ABOUT US

Our Vision and Mission

Our Vision is for a world where "everyone has the access to the engineering leadership
and capability required to lead a life of opportunity and be free from poverty in all its
forms".

Our Vision statement is an expression of the future that Engineers Without Borders
aims to create for the community and stakeholders that we wish to impact. All
decisions, projects and services are filtered through our vision statement to assess
whether they are truly “vision-driven” and hence creating the strategic awareness of
possible futures and the impact that we desire.

Our Mission is to "connect, educate and empower people through humanitarian

engineering". Humanitarian engineering uses a people-centred, strengths-based
approach to improve community health, well-being and opportunity. Our mission
statement explains how we plan to achieve our vision.

OUR VALUES
Community

We are a community of people and organisations who share a common vision for the future.
Through collective action and community-led change we will learn more, achieve more and
have fun together.

Sustainability

We strive to address the immediate needs of our communities without compromising the needs
of future generations. Along with our people, our planet is our most valuable resource.

Respect

We build relationships based on mutual trust and respect. We believe all relationships thrive on
a two way sharing of knowledge and culture.

Learning

We create new opportunities for learning and lasting change. We have a passion for continuous
learning and seek to embrace and harness new experiences, wisdom, ideas and expertise.

Quality

We strive for quality, professionalism and excellence in everything that we do. We believe we
can create positive and long lasting impact in the world.
Why Engineering?

Engineers save lives. Whether it is making sure water supplies are free of contaminants
or designing buildings that withstand cyclones or earthquakes, the work of an engineer
involves mitigating risks to human health on a daily basis.

However, access to these live-saving skills is not equitable; some people are without
these services simply because of where they were born.

At EWBNZ we don’t believe in borders defining who does or does not get to live a life of
opportunity due to the stability that well designed, operated and maintained
infrastructure provides.

What are some of the barriers that EWBNZ are trying to overcome?

For anything to be sustainable it must consider all drivers to its long term success. This
includes social and cultural, environmental, technical and financial capitals.

EWBNZ acknowledges that when working in the context of other cultures, we can’t
possibly understand everything about the social and cultural context without a
significant amount of help.

How does EWBNZ resolve this?

EWBNZ resolves this challenge in two main ways:

Using Human-Centered Design (or participatory design or co-design) the users

themselves are involved in the design process. This enables them to make sure that the
technical solution is appropriate for their own needs and naturally incorporates that
social and cultural context.

Partnering with local organisations (usually staffed by locals) who can provide that
context. EWBNZ’s role then becomes about developing the technical capability of those
local staff - a much more long term solution!

So how does Humanitarian Engineering fit into this?

We aim to enhance the efforts of existing communities and partner organisations using
Humanitarian Engineering.

Humanitarian Engineering is an approach that is:

Strengths-based

We recognise and build on the strengths of our people, partnerships and collective
experiences. We emphasise the self-determination, capabilities, gifts, abilities and ideas
of communities and incorporate local knowledge, networks, connections as well as
financial and physical strengths. This approach enables us to promote community
resilience and resourcefulness, which, whilst not as tangible as physical outputs,
produces more sustainable long term outcomes.

Participatory and community-centered

We view the fundamental purpose of engineering as the creative application of science

for the benefit of humankind and therefore it is important that people and community are
at the centre of engineering. We aim to actively involve all stakeholders, including
vulnerable groups, in the design process to help ensure the result meets their needs
and is usable. Participatory design is an approach that enhances capability through the
processes and procedures of design, not only the design outcome.

Focused on capacity building

We work to strengthen and support engineering capacity in the communities in which

we work. Capacity building is the process through which individuals, organisations and
societies obtain, strengthen and maintain the capabilities to set and achieve their own
development objectives over time.

Facilitating appropriate technology

We support the use of small scale, energy efficient and environmentally sound
technology which is owned and operated by communities. Through this approach we
ensure accessibility, acceptability, adaptability and affordability of solutions.

We approach our work with humility by valuing our partners and putting communities
first.

How does EWBNZ actually go about doing this?

EWBNZ runs a series of programmes that aim to:

 enable appropriate solutions to alleviate poverty and accelerate inclusive

sustainable development;
 empower communities with a voice and knowledge in dealing with engineering
issues;
 redefine engineering as a community centred profession providing leadership for
a more sustainable world; and
 inspire and mobilise a global community in engineering for social change.

For more information on these programmes, and what their objectives are (i.e. how they
are a step towards achieving the Vision), visit our Programmes page.