Engineers Without Borders is a non-profit organization and is financed by members’ dues as well as grants from public and private donors and companies. We have around 1,400 members, of which approx. 200 are active volunteers.
Together with our skilled local partners, Engineers Without Borders – Denmark works to ensure local ownership and lasting solutions in some of the world’s poorest countries, primarily in Africa. Our efforts support a number of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. We provide clean water, improve sanitation, establish solar panels, build schools and health clinics, and work with climate adaptation and waste management.
The skilled and committed volunteers in EWB-DK are our technical foundation, donating their time and knowledge to the projects. Their role is to liaise with our partners to ensure sustainable, quality solutions in our projects. In addition, the secretariat supports us in ensuring a holistic approach to the projects through our development counselling and interaction with volunteers and partners.
Engineers Without Borders – Denmark was established in 2001 and is part of Engineers Without Borders International.
We are a non-profit organisation, funded by membership fees and grants from public and private donors and companies. We have around 1,500 members, of which around 200 are active volunteers.
Our mission is to use engineering science to improve the living conditions of vulnerable communities through sustainable projects and technical solutions. We work with five core values:
We believe that ability obliges, and that as subject specialists we should make our skills available where they are needed
We strive to implement solutions that are environmentally, economically and socially sustainable
We strive to implement solutions that are environmentally, economically and socially sustainable
We respect the communities we work in and their culture, values and needs
We believe in the power of collaboration, both internally and with external partners, to achieve the best results
Engineers Without Borders is a volunteer-run association. This means our members and volunteers both constitute our greatest resource and our overall management.
At the annual general meeting, IUG’s members elect a board that is responsible for the strategic direction and management of the association between the general meetings. The board appoints a general secretary who heads the IUG’s secretariat. The secretariat is responsible for the day-to-day management and administration of the organization and for the development professional quality assurance.
The secretariat organizes IUG’s members and volunteers in a number of groups and committees that support the board’s strategy. The secretariat guides groups and committees and determines the general working method in IUG. IUG currently has one committee and three group forms.
The board has eight members, one of whom is the directly elected chairman. The board itself constitutes its other posts, which normally include a treasurer, deputy chairman and secretary.
Technical Committee consists of six to eight volunteers who handle IUG’s internal technical advice and competence allocation, i.a. by maintaining the CV database and continuously keeping an overview of the competences of members and volunteers. The Technical Committee also functions as an advisory body that can provide expert assessments and recommendations to partners, secretariat and project groups based on the latest technological developments and best practice within the individual subject areas.
The committee’s primary purpose is to strengthen IUG’s ability to deliver highly qualified and technically sustainable solutions in our efforts.
The committee is staffed with a broad professional representation and has two core tasks:
The Technical Committee identifies and engages the necessary technical skills and people among IUG’s members. This happens both when forming new project groups and when qualifying project drafts and concept notes. The committee must ensure that the right skills can be identified among IUG’s members at the right time in order to achieve the best possible professional quality in our efforts. For use in the work, the Technical Committee is responsible for maintaining and using IUG’s CV database.
Technical Committee evaluates technical proposals for projects and donations to assess their technical quality and relevance. The committee makes recommendations and 2nd assessments thereof to project groups and the secretariat, which often prepared the first draft. This task entails a thorough review of the technical aspects and budgets to ensure that the projects are both sustainable and cost-effective. The Technical Committee has process responsibility for the technical assessments and involves ad hoc the specific relevant technical competences to qualify and 2. assess solution proposals from the project groups.
The committee works closely with the thematic networks and ensures through ongoing dialogue and collaboration that all technical aspects of projects are thoroughly assessed and that decisions are made on a solid professional basis. The committee refers to the secretariat on a daily basis, and the committee’s main purpose is to support project groups and the secretariat’s task-solving as a technical resource. The Technical Committee only has advisory competence within IUG’s efforts. Members of the technical committee are appointed by the board for a two-year period so that approx. half of the committee’s seats are changed every year. The Technical Committee itself submits proposals for reappointment or new appointment to the secretariat, which submits the proposals with endorsement to the board.
To ensure professional development and quality assurance, a member can serve a maximum of four consecutive years on the Technical Committee.
The thematic networks organize IUG’s technical members and volunteers according to their engineering background. IUG currently has five thematic networks: Waste Management, Construction, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), Information and Communication Technology (ICT), and Sustainable Energy. The thematic networks are taken up for reconsideration as a structure in IUG’s strategy process in 2024.
