondly, we are seeking to raise awareness, and satiate curiosity about international development within universities. Finally, we are attempting to consolidate the fragmented development literature and experience currently available with our web-based ‘Research Space’, thus lowering the barriers facing good development work and helping to achieve the best possible solution for problems for the entire sector.

Why?

Mission

How?

What?

Revie

Over 500 student members at 3 leading universities A small, committed executive of young professionals and students facilitating the activities of members, guided by experts in development, academia and business.

p

dea

Events - spreading Placements - sending

w 2002-03 4

knowledge about the roblems that people in veloping countries face nd how engineers (and

others) can help.

Research - developing low-cost appropriate

solutions to third world problems.

students with partner NGOs as interns to apply their skills where they are needed or to implement EWB research projects.



One of the students, Claire Grisaffi on her Indian placement experience: “The final weeks were spent calculating the income from 2 goats and a hen or 1 acre of cashew to find the economic situation of each family, working out the power consumed by twice weekly use of a rice grinder and drawing some lovely graphs comparing cost of electricity to the cost of solar system. We spent many hours in the ORSED office drinking tea in the porch experiencing first hand the setbacks caused by power cuts… …Although the working conditions were frustrating at times, Pougajendy, the Director of ORSED, was surprised and pleased with the amount we had achieved. The document produced will be used to back up applications for funding and also to inform future projects implementing solar powered technology. While working for ORSED we discussed future collaborations between ORSED and EWB and returned with a list of projects, both year long research and summer survey work which hopefully will come to fruition over the coming year.”

Placements EWB supports placements with partner organisations for three reasons. Firstly, it helps our partners attract engineering talent - EWB has over 500 members to choose from. Secondly, we offer short placements, between 3-12 months, providing interns with a flavour for international development, without committing them for long periods. Thirdly, placements build EWB's developing world engineering experience - helping generate ideas, contacts, and realistic development knowledge. Summary of 2002 Two students have just returned from 10 weeks in Pondicherry in India where they

worked with ORSED, a

grass-roots NGO which aims to bring together local

government and the rural community on

a variety of projects including groundwater recharge and solar power. EWB also partially funded a student to work on a gravity fed water supply for the Karen Hill Tribes in Thailand.

The future of EWB placements We are developing more partnerships with NGOs, both local and international, and intend to send many more students overseas next summer. Placements currently being set up are:

• Working with CARE in

Honduras • Solar power and groundwater

recharge in India. • Working to improve hospital

machinery and buildings in India.

• Arsenic treatment in Bengal. • Iron removal filters in Uganda.

We are also developing our placements process in various ways: • Support before departure in the form of an

established training course to equip students with technical and development knowledge, with specific cultural relevance to the area they are going to.

• A procedure for increasing our knowledge as an organisation and for recording and learning from the interns' experiences overseas.

• Building links with partner organisations which will be able to offer in-country support, whether it is logistical help or advice on personal or practical problems that may arise.

Placements give students the opportunity to do valuable development work in cooperation with skilled local engineers and professionals. Students learn about development work and can often supply much needed expertise.

Photos: Joseph Ashmore


EW

Projects

EWB undertakes projects with other NGOs or other suitable partners. Most projects involve three phases: In phase one, a partner approaches EWB with a need and EWB examines the challenges and puts together a project proposal.

In phase two, EWB student members undertake any necessary research to solve the challenge - this could involve finding a solution for a similar challenge that has been developed elsewhere, or undertaking fundamental research to create a new solution. The researchers aim to work with the local community and resident technical experts. Members of the EWB advisory board will be available for consultation to help the project team. In phase three, the project team works with the developing community to implement the project, usually involving multiple iterations. A full project ranges from 12 months to many years, depending on the complexity of the research and the implementation. In the last year EWB has concentrated on

building links with NGOs, advisors and with the university and has also prepared 2 projects for the 2002-3 academic year. • Developing motorised farm tools that can be

drawn by livestock. (Romania) This project is being carried out in partnership with Developing Technologies, a trust based at Imperial College London.

• Working with communities in Uganda to design and build a water purifier to remove iron from the groundwater.

We also have a group of volunteers who are working with ITDG. They are carrying out literature reviews on subjects like human powered generation, typing up and translating technical briefs from foreign languages and reproducing mechanical drawings in electronic form to be made available on the web. In addition to this we will be supporting various other development projects taking place in Cambridge by giving them access to our advisory board and helping to ensure continuity for their projects. These include investigating a treatment for arsenic removal using leaves from the Ben Gum tree, researching issues in urban sanitation in Lima and developing a solar powered water pump to feed a drip irrigation system. The future This year we will focus on developing more partnerships and project proposals, especially from our link with ITDG who have asked us to follow up a wide range of project suggestions from development engineers, such as paper pulp packaging machines, and increasing

Edward Murfitt on his internship in Thailand: “During the construction of the supply I attempted to think of ways of improving the system and our construction methods, to be more than a ‘pair of hands’. I did make several suggestions, sometimes directly related to things I have learnt in lectures, but not just technical… …A committee was set up in the village to fix breakages and blocks and look after the spare pipes and fittings we left with them. However, no written instructions for the complicated procedures were going to be left. I pointed out that, although obvious when the physics and difficulties are fresh in your mind, perhaps they will not be in a year’s time. Instructions for the management and duties of the committee are equally important, if the long term success of the system is to be ensured… …The technical input I had was small owing to the good engineering training and extensive experience of Salahae [a local engineer]. However what suggestions I was able to make drew my attention to the fact that often knowledge is as, or more, important in development work as financial or material input.”

B Review 2002-03 6


EWB Review 2002-03

the power output from a wind turbine they have developed. We will also consolidate processes within EWB for carrying out projects that are appropriate and have a long-term impact. A big challenge for a volunteer student based

organisation is to maintain continuity over the time period necessary to implement a project and this year we will develop the idea of the project leader who will oversee projects and mentor students during each phase. We will also build on our pool of advisors to ensure that projects are beneficial for those involved.

EWB projects are a great way for studentdevelopment work. With expert supervisionBritish universities, great things can be achiev

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s of any level of expertise to become involved in and the time, ability and enthusiasm of students at ed.

Photos and technical drawing from Sarah Hindle’s research visit to Uganda for her fourth year project.



Other Activities

Events and talks Throughout last year EWB offered its members various talks and activities. We had speakers with a range of experiences from groups like ITDG, RedR and Cranfield university (Silsoe). We also sent a team to the RedR challenge and had a trip to Silsoe (Cranfield University) to look at drilling rigs and taking apart hand pumps. In October, 16 EWB members attended a disaster relief training weekend where they learnt many practical skills that are useful overseas: making a roof truss out of logs and twine, casting a concrete latrine cover and purifying and monitoring drinking water. We hope to increase the numbers of such courses in the next year. Website A website has been developed with information about EWB and its activities. It also includes features such as our intern diary and details about how we operate and how others can get involved. There will also be links to the new branch pages. The website is continually being improved and expanded, and will become an increasingly significant source of news and different ways of becoming involved with EWB. On-line ResearchSpace EWB has already created the foundations of an on-line database to share information within EWB covering progress with sponsors, NGOs and advisors. During next year we hope to develop this further and also to extend the external section of this database so that research carried out by EWB is accessible outside the organisation. Doing this successfully will rely on close co-operation with other charities and development bodies.

The Core Last year EWB was driven by a group of about 10 core members, many of whom are staying involved to take EWB onto the next stage in its development as some of them move from the student to the professional sphere. These people have been joined by other volunteers who are taking on new responsibilities and expanding the work of the organisation. Publicity EWB has received coverage in the university newspapers and also in the IMechE publication - Professional Engineer - which has attracted interest from many areas including students from Zimbabwe and Nigeria!

New Branches Apart from new branches of EWB already started in Liverpool and Leeds there has been interest from students in London, Bristol and Durham. As EWB expands these branches will be where the work of EWB actually takes place. They will raise awareness about development in

universities, develop projects and expertise in specific areas and provide a rich resource from which to draw the very best students to carry out internships. During 2002-3 EWB will build on the strong foundations already in place, with the central UK Core co-ordinating work in the different branches. In the foreseeable future EWB will be able to offer students all over the UK resources to help them get involved directly and effectively in development.


EWB Review 2002-03

The Year Ahead

Projects In the next year we have many promising project proposals. A few examples of these are: • A fourth year project to design paper pulp

machines to produce packaging in third world countries.

• Further work with ORSED in India. We hope to send three more students next summer.

