Engineers Without Borders-Making a Difference in the Developing World
In the next two decades, almost 2 billion additional people are expected to populate the Earth with 95% of the growth taking place in the developing world. This growth will create unprecedented demands for additional infrastructure capacity in energy, food, land, water, transportation, materials, waste disposal, earth moving, health care, environmental cleanup, and information technology. The role of engineers will be critical in fulfilling those demands.
Creating a sustainable world that provides a safe, secure, healthy, productive, and sustainable life for all of the world's people should become a priority for the engineering profession. Engineers have a collective responsibility to work toward meeting the Millennium Development Goals set by the United National General Assembly on September 18, 2000. Appropriate and sustainable solutions are needed to meet the basic needs of all humans for water, sanitation, food, health and energy while at the same time protect cultural and natural diversity. Improving the lives of the 5 billion people whose main concern is to stay alive by the end of each day on our planet is no longer an option for the engineering profession; it is an obligation.
Problems of the developing world cannot be solved by separate individuals, groups, disciplines, and institutions (big or small) or through short-term piecemeal actions. These problems must be addressed collectively by collaborations and partnerships that bridge across national and international boundaries, age groups, races, genders, cultures, and disciplines. Appropriate decisions must be made at various levels (global, regional, local, and individual) and over different time scales. It must be acknowledged that there is no such thing as one and unique solution to all the issues facing the developing world.
The engineering profession's duty to work towards meeting the needs of the developing world require adoption of a new mindset that embraces the principles of sustainability, renewable resources, appropriate technology, and systems thinking. Tomorrow's engineers will be asked to combine traditional "hard" (technical) skills with "soft" skills and develop the ability to work in collaboration with non-technical expertise, to communicate effectively, to appreciate different cultures and practices, to understand the global nature of engineering, and to understand the societal, economic, ethical, cultural, and environmental impact of engineering decisions. There is a need to educate a new generation of well-rounded globally responsible engineers who better meet the challenges and needs of the developing world and offer sustainable and appropriate technology solutions to the endemic problems faced by developing communities worldwide. Engineers of the 21st century are called to become the facilitators of sustainable development and social change.
Engineers Without Borders in conjunction with CH2MHill is hosting an International Workshop entitled, "Engineer's Role in Capacity Building for the Developing World" September 22-23, 2004 at the CH2MHill World Headquarters in Denver, Colorado and will be part of the 2004 Engineers Without Borders-USA National Conference (September 22-25). This workshop will address the role of engineers in international development and reconstruction with an objective of developing a consensus and course of action on how to fully engage the engineering profession in capacity building in the developing world. ASCE is acting as a sponsor to this workshop and many ASCE members are expected to participate. For more information about this workshop, contact Bernard Amadei at amadei@colorado.edu and check the conference web site:
http://www.ewb-usa.org/news-conferences.htm