Delivering critical development to engineer the future

Engineers Without Borders is on a mission to deliver critical development across the global engineering sector. Newly-appointed President Sanjiv Indran shares the organisation’s plans to address the most pressing challenges of our time.

Humanity continues to face many significant global challenges, from lack of access to clean drinking water and adequate sanitation facilities, to safe housing and reliable energy. With the climate crisis posing the greatest threat to life we have ever faced, it has never been more important for the engineering sector to help build a world where everyone – and the planet – can thrive.

Engineers Without Borders (EWB) is a community of engineers that has been working for more than 40 years to address global inequity and injustice through engineering solutions. Today, the organisation’s presence reaches across all major global regions, with more than 37 member associations established around the world.

Most recently, EWB International (EWB-I) appointed Sanjiv Indran as its new President, who co-founded EWB Malaysia in the hope of inspiring and empowering the next generation of Malaysian and international engineers to help build a more sustainable future.

“We all have a common goal to use engineering and engineering-orientated products to help disadvantaged communities and people through our projects,” Sanjiv Indran says. “Over the years, our member organisations have coalesced into this global movement with the shared theme of helping underserved communities and bringing together engineers, professionals, academics and students to work to build a better, more sustainable world.”

CHALLENGING TIMES

“The one issue that is always first and foremost is the climate crisis,” says Sanjiv Indran. “There’s been a lot of talk around this, and many organisations have commonly identified that this is something we need to tackle urgently, but yet we still haven’t met the targets that have been set at COP, and so we’re still very far behind on this. So, this prompts the question how can we as engineers try to make this change, and what are the impacts going to be on society as a whole? I think that is one of the most pressing things that we need to come together as a collective of engineers to address.”

In addition, water and sanitation are recurring challenges due to changing urban environments, population growth and land use. “Access to water, food scarcity, environmental degradation – all of these are topics that are also linked to climate change, but on a very local level. The people suffering most are often the poorest and most underserved among us, and that’s where EWB organisations aim to help where necessary,” he adds.

COLLABORATION HOLDS THE KEY

With so many EWB organisations established around the world, Sanjiv Indran believes there is a huge opportunity to bring the movement together to make a tangible collective impact to accelerate progress in tackling these issues.

“The driving force of EWB is to represent the global engineering movement,” he explains. “We’ve identified several key drivers to achieve this. The first is to identify and build the global identity of EWB and the brand itself to implement a collective ownership structure, so that all EWB members no matter their size or resources can find their footing and have an impact in their own communities. This leads to having a collective voice on a much larger scale, giving us the ability to effect significant change.”

Sanjiv Indran’s home country of Malaysia will host the EWB’s first Global Summit in November, which will bring together representatives of EWB organisations from across the globe to identify actionable impact initiatives for the global EWB movement. The summit will address several key topics, such as critical infrastructure for underserved communities, research and innovation for relevant engineering solutions, building engineering capacity, and growing the global EWB network as a powerful force.

“We want to bring as many EWB organisations together to stand in one voice, deliver what we stand for, and discuss how we will move forwards in addressing these key global challenges,” Sanjiv Indran says. “We are really excited about what the future may bring for all of us as we find our footing and place in the world. This is testament to what all our founders worldwide in the different organisations have brought to the table in terms of making a difference. That has led to where we are at this point, and now it is up to us as the new standard-bearers to carry that journey onwards to make real a difference to people’s lives.”

The timing of EWB’s Global Summit is notable, as 2024 signifies the halfway mark to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). With 37% of goals currently stagