Engineering: issues, challenges and opportunities for development ...

AN OVERVIEW OF ENGINEERINGCooperation’ at the Open University of Catalonia in Barcelona– a course that the university has now taken on itself. TheUniversity of Colorado at Boulder has recently established theMortenson Centre in Engineering for Developing Communities,with the founder of EWB-USA as its director.EWB in the context of societyIt is interesting to reflect on the growth spurt in the EngineersWithout Borders movement. Since the year 2000, more thanfifty EWB groups have been established. In many developedcountries, EWB groups were set up by university engineeringstudents who were perhaps influenced by fundamental shiftsin their societies. This new generation of engineers grew uphearing about famine in Ethiopia, Live Aid, the hole in theOzone Layer, acid rain, the Rio de Janeiro Earth summit, theRwandan Genocide, global warming, the Jubilee Debt campaign,the Millennium Development Goals, the rise of FairTrade, climate change, the Indian Ocean Tsunami and theMake Poverty History campaign. They started university atthe start of a new millennium. They never knew a world withoutthe Internet, fast and affordable international travel andmobile communications. Their social networks spanned theglobe. They might well have travelled to different continentsand seen and experienced how difficult cultures live. They had,arguably, a much more global worldview than the generationsof engineers who came before them, and they were very concernedabout global issues. Their new perspective demanded anew engineering expression, and many chose EWB.With privatization and liberalization, engineering had becomeless focused on the public good and more focused on privateprofit. Governments and engineering firms seemed not to beaddressing human development for all, and focused moreon economic or commercial development. Aid agencies didnot want ‘enthusiastic amateurs’ and – not recognizing thepotential in this new generation – were slow to engage meaningfullywith university-level volunteers. So where did theseyoung engineers turn to if they wanted to get involved in globalissues? They chose EWB.ConclusionEngineers Without Borders represents a new renaissance inthe engineering community. With a global agenda and anappetite for change, EWB groups could not come at a bettertime. The present role of engineering in development policyseems to be of economic importance only, and that it is a keypath of innovation and therefore economic growth. The economicimperative of engineering is sound, but internationaldevelopment efforts – in good governance, transparency, anticorruption,health treatments and primary education – arefrequently crippled because basic needs are not being metby engineers. What is needed is a new ‘development decade’where a new generation of engineers who understand globalissues and social dimensions, play an active role. The signs arethat EWB groups are helping to bring about this change inunderstanding.For the engineering profession, EWB groups offer ideas andconcerns that are profoundly motivating for young engineers,professional engineers and school children alike. The idea ofhelping people, the joy of hands-on engineering, the abilityto see clearly the difference that an engineer can make, theadventure of helping solving global problems... EWB groupsembody the very purpose of the engineering profession andwill, for many, come to define the engineering profession.The EWB movement was started by students in universitiesand, as such, has had a very close association with the problemsand potential of engineering education. As EWB groupsbegin to demonstrate the value of studying technology indevelopment, perhaps in the future their role will change.Many countries suffer from an extreme shortage of engineers. Bamboo wall reinforcementreduces the risk ofcollapse in earthquakes andsaves lives.Graduate and young professional engineers wanted jobs thatnot only paid well but that were intellectually stimulating andpersonally fulfilling as well. When they could not find ways tohelp people as part of their day job, they turned increasingly tothe voluntary sector and to EWB groups in particular. Wherean EWB group did not exist, these professional engineers setone up. Certainly, voluntary groups cannot work on the scaleof companies – the scale that is required to meaningfully meetglobal challenges. But, one project at a time, EWB membersrealized that they could make a difference. It seems bizarre thatso many engineers put their hopes and dreams into such tinyorganizations as EWB groups when, for most of their professionallives, they would work in large firms that have far morescope and capacity to drive change. But they chose EWB.© Stephen Jones, EWB-UK163