home, leaving an estimated 3 billion people without basic handwashing facilities
at home.”
Numerous organizations have been working on these water and sanitation challenges globally. Learning from the project experiences of these organizations can
assist in improving the chances of success of future projects. The importance of
village-driven development cannot be overstated to improve the success rate of
water, sanitation, and related behavior change initiatives. “Access to water and
sanitation are recognized by the United Nations as human rights, reflecting the
fundamental nature of these basics in every person’s life. Lack of access to safe,
sufficient and affordable water, sanitation and hygiene facilities has a devastating
effect on the health, dignity and prosperity of billions of people, and has significant
consequences for the realization of other human rights” (https://www.unwater.org/
water-facts/human-rights/).
EWB-USA uses a community-based or village-driven approach to ensure that
infrastructure improvements make use of technologies that the community needs,
wants, and has the capacity to operate, maintain, repair, and reconstruct as needed.
These technologies are described as “appropriate” for the community. Selection of
an appropriate technology is essential to the sustainable success of any villagedriven infrastructure project. When a project proves to be sustainable over time, this
provides an indication that the technology selected was appropriate for the community. As an example, on one EWB-USA latrine project in Nicaragua, EWB-USA
returned years later to evaluate the success of the project. Happily, EWB-USA
discovered that the community had rebuilt the latrines on their own after they were
destroyed by a hurricane, demonstrating that the village-driven approach had been a
success and the project was sustainable.
Use of a village-driven approach enables the community itself to develop, thereby
improving the capacity of the community to further improve its conditions with
subsequent projects and initiatives. For additional background on the importance
and use of a village-driven approach, refer to “Engineering for Sustainable Human
Development, A Guide to Successful Small-Scale Community Projects,” by
EWB-USA’s founder, Bernard Amadei, Ph.D., NAE [4]. For an earlier attempt of
the organization’s efforts at learning from sanitation projects, please see the article
completed by Heuckeroth, Knight, Montgomery, and Walker [5].
2 Engineers Without Borders USA
2.1 Overview, Vision, and Offices of EWB-USA
The vision of Engineers Without Borders USA (EWB-USA) is a world in which the
communities we serve have the capacity to sustainably meet their basic human needs
and that in turn our members and volunteers develop enriched global perspectives.
EWB-USA collaborates on more than 390 active projects in over 40 countries driven
40
J. Knight et al.
at home.”
Numerous organizations have been working on these water and sanitation challenges globally. Learning from the project experiences of these organizations can
assist in improving the chances of success of future projects. The importance of
village-driven development cannot be overstated to improve the success rate of
water, sanitation, and related behavior change initiatives. “Access to water and
sanitation are recognized by the United Nations as human rights, reflecting the
fundamental nature of these basics in every person’s life. Lack of access to safe,
sufficient and affordable water, sanitation and hygiene facilities has a devastating
effect on the health, dignity and prosperity of billions of people, and has significant
consequences for the realization of other human rights” (https://www.unwater.org/
water-facts/human-rights/).
EWB-USA uses a community-based or village-driven approach to ensure that
infrastructure improvements make use of technologies that the community needs,
wants, and has the capacity to operate, maintain, repair, and reconstruct as needed.
These technologies are described as “appropriate” for the community. Selection of
an appropriate technology is essential to the sustainable success of any villagedriven infrastructure project. When a project proves to be sustainable over time, this
provides an indication that the technology selected was appropriate for the community. As an example, on one EWB-USA latrine project in Nicaragua, EWB-USA
returned years later to evaluate the success of the project. Happily, EWB-USA
discovered that the community had rebuilt the latrines on their own after they were
destroyed by a hurricane, demonstrating that the village-driven approach had been a
success and the project was sustainable.
Use of a village-driven approach enables the community itself to develop, thereby
improving the capacity of the community to further improve its conditions with
subsequent projects and initiatives. For additional background on the importance
and use of a village-driven approach, refer to “Engineering for Sustainable Human
Development, A Guide to Successful Small-Scale Community Projects,” by
EWB-USA’s founder, Bernard Amadei, Ph.D., NAE [4]. For an earlier attempt of
the organization’s efforts at learning from sanitation projects, please see the article
completed by Heuckeroth, Knight, Montgomery, and Walker [5].
2 Engineers Without Borders USA
2.1 Overview, Vision, and Offices of EWB-USA
The vision of Engineers Without Borders USA (EWB-USA) is a world in which the
communities we serve have the capacity to sustainably meet their basic human needs
and that in turn our members and volunteers develop enriched global perspectives.
EWB-USA collaborates on more than 390 active projects in over 40 countries driven
40
J. Knight et al.