• Investigating water treatments for arsenic contamination in West Bengal.

• Research into wind turbines in Peru and/or Sri Lanka.

We will also be continuing work on our small projects, which range from producing drawings of designs to translating technical documents from and into English. This is in cooperation with ITDG (Intermediate Technology Development Group). Growth In 2003/04, EWB will grow, expanding to more universities and more projects. Student membership, already nearing 1000 country-wide, will increase, and with it the pool of skills at our disposal. Managing this growth will be a chaone that EWB is more than capablEWB’s management team has prepeatedly, and has put in place theand people to make EWB’s future a EWB will become a collection of abranches under a common organisation. The branches willtheir own research and organiseevents, talks and workshops. Torganisation will ensure that the wbranches achieves the highesstandards, undertake fundraising, ologistics of internships and contacts and dissemination of inform

The Web The role of EWB’s website will become increasingly important in the next year. It already contains a secure file-space and contacts database, and work on the ResearchSpace - which will enable EWB to efficiently and quickly spread technical knowledge – is continuing. Students and academics throughout the country will be able to find technical knowledge, choose research projects to undertake, or submit their own work. Branches will have easy access to information about contacts, sources of information and other resources. EWB International EWB UK is in an ideal position to build strong links with EWB in other countries. EWB has been long established in France and Spain,

“EWB comes with an exciting agenda and has the potential to make a real difference in development. Harnessing the skills and energy of young engineers in this way is a great concept and I am confident EWB will go from strength to strength.” – Peter Guthrie, Founder, REDR

9

llenge, but e of facing. roved itself structures success.

utonomous umbrella

undertake their own he national ork of the

t possible rganise the co-ordinate ation.

and EWB Canada has been running with great success since 2000. EWB UK already has strong links with Canada, and will be sending representatives to the annual EWB conference in Toronto this year. The future is bright With the structure and resources put in place by EWB in the past year, EWB will go on to become a very strong organisation, with the potential to do great things. EWB would like to thank those that have put their time, money and expertise at our disposal.



Statement of Financial Activities Statement of financial activities for the year ended 31st Dec 2002

Financial Year: 2002. Account: EWB UK Co-operative bank

Income £

Corporate donations 10000 Public donations 0 Grants from institutions 1275 Resource donations RD 5250

A. Total Resource Income 16525

Expenditure £

Activities to Further Charity’s Objects Placement costs 1550 Project costs 1985 Bursaries 500 Charitable expenses 200 EWB Cam Start-up Grant TF 200

Administration and fundraising Fundraising and Publicity 24 Management expenses 58 Design and printing RD 250

Legal advice RD 5000

B. Total Resources Expended 9767

Funds at end of year (A-B) 6758

RD Donated resources and time TF Transfer of funds to EWB Cambridge Branch

2002 Year Overview

Instituations: Non-corporate donors (e.g. Colleges & University). Resource donations: Donated time resources. Placement costs: Student travel and living costs. Project resource costs: People and equipment costs overseas. Bursaries: Awards given for overseas development work, carried out by an EWB member. Charitable expenses: Student education and development. Funds at end of year: Funds carried over for following year's expenditure

Cash expenditure 2002

NB donated resources not included



Guidance In choosing projects, in research and in strategy, EWB relies upon advice from professional engineers, development experts and business people to ensure that the right choices are made to find the best solutions. The EWB Advisory Board currently includes:

Professor Sir Alec Broers - Vice Chancellor, University of Cambridge

Sakiko Fukuda-Parr - Director, Human Development Report, UNDP

Professor Peter Guthrie - Founder, RedR (Registered Engineers for Disaster Relief)

John Hodges - Chief Engineer, DFID (Department for International Development)

Donald Johnston - Secretary-General, OECD

Catriona Laing – Deputy Director, DFID

Professor Francis Stewart - University of Oxford

Professor David Yates - Ex Managing Partner, Baker & McKenzie

Support: EWB's achievements this year were made possible by generous sponsorship. We would like to thank the following organisations:

Anglo American

Eversheds

Mott MacDonald

Cambridge University

Robert Benaim & Co.

Churchill College EWB has valued relationships with the following organisations:

ORSED

Intermediate Technology Group (ITDG)

Registered Engineers for Disaster Relief (RedR)

Cranfield University



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Documents

EWB-UK Annual Review 02/03