The secretariat is managed by IUG’s general secretary, who is employed by the board and is the personnel manager for IUG’s other employees. The general secretary organizes the secretariat so that it can organize IUG’s members and volunteers as efficiently as possible and live up to the board’s ambition and objectives for the association. The secretariat normally consists of a general secretary, two international project advisers, a mission coordinator, a communications officer and an accounting officer. In addition, one to two student assistants in the finance or administration area and one or two interns in a relevant area. The personnel handbook here is addressed to employees in the IUG’s secretariat.
You can read more about the other structures on the page under statutes and in the IUG Handbook.
Project groups are composed of volunteers to follow and implement an IUG project from concept development to handover. The groups vary in size and composition according to the scope of the project and professional content. Project groups can be self-driving under the guidance of an international project advisor in the secretariat or managed by the project advisor on a daily basis, depending on the complexity of the project and the group’s experience.
In periods, IUG can set up country groups that work across projects and response efforts in a given country. It can often be useful when a new program country is to be opened, and a greater overview of local collaboration partners, project and response opportunities, and donors must be created. Several project groups often arise from a country group, which may have common competencies or representation in the country group, and the country group can oversee cross-cutting coordination in complex start-up periods as well as common country-specific communication and reporting. The country groups are established by the secretariat and are led by an associated secretariat employee.
IUG works with three thematic groups of volunteers who solve interdisciplinary subject-specific tasks within communication, fundraising and financial management. The groups are each led by a volunteer leader appointed by the secretariat.
The group consists of volunteer communication specialists who support the secretariat and the individual project or country groups with concrete communication efforts. The tasks range from complete communication plans and strategies to individual products. The communication group can, among other things, prepare content for IUG’s SoMe channels that can be published on an ongoing basis to keep our channels up to date. For example Meet a volunteer, That’s why we are a business partner or good cases from previous projects and efforts.
The group consists of voluntary members who contribute to IUG’s core funding through targeted and stable fundraising and application for funds from relevant pools and foundations. The fundraising group applies for funds for IUG’s general budget and for IUG Respons and follows up the individual applications and reporting requirements after allocation. The group makes an annual analysis and mapping of funding opportunities, for which applications are developed in close dialogue with the secretariat.
The finance group is a transversal group that counts the financial controllers who are associated with the individual project groups. IUG’s financial controllers coordinate their work and reporting practices in the group, which guides and advises the secretariat on best practices for project financial management. The finance group is led by the secretariat’s accounting officer and is attended by IUG’s treasurer.
IUG’s work consists of two central forms of action: IUG Projects and IUG Response.
The two modalities have been developed to be able to respond effectively to different needs from long-term project management to emergency crisis management.
IUG Projects include long-term development efforts that follow a structured project cycle. The projects go through phases such as needs analysis, project development, fundraising, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. These projects are typically strongly community-based, partner-led and have a solid capacity-building component.
The project courses typically last 1.5 to 3 years and require a long-term voluntary commitment. However, there are certain challenges, such as a longer response time and low flexibility. This modality is suitable for situations where there is time and space to build capacities and create sustainable solutions in close collaboration with local partners.
IUG Respons is a flexible and reactive modality that focuses on short-term interventions with high broadcast frequency. The effort is designed to respond quickly to urgent needs and crisis situations with funding from pre-allocated funds. This allows for short-term missions with rapid mobilization of volunteers, typically lasting up to six months. The support is provided pro bono to smaller recipients, while larger recipients can receive support on a reimbursement basis.
This modality enables both training efforts, advice and emergency preparedness, which makes it ideal for situations where rapid technical assistance and advice across sectors is needed. IUG Respons is suitable for supplementing larger humanitarian programs and ensuring that technical solutions are implemented and maintained correctly.
Engineers Without Borders – Denmark is managed by a member-elected board consisting of 8 members and a chairman. The daily management takes place from the secretariat in Copenhagen, which is responsible for project counselling, contact with partners, communication and fundraising.
The board:
The document describes IUG’s strategy and focus areas for the next five years. IUGs
the board and secretariat are responsible for the implementation of the strategy within the framework of the applicable articles of association.
IUG is a member of Engineers Without Borders International and of the Danish NGO platform, CISU (Civil Society in Development), which consists of 220 Danish associations.
