After six years at Engineers Without Borders Australia, Eleanor Loudon has made the decision to step down as Chief Executive Officer in June 2024.  Eleanor leaves a legacy of scaling EWB’s work and bringing big-picture thinking to our organisation. Under Eleanor’s leadership, EWB doubled down on its in-country presence overseas and embarked on ambitious new projects in Australia, and in its training programs. She also steered the organisation through the challenging years of COVID-19. We wish Eleanor all the very best for her next chapter and thank her for the energy, dedication and leade ..read more

Caption: Australian Volunteers Program Field Professionals, Nicole and Bea,  visiting a school in Siem Reap where an accessible handwashing station was installed by EWB in partnership with CRST. Water, risk, and sustainability engineer Nicole Locke had always wanted to work overseas but there had never been a good time to do it. She graduated into a difficult job market and was lucky enough to find a position with Water Corporation in Perth. Fast forward a few years to 2019 and Nicole was considering her next move.  “I was talking to a mentor and she said, you’ve always thought about ..read more

Caption: EWB Challenge finalists preparing their presentation at the 2023 EWB Challenge Showcase held in Cairns. Each year, the EWB Challenge Showcase brings together top university student teams from across the country. Students present the most innovative, community-centred design ideas developed in response to the EWB Challenge Design Brief, and all event participants celebrate a year of learning, focused work, and collaboration. This year’s EWB Challenge Showcase saw students, academics, judges, and EWB staff from across Australia, New Zealand and Cambodia travel to James Cook University’s ..read more

By Peter McArdle (Engineers Without Borders Australia), Anna Saxby (Humanitarian Advisory Group) and Neil Greet (Australian Security Leaders Climate Group) Increasing uncertainty Vanuatu is one of the most at risk countries in the world for natural disasters, especially tropical cyclones, and the frequency and intensity of cyclones is increasing due to climate change. Cyclone Lola hit Vanuatu on 26 October 2023 impacting 80,000 people. The Category 5 cyclone was the third major one to hit Vanuatu in seven months. Critical infrastructure including roads, bridges, schools and homes were wiped ou ..read more

EWB’s recent board elections and AGM have seen some changes to EWB’s board. In the EWB board elections held on 20 November 2023, of which two roles were available, Dan Lambert was re-elected for another term, and we welcomed Sheena Valenti to the EWB Board. Dan Lambert is the CEO of WaterStart and an Adjunct Professor of Humanitarian Engineering at UNSW. His previous roles include Arup’s water business in Australasia, and as an Officer in the Royal Australian Engineers. Daniel’s leadership in engineering has been recognised by Engineers Australia as ‘Sir John Holland Civil Engineer of the Year ..read more

The Dili Water System Emergency Repair Program (DWSERP) addressed the catastrophic flood damage to Dili’s water transmission systems wreaked by heavy rains in April 2021. The program, funded by the Australian Government via the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, commenced in June 2021 and concluded in June 2023. EWB Australia, along with its program partners, played a key role in providing technical support, concept design, advice and delivery of multidisciplinary engineering to repair and stabilise major sections of Dili’s water system. The project was a wonderful opportunity for EWB to ..read more

A picture says a thousand words. And for our team on the ground, those words hold the power to transform the way we approach our work. At EWB Australia, collecting quantitative data is an essential part of our monitoring and evaluation process. We rely on numbers to help us understand the effectiveness of a project, yet figure-driven data can leave out important information contextualising the impact of a project or program. Which is why, in 2023, EWB incorporated “photovoice” into the team’s monitoring and evaluation toolkit.  Photovoice is a qualitative participatory research method tha ..read more

As the Mekong River ambles south from its origin in the Sanjianyuan nature reserve in China, it passes through Myanmar, Laos, and Thailand before arriving in Cambodia where it fractures into winding ribbons that create islands in the flow.  The people of Koh Tnoat live on one of the Mekong’s many riverine islands and rely on water from the river for drinking, washing, cooking, and watering their gardens and livestock. But water from the river, having travelled far through dams and areas of heavy agriculture, often isn’t safe to use, let alone drink. The challenge of delivering clean water ..read more

Caption: Environmental engineer and EWB Field Professional volunteer, Ella, in Pu Ngaol village.  In 2023, two different community contexts were offered to universities delivering the EWB Challenge Series program. The overseas context looked at the aspirations and challenges of a remote community living in Mondulkiri, Cambodia. EWB Challenge Program Lead, Sai, sat down with EWB Field Professional volunteer, Ella, to hear about her experience holding workshops and interviews with the community at the centre of the Mondulkiri context – Pu Ngaol village. Picture this; you’re an undergra ..read more

Caption: Darlau residents supporting the construction of the permanent water supply system. In Darlau, a village in Timor-Leste, collecting water was until recently a slow and physically demanding task. Every day, residents would trek to the only springwater supply and carry buckets back up a steep hill. This job was generally done by women and children – a round trip that could take up to 2 hours, and in extreme heat during summer. Darlau is located only 11 kilometres southeast of the capital city of Dili, but its location and topography mean its 1200 residents are highly isolated. The villag ..read more