EWB-UK Annual Report 2003-2004.pdf - Engineers Without Borders ...

Annual Report
2003/04

Annual Report produced by Engineers Without Borders UK.
Editor: Tom Newby
Contributions from: Mohammed Ali, Andrew Deeks, Alice
Piggott, Towera Ridley, Jo Rushworth and Patricia Xavier.
Copyright: 2004 Engineers Without Borders UK Ltd.
Engineers Without Borders UK was founded in 2001 in
Cambridge by a small group of students and is a registered
charity and a company limited by guarantee.
In 2003/04, EWB was supported by and owes its thanks to:
Kim and Beth Waterhouse, Tom Corsellis, Antonella Vitale,
Joseph Ashmore, Gino Henry, Gordon Browne, Emily
Browne, Prof. Richard Carter, Allan McRobie, Dr. Lis
Bowman, Dr. Jane Wilson-Howarth, Himanshu Parikh, Nick
Ray, Steven Hunt, Linda Cordeaux and many others.
Photos: page 1, Pondicherry 2003; page 4, Shelterproject
2004; page 5, Clare Farm course 2003; page 6, West
Bengal 2003; page 7 Pondicherry 2002; page 8, Ecuador
2004; page 9, Nepal 2004.

contents
director’s summary 2
placements 3
training 5
branches 6
ewb’s collaborations 7
research 8
the year ahead 9
financial information 10
contact details 13
1

Jo Norris
Legal
Engineers Without Borders has had a very successful year. 2003-04 saw
EWB UK grow to have ten branches and 25 students working on projects
around the world. During the year EWB achieved charitable status and doubled
its income. The quality of EWB's projects, and with it the impact of its
work, has increased markedly due to greater experience and improved management.
The longer term impact of our educational work will be even more
significant.
With growth and success come challenges, and EWB must in the coming
years manage and meet those challenges. EWB will need to employ management
staff, establish robust communications and a strong branch structure.
This process has already started. I will become secretary and hand over
day to day management of EWB to Andrew Lamb and Ruvan Mendis, who
will be responsible for administration and projects respectively. As secretary
I will take on responsibility for establishing a strong board of trustees to provide
direction to the organisation and its management. The interest in EWB
from students has been phenomenal, as the increase in the number of
branches illustrates. Expanding the roles and activities of branches, both to
involve more students and relieve the load on the national management, is
an important part of EWB's strategy.
One area where branches will play an important role is student training.
EWB's residential course, now well established, consistently receives very
good feedback indeed and is continually over-subscribed. EWB Cardiff is
already looking to expand the training we offer, and that expansion will continue.
Other initiatives in training are underway and are explained later in this
report.
Finally I would like to say thank you to all who have given their time to EWB
this year. There are too many people to thank individually, but every small bit
of help has been very much appreciated.
Tom Newby
EWB Director
Ruvan Mendis
Projects
Andrew Deeks
Training
Katie Davidson
Research
Stephen Jones
Branches
Jo Rushworth
Junior Treasurer
Mark Miller
Placements
Andrew Lamb
Funding
director’s summary
Tom Newby
Director

