Engineers Without Borders UK
Alleviating poverty through engineering
The vision of Engineers Without Borders UK (EWB-UK) is a world where access to technology or infrastructure is not a barrier to alleviating poverty. EWB-UK provides learning and training opportunities to enable student, graduate and professional engineers to help to achieve this vision.
EWB-UK also supports organisations worldwide through the placement of carefully selected and talented young volunteers. The engineers provide technical assistance to local partners, and in return the volunteers receive valuable work experience. Support from the Anglo American Group Foundation is mainly used to fund these projects.
A recent placement was at a community wind energy project in the Philippines with partner organisation SIBAT. The placement volunteer, Drew Corbyn, spent twelve months working with the community to develop a water pumping system powered by a small-scale wind turbine. This significantly increased the amount of water available for cooking, cleaning and washing.
Drew developed a feasibility tool for wind turbine site selection that will benefit SIBAT in the long term. He also helped to establish local manufacturing capabilities for the turbine.
Other placements have included supporting slum infrastructure improvements in India, traditional textile manufacturing in Cambodia, and low-cost sanitation in Ecuador. The Anglo American Group Foundation is EWB-UK’s largest sponsor.
To find out more please visit www.ewb-uk.org/
Registered charity number: 1101849
Drew Corbyn undertaking construction work on placement in the Philippines.
