Engineers Without Borders USA (EWB-USA) is partnering with communities around the world to meet their basic human needs. We’re building footbridges to provide pathways to opportunities. We’re installing solar panels to bring light where it is dark. We’re digging for water so hope can spring from the ground. Each project builds the foundation for a community to thrive for years to come.
Communities are at the heart of Engineers Without Borders USA’s approach to development. Our engineering expertise can only be put to work when we’ve formed a true partnership with those requesting our services. Together, we identify and implement appropriate solutions that communities are equipped to maintain for years to come.
EWB-USA’s volunteers are the heartbeat of our organization. These champions volunteer their time, their energy and their expertise in pursuit of our vision of a world where every community has the capacity to sustainably meet their basic human needs.
"As engineers we are united across borders by a mission of global and personal consequence. I believe that we have a disproportionate role to play in helping communities adapt and build toward resilience, inclusion and sustainability." Boris Martin, EWB-USA CEO
Engineers Without Borders USA partners with communities and develops leaders to build a better world.
We envision a world where every community is built to thrive and every leader is equipped to build.
In April 2000, Dr. Bernard Amadei, professor of civil engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder, visited a community in San Pablo, Belize, to assess their water supply. He learned that the 950 Mayan Indians living in the heart of the Belize jungle lacked clean water and sanitation infrastructure, and that most of the community’s children did not attend school because their time was dedicated to collecting water from miles away.
While the community had the natural resources and motivation to build a reliable water supply system, they lacked the technical skills to design a lasting solution. Professor Amadei went home and consulted colleagues on potential solutions, then returned to the community with a prototype and fourteen of his students to put the plan into action. The team installed a clean water system supplied and powered by a waterfall a quarter-mile from the community. This simple and low-cost solution was the first EWB-USA project!
Dr. Amadei continued to harness the power of engineers to complete high-impact projects in other developing countries by officially founding Engineers Without Borders USA in 2002. Since then, EWB-USA has grown from a handful of passionate individuals to thousands of passionate volunteers working on hundreds of engineering projects across the globe.
Organization name
Engineers Without Borders USA
other names
EWB-USA
2002
Category
Public & Societal Benefit, Community Improvement & Capacity Building
Organization Size
Large Organization
Address
1031 33rd StreetGT
NI
EC
UG
CO, US