placements
This year Engineers Without Borders arranged 25 placements with seven
organisations in 4 countries.
Placements ranged from projects with low technical content suitable for first
year engineers to design projects requiring graduates. The projects were
carefully chosen to offer an opportunity for young engineers to make a valuable
contribution to the project while learning a great deal about development
work.
EWB is currently gathering detailed feedback on this year’s placements, but
first indications are that they have been a great success. These pages concentrate
on two of our project locations.
On this page, Mo Ali explains the work undertaken by four EWB students in
Ecuador this year and last year, on three different projects.
“The first of the projects is now in its second year, serving the purpose of
teaching communities about the dangers of smoke inhalation, and methods
of improving their health. Open wood fires are used for cooking and are
responsible for 2 million deaths worldwide (WHO).
Work focussed on improving the design of a mud cooker for villagers to build
for themselves. The method of construction has now been taught to two different
NGOs and is a part of an Appropriate Technology course at the
University of Ibarra. It will also continue as part of a research project at the
University of Nottingham.
The second project, an investigation into cheap water filters, has resulted in
the design and production of a ceramic filter that successfully eliminates bacteria
and pathogens from the water supply. The project will now be continued
with the University of Azuay and the local medical NGO FUNOR. The aim is
to have a pilot program running by January 2005 and the first filters to be produced
for July 2005. This project will run in conjunction with EWB and universities
in the UK.
The EWB team has put together a business plan to gain interest from local
manufacturers and NGOs so that the project may run independently of EWB.
The proceeds of the business created as a result will, come 2006, be reinvested
into further development work in Ecuador.
The final project was commissioned by the University of Cambridge in the UK
and MIT in the US to carry out an investigation into the "Cold Chain", the safe
storage and transport of vaccines. It is estimated that currently 30 % of vaccines
are useless at the point of inoculation. The project was initiated in
Cambridge by engineering students who produced a design for a vaccine
transporter that ensures the temperature of the vaccines is regulated during
transport. The volunteers worked alongside NGOs, the Ecuadorian Ministry of
Health, The World Health Organisation, Unitied Nations and the Pan-
American Health Organisation, gaining invaluable experience in the world of
development.
The Ecuador Project has given volunteers invaluable experience in the world
of development and shows that students can make a large and very positive
contribution to the projects they work on. It has linked together work done in
Universities with international NGOs; an invaluable aid to the universities, the
students, and the NGOs involved.”
3

Alice Piggott has been working with Shelter Centre in Cambridge:
“There are an estimated 20 million refugees and 25 million internally displaced persons
worldwide, from the Balkans, to Chad, to Afghanistan. Shelter Centre is a not for profit
group, created specifically to address this need.
I was given the opportunity to volunteer for Shelter Centre for 12 weeks this summer. I was
working alongside six other volunteers, a culturally diverse and determined group of young
people, committed to humanitarian relief work. We were set a variety of projects, including
refining the frame design and the liner of a refugee hoop-tent; creating a set of training
modules to be used by agencies in the field; and building up an on-line database of
reference and training materials, accessible through low-bandwidth connections such as
are often found in the field by development and relief workers.
The impact of each of these projects is huge: the training modules will be produced in hard
copy, on-line and on CD to be distributed as widely as possible. All work done by Shelter
Centre is completely free of charge and free distribution is encouraged. It is hoped that
these materials will help increase the efficiency and cut bureaucracy of humanitarian work
abroad which often hinders agency productivity.
It was fantastic to be a part of what happened at Shelter Centre this summer. I was able
to use my skills as an engineer and my enthusiasm about humanitarian work to create
some essential resources, and make a significant contribution to the development of a
new generation of refugee tent. I have been inspired to look into development work more
seriously as a career path, especially now that I am aware of the broad variety of positions
in which my skills as an engineer could be invaluable.”
More details on these and all of EWB’s other projects can be found on the EWB website
at www.ewb-uk.org.
placements
4

This year saw the completion of three EWB training events, a water pump training day
held in collaboration with Cranfield University and two development/disaster relief courses
held in collaboration with the RedR Cambridge group at Clare farm, Dullingham,
Suffolk.
The Cranfield course was organised by the EWB Cambridge branch, it looked at the practicalities
behind water pump design and implementation.
The Clare Farm courses, run by EWB UK, studied water usage, treatment and supply;
provision of shelter, and basic construction and site surveying techniques. A section on
health education and personal health while abroad were also fitted into the packed weekends,
as well as the opportunity for students to meet experienced professional development
and relief workers.
To encourage and enable participation all courses are subsidised, though a small financial
contribution is required from all participants. The Cranfield course was subsidised from
EWB Cambridge funds. The Clare Farm course was subsididsed by RedR Cambridge
funds, obtained in co-operation with EWB from the Active Community Fund of Cambridge
University.
It is proposed to run further Clare Farm courses in the forthcoming year. The development
of new training courses, covering different areas of development, is being pursued in cooperation
with EWB’s branches. For example, EWB Imperial College is looking into running
a training course covering issues related to energy in development in the next year.
EWB Cardiff has also arranged a residential course at the Centre for Alternative
Technology in Wales.
Finally, Andrew Deeks, who has been responsible for EWB’s training for two years, will be
handing over to Susan Long next year. Andrew will however still be involved and will be
available to offer his invaluable help and advice.
5
training

anches
6
The number of EWB’s branches increased considerably this year, rising to ten either
already established or starting in the next academic year. EWB now has branches at
Bristol, Cambridge, Cardiff, Imperial College, Liverpool, Nottingham, Oxford, Sheffield,
Southampton and Warwick. Branches play a vital role in reaching students and furthering
the work of Engineers Without Borders. Patricia Xavier is from EWB’s new branch in
Cardiff:
“As one of EWB's youngest branches (only officially gaining societal status in August this
year), EWB Cardiff is still very much finding it's feet. However after a tiring summer raising
local awareness and finding funding and support, the groundwork has been laid for
what will hopefully be a successful inaugural year.
Cardiff University itself has a large engineering department, and interest has been strong
from all in getting involved. There are many engineers who care about third world development
and who feel a deep sense of injustice when faced with statistics such as millions
of the world population being without access to safe water.
In the coming academic year, Cardiff will promote the placements to students in Wales,
and seek new placements for the future. Seminars are also planned, ranging from talks
from RedR and WaterAid engineers to a Cardiff student who has spent the summer on
placement in India. The aim is to raise awareness about the issues faced by engineers
when dealing with development abroad. Employees at several local companies have also
expressed an interest in attending the talks. Fundraising for EWB is also on the agenda
and a specific group to tackle this will be formed when term starts. A residential course at
the Centre for Alternative Technology in Mycllynlleth (www.cat.org.uk) is planned for
February.
EWB Cardiff hopes to bring together and provide a good social forum for those linked by
a common interest in development to share their thoughts and experiences.”

7
ewb’s collaborations
Engineers Without Borders is not an operational charity and does not run its own projects.
The success of its work is therefore measured in the success of the projects it supports.
EWB aims to promote good development work by supplying its partner organisations with
students and graduates with the skills they require.
In the past year EWB has worked directly with the following people and organisations on
projects, training and research:
Aidworld
CSE India
ENGhana
Himalayan Lighting Foundation
PAHO
ORSED
Shelter Project
Women in Action Council
CARE international branches
Design that Matters
FUNOR
Himanshu Parikh
Pastoral Social
RedR Cambridge
United Nations
World Health Organisation
EWB’s partnerships are very important and a great deal of work goes into making them
successful. In the past year EWB has hosted talks by speakers from Save The Children,
Registered Engineers for Disaster Relief, Oxfam, Buro Happold and others. In addition to
those listed above, EWB has links with a number of other organisations and many new
collaborations are in the pipeline.
EWB’s collaborations are not only with other charities. In the past year projects have been
run in conjunction with a number of universities around the world, including West Bengal
Engineering College in India, the University of Azuay and the University of Ibarra in
Ecuador, Tribhuvan University in Nepal and MIT in the US. Partnerships with overseas
universities are successful at improving capacity in the developing world directly, and
EWB will pursue more such projects in the coming year.

