A New Online Tool Links Engineers to Development Challenges Worldwide

Communities and organizations working in developing regions start their projects with materials and muscle. But what happens when they run into a technical problem? Where can they turn when the drip irrigation design isn’t working? Who do they call for help stabilizing a new bridge?

Technical problems vex nearly every development project. Now there is a way for engineers around the world to help solve them. Engineering for Change is a growing network of engineers who go online to collaborate and respond to development challenges. It gives communities and development organizations a way to recruit experts that they might not have been able to find otherwise.

By linking the knowledge, experience, and creativity of a worldwide community of experts to the thinkers and heavy lifters on the ground, Engineering for Change hopes to transform development problems into solutions.

The Website, EngineeringforChange.org, is the project's hub. Here, experts and solution seekers swap ideas and solve problems through forums, personal messages, photos, files and videos. Users can post development challenges and search for solutions, manage projects, keep calendars and make appointments. Through the site, engineers in Bombay can share tips with plumbers in Ecuador's Amazon, for example, or swap advice with colleagues in New York City.

A whole new way of thinking
Engineering for Change was initiated by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) for all developers and engineering disciplines. The project's directors hope to build a community of think tanks; professors and students; NGOs; financial service companies and consulting companies. “If you can build a community, you can solve a problem,” said Shekhar Chandrashekhar, a portfolio management director at the American Society of Mechanical Engineers who also helps out with the Website.

Roughly 2 billion people live on less than $2 per day, according to the United Nations Development Programme's 2005 Human Development Report. They make up the people that development efforts usually target. If those low-income earners are the focus, “then we need a whole new way of thinking,” Chandrashekhar said. “And the hope is that this Web site – Engineering for Change – becomes one of the key enablers.”

Chandrashekhar has seen small-scale and simple technologies put to work in communities in India. Small power generators, for example burn fuel like dried dung or agricultural waste to produce electricity. Native plants filter pollutants from lake water. The challenge, in his view, is to spread the most effective techniques and share the expertise.

“Creating these solutions involves a lot of thought,” he said. “It needs some thought leaders to engage with the community and then provide a platform for exchanging ideas. That's where Engineering for Change comes in. It creates a new way of thinking and creates a new way of doing business.”

Why hasn't this been done before?
Noha El-Ghobashy, who heads this project as ASME's technical programming and development director, has met with engineers and students who can provide their expertise, corporations that can fund projects, and NGOs and communities seeking solutions around the world.

NGO leaders have told her that they would like share the solutions they create to help others who would otherwise have to repeat their work. They also need access to technical experts but they don't know where to turn. Engineering students would like to engage with others but they don't have time to travel abroad. Corporate leaders told her that getting involved would promote corporate social responsibility and give their employees an outlet for community involvement.

“This concept appeals to so many kinds of people. That excitement is so gratifying and it's validation that we're on to something here,” she said. The work engineers can do through the site could allow them to solve problems that they might not encounter in their careers, she added.

“I think many people are saying 'Wow, why hasn't this been done before?'” El-Ghobashy said. “It resonates particularly with the early-career engineers who want to give back and participate, and it resonates with the notion of how engineers can make an impact on societal issues.” Through the site, she believes, the best solutions could proliferate through the development community, affecting as many people as possible for the greatest impact.

A call to action
The project's directors have enlisted the help of students and professionals from institutions such as the University of Colorado, Boulder, and Northeastern University, as well as the non-profit engineering consultancy firm Catapult Design, among a dozen others. They have begun testing the site and making recommendations for improvements. Some developers have already listed the technical challenges they face, and many of them are in need of expert aid.

The site, engineeringforchange.org, will remain in a testing period until its official launch in late 2010, and its developers are seeking recommendations from talented engineers to help improve it. Users can sign in, create profiles, seek out challenges and solutions and interact with the growing online community right now.

For those interested in becoming involved, contact Noha El-Ghobashy at noha@engineeringforchange.org

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