International Programs

Engineering design for the developing world by engineers trained in the United States includes processes, procedures, and considerations that are distinct from those typical for the United States. In many countries, historical contexts often dictate the present customs, which may spawn from religious or cultural norms. These parameters not only dictate the engineering design, but also how a project is managed and organized. The coordination and management of a water development project in two rural villages of El Salvador is the perspective from which my analysis is based. Since the project’s inception in 2005, I have worked as the appointed project coordinator, with the guidance of our professional mentors and support of the project teams. Engineers Without Borders is a very young organization established in 2001, and now includes more than 150 student chapters nationwide. Therefore, learning how to organize our chapter and project efforts has been a collaborative process with EWB as a whole. New ideas, methods, and procedures are often discussed at regional workshops and monthly conference calls with the other El Salvador Engineers Without Borders projects in progress. Other sources of information include: books on sustainable development and engineering for the third world, other organizations with similar projects, and historical documentaries about El Salvador.
Background on the project serves to set the stage for comparing and contrasting the planning methodology and design team structure between U.S. engineering teams designing for the rural villages in El Salvador and designing for the United States. The comparison is subsequently made for each aspect of the project planning, in order to further analyze how some aspects have more similarities between countries than others. Included in the project planning elements are: organization structure, design consideration, architecture, and contingencies.
The purpose of this analysis is to better understand the engineering processes that must be taken by U.S. engineering teams when designing for the developing world. Design codes and contracting methods dictate how projects in the United States are planned. In the absence of these legal guidelines, it is difficult to ensure design acceptance (buy-in), material quality, land rights, and sustainability. Therefore, other methods of communication and agreements are used to come to understandings and develop designs that are of benefit to and accepted by all stakeholders.