esearch
8
EWB works very closely with faculties at the universities at which it has branches. This has
so far been through a series of presentations from professionals in the field and by supporting
development-based university research projects. The talks have given students of
all levels an opportunity to gain from the experience of others ranging from Oxfam engineers
to emergency engineers from Save the Children. The idea is to present ideas to
young engineers as early as possible so that they are exposed to up-to-date development
work. Our links with Shelter Project and ITDG have also given students the opportunity to
do development related research projects within university courses, such as Katie
Davidson’s work with ITDG on low cost wind turbines. This year EWB has started further
research projects concerning the final stage manufacture of a water filter at the University
of Cambridge and the investigation of thermal flow in clay ovens at the University of
Nottingham.
The experience gained over the last three years will allow EWB to further expand the area
of research in several of its branches, in addition to continuing with the seminars given to
students. EWB intends to have a system of support present in each university including
tutors and professors who will supervise student projects. This network will be linked with
a portfolio of potential projects that students may choose. The international network of
NGOs EWB supports means it is accumulating projects from all engineering fields, ranging
from medical to electronic engineering.
In 2004-05 research projects will allow students to study current problems in the developing
world, giving them experience in the areas they are interested in as well as contributing
to the knowledge available in the development sector. EWB aims to integrate this
research into the overseas placements so that even more success can be gained from the
time spent abroad; putting EWB in a unique place to link both work done in this country
specifically for the development world, to actual overseas projects.

9
the year ahead
The 2004-05 academic is year is a very important one for EWB. With the large growth of
the organisation in the last year it is clear that EWB will soon need full-time staff. To manage
the large step this represents, and to ensure good governance, it is necessary to build
a strong Board of Trustees.
In order to manage these steps, EWB’s executive will also be seeing some changes. Tom
Newby will become Secretary and will oversee the building of the Board of Trustees and
with the Trustees will arrange the appointment of a full-time administrator. Andrew Lamb
and Ruvan Mendis, with their now extensive experience of senior management of EWB,
will take over as directors.
In addition to the changes above, Mohammed Ali, the organiser and leader of EWB’s
Ecuador projects and last year the president of EWB Cambridge will be taking over the
charge of EWB’s research efforts. This year’s projects, and increased interest in EWB,
have highlighted a number of fields in which EWB can arrange useful research, and making
these projects a success will be a priority in the next year.
Finally, with the increase in the number of branches, it is important that the resources and
opportunities they represent are exploited. The relationship between EWB UK and its
branches must become strong and productive. Branches will be used to increase fundraising
efforts, provide support in managing placements and to run training courses, in addition
to the established roles of raising awareness and working with their respective institutions.
EWB is in a very strong position, and with its management and the large numbers of very
able and enthusiastic students joining the organisation, is very well placed to continue the
growth and success it has seen so far.

alance statement
Year ending 31 st
August 2004 (1)
Year ending 31 st
August 2003 (1)
Fixed Assets 0.00 0.00
Current Assets
Debtors 2,580,00 0.00
Cash in Bank 7,112.59 6,664.52
Current Liabilities
Creditors (due within 1 year) (4,970.00) 0.00
Net Current Assets 4,722.59 6,664.52
Net Assets 4,722.59 6,664.52
non-charitable
expenditure
6%
placement
grants
63%
project costs
16%
charitable
expenditure
94%
ewb expenditure
moneys on
behalf of
others
15%
branch start-up
grants
2%
charitable expenditure
bursaries
1%
charitable
expenses
3%
non-charitable
placement
expenses
23%
fundraising and
publicity
8%
miscellaneous
expenses
13%
interview
expenses
17%
conferences &
meetings
29%
staff training
10%
non-charitable expenditure
10

