We are a technical-humanitarian aid organization carried by our members and volunteer specialists, with a professional secretariat leading the day-to-day operations. We are a non-profit organization funded through membership fees as well as grants from public and private donors and companies.
The organization was founded in 2001 by a group of Danish engineers who wanted to use their professional expertise to make a difference in the world. Since then, we have carried out projects in more than 30 countries, working on everything from water supply and sanitation to energy and infrastructure. Our work is driven by volunteer engineers and technical experts who are passionate about creating sustainable solutions to complex challenges.
We work to create sustainable solutions and improve living conditions for vulnerable populations around the world. We do this on the terms of the local communities and in close collaboration with local partners. We make our knowledge, technology, and expertise available where the need is greatest, and where there are no viable commercial alternatives, contributing to new solutions with a focus on environmental, economic, and social sustainability.
Engineers Without Borders works with both heart and mind. We believe that ability comes with responsibility – and that, as professional specialists, we have a duty to make our skills available where they are needed.
Our values guide the decisions we make and the way we collaborate. They serve as a compass for volunteers, employees, partners, and the board alike.
We use our knowledge where it makes a difference – and we take responsibility for putting it into action when the need arises. We step in where others do not.
We choose solutions that work – technically, economically, and within the local context. We create the greatest possible value from the resources we use.
We strive for results that stand the test of time – rooted locally and supported through capacity building. What we create truly matters only when it continues to live on without us.
We work together with humility and curiosity – across disciplines, cultures, and organizations. We engage with the world closely and at eye level.
We think creatively while staying grounded. Good ideas must work in real life – and lead to solutions that people can use where they are implemented, even after we have left.
We act responsibly and transparently – in accordance with human rights, principles of good governance, and applicable regulations.
Engineers Without Borders is a volunteer-carried association. This means our members and volunteers both constitute our greatest resource and our overall management.
At the annual general meeting, EWB’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 secretary general who heads the EWB’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 EWB’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 EWB. EWB currently has one committee and three group forms.
The Board consists of six members elected at the General Assembly, including a directly elected Chair. To ensure a broad and relevant mix of skills and expertise, the Board may also appoint up to two co-opted members, who serve on the same terms and with the same rights as elected members. The Board may therefore comprise up to eight members in total and allocates the remaining offices among its members, normally including a Treasurer, Vice-Chair and Secretary.
Technical Committee consists of six to eight volunteers who handle EWB’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 EWB’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 EWB’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 EWB’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 EWB’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 EWB’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 Secretariat is led by the Secretary General, who is employed by the Board and manages the organisation’s other staff. The Secretary General structures the Secretariat to coordinate the work of EWB Denmark’s members and volunteers as effectively as possible and fulfil the Board’s ambitions and objectives for the organisation. The Secretariat normally comprises a Secretary General, two to three international project advisers, a technical manager, a response and missions coordinator, a communications team and an accounts officer. They are supported by one or two student assistants in finance and administration and one or two interns working on missions and emergency preparedness.
You can read more about the other organisational structures in the Articles of Association section on this page and in the EWB Handbook.
Project groups are composed of volunteers to follow and implement an EWB 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, EWB 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.
EWB works with thematic groups of volunteers who solve interdisciplinary subject-specific tasks. The groups are each led by a volunteer leader appointed by the secretariat.
EWB Denmark’s work takes two main forms: EWB Projects and EWB Response.
These two approaches are designed to address different needs effectively, from long-term project management to urgent crisis response. Both require the task to serve a primarily humanitarian purpose and for no viable commercial alternative to be available. EWB Denmark only engages if both criteria are met.
EWB 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.
EWB Response 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. EWB Response is suitable for supplementing larger humanitarian programs and ensuring that technical solutions are implemented and maintained correctly.
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.
