There is a close connection between climate change and the fight against poverty. Therefore, in 2020, Engineers Without Borders joined three other Danish NGOs to hold a Masterclass, with support from Global Focus.
There is a close connection between climate change and the fight against poverty. Therefore, in 2020, Engineers Without Borders joined three other Danish NGOs to hold a Masterclass, with support from Globalt Fokus.
The purpose was to bring knowledge to our organizations and our volunteers about the link between poverty and climate change and how it can be incorporated even more into our work and projects.
Like Engineers Without Borders, the three other organizations – Arkitekter Uden Grænser, DIB, EAHR
(Emergency Architecture & Human Rights) work to a greater or lesser extent with infrastructure, buildings, poverty alleviation and climate change, which are the common starting point for the organizations.
Read more on this page and download the material used in the lesson.
For Engineers Without Borders, the payoff has been, among other things, a more systematic approach to the involvement of local communities and local NGOs.
Photo: Architects Without Borders, Johan Mottelson
It is well known that climate change hits the poorest hardest. They live more often at risk of disease, floods, fires and mudslides. At the same time, they are more exposed in relation to the effects of climate change, partly because they have limited access to counter the threats by, for example, building better houses or improving the infrastructure.
“We have been able to take the new knowledge into the design of a new project in Nepal. It has given us more tools and better prerequisites to focus and make a future application and project description sharper in relation to the work with poverty reduction and climate change.” Simon L. Græsbøll Iversen, DIB
“It has been a great privilege to participate in the Masterclass program. It is rare that as a volunteer in a relatively small NGO you get a chance to participate in an educational program at such a professionally qualified level. The organizers from the four NGOs deserve great recognition for the way they have pursued an idea and developed a concept about a theme that hits directly into a super current agenda that even mirrors important elements of UM’s development strategy.”
Jens Lindhardt, IUG
Theme I: Political focus and advocacy – placing the climate discussion on the international agenda and the connection to
the SDG agenda. Theme II: Inequality and climate change
Theme I. Lars Koch, Policy Director Action Aid (DK)
Theme II. Eva Jensen, Climate change, Energy and Transport (CET) at EEA, (DK)
Thomas Becker, consultant. (DK)
Creating Change – Cross culture cooperation, indigenous knowledge and climate adaptation
Rikke Dalsted (DK), Independent consultant
Resilience and risk reduction – in urban and rural setting
Emmanuel Raju (DK), Copenhagen University, Department of Public Health
Climate friendly /Green solutions in the built environment: How to prevent people to become part of the problem coming out of poverty
Daniel Wyss (CH), SKAT
Urban Resilience
Prof. Dr. Nicola Tollin and Katarzyna
Wieszeczynska
Final session – presentation of white paper on organisational learning and how to integrate learning into future partnership activities
Lecturer Maren Egedorf, University College Copenhagen
Emergency Architecture & Human Rights (EAHR) works to strengthen the resilience of vulnerable groups suffering from inequality and humanitarian crises. Our activities span from the development of community platforms for citizen involvement, innovative and resource-efficient building methods, to teaching in architecture and social sciences.
Architects Without Borders is a humanitarian organization that works to create development with architecture and planning as tools. Our purpose is to support vulnerable and poor population groups in the poorest countries. We create architectural professional development projects, promote information on combating poverty and work to improve land rights in slums. We work to give all people access to decent housing and living conditions.
DIB is a Danish development organization that collaborates with local organizations around the world to make a difference for people whose quality of life is threatened by inequality, poverty and climate change through collaboration, advocacy, capacity building and support for civil society organizations in developing countries.
Engineers Without Borders Denmark is an NGO based on volunteers with strong expertise who donate their time. Our volunteers provide clean water, improve sanitation, set up solar installations, build schools and health clinics and work with local waste recycling. We ensure local anchoring and lasting solutions, and our efforts support a number of the UN’s Global Goals for sustainable development.