statement of financial activities
Year ending 31st
August 2004 (1)
Year ending 31st
August 2003 (1)
In Kind Cash In Kind Cash
Incoming Resources:
Corporate donations 17,500.00 4250.00
Individual donations 461.05 50.00
Grants 5,000.00 5200.00
Interest 35.47 4.35
Moneys administered on behalf of
others (2) 1,600.00 0.00
Legal Advice 5,000.00
Design & Printing 200.00 250.00
A. Total Incoming Resources 200.00 24,596.52 5,250.00 9,504.35
Resources Expended:
Activities to Further Charity’s Objects
Placement Grants 17,225.00 7350.00
Project costs 4,390.46 1561.39
Bursaries 300.00 750.00
Charitable expenses 815.00 20.00
Start-up Grants to Branches 600.00 200.00
Moneys administered on behalf of
4180.00
others (2)
Total charitable expenditure 27,510.46 9881.39
Costs of generating funds
Fundraising and Publicity 124.48 33.15
Management and administration:
Miscellaneous Expenses 202.41 97.33
Staff Training 153.40 0.00
Conferences & Meetings 468.74 0.00
Interview Expenses 281.20 0.00
Non-charitable Placement Expenses 377.76 0.00
Legal Expenses & Printing 200.00 5,250.00
Total non-charitable expenditure 1,607.99 130.48
B. Total Resources Expended 200.00 29,118.45 5,250.00 10,011.87
C. Net Incoming Resources (A-B) -1,941.93 -507.52
D. Funds at Beginning of year 6,664.52 7,172.04
Funds at End of Year (C+D) 4,722.59 6,664.52
Notes:
(1) EWB’s financial reference date has altered
from last year, from 31 st December to 31 st August.
All data here is from the same period, but due to
the change in reference date is unsuitable for
direct comparison.
(2) Moneys administered on behalf of others refer to
financial transactions undertaken by EWB for Shelter
Centre and its volunteers
11

(£1000s)
30
25
20
15
10
Corporate
Grants
Other
Total
donors & income
income history
5
0
2001 2002 2003 2004
Year
03/04 corporate income 03/04 income
Buro Happold
11%
Gifford &
Partners
14%
Mott
MacDonald
14%
Binnie Black &
Veatch
3%
Anglo American
58%
moneys
administered
on behalf of
others
15%
corporate
donations
65%
interest
0%
individual
donations
2%
ACF grants
18%
Buro Happold, Gifford and Black & Veatch have joined Anglo American, Mott
MacDonald and HEFCE's Active Community Fund as our sponsors in the
last year. The support we received from these groups enabled us to meet
the fundraising target of £25,000, to offer 25 placements, to open new
branches and to explore some new opportunities while remaining committed
to our existing activities. Obtaining charitable status in February was a huge
boost to our profile and is an important factor in our fundraising strategy.
EWB fundraising has benefited from outside advice from professional
fundraisers and from training provided by the Corporate Liaison Office in
Cambridge. Our approach has been commended and useful contributions
have been taken on board, along with many new ideas. Mo Ali, Charlie
Hogg, Kimberley Roach and Will Carroll have been fundraising for EWB
under the direction of Andrew Lamb, and in the coming year the branches
will also take a more active role in fundraising. The role of the director of
funding has changed over the course of the year to that of supporting
fundraisers rather than single-handedly conducting fundraising for the whole
organisation. This improved approach and larger team should allow much
more money to be raised whilst maintaining the highest professional
standards.
12

contact details
Head Office & Cambridge Branch:
Engineers Without Borders UK
29 Trumpington Street
Cambridge
CB2 1TA
enquiries@ewb-uk.org
Bristol Branch:
EWB Bristol
University of Bristol Union
Queens Road
Clifton
Bristol
BS8 1LN
bristol@ewb-uk.org
Liverpool Branch:
EWB Liverpool
Department of Electrical &
Electronics Engineering
University of Liverpool
Brownlow Hill
L69 3GJ
liverpool@ewb-uk.org
Imperial College Branch:
imperial@ewb-uk.org
Oxford Branch:
oxford@ewb-uk.org
Southampton Branch:
southampton@ewb-uk.org
Cardiff Branch:
cardiff@ewb-uk.org
Sheffield Branch:
sheffield@ewb-uk.org
Nottingham Branch:
nottingham@ewb-uk.org
Warwick Branch:
warwick@ewb-uk.org
13

Engineers Without Borders
29 Trumpington Street
Cambridge
CB2 1TA
United Kingdom
Registered Charity no. 1101849
Limited Company no. 4856607
www.ewb-uk.org
enquiries@ewb-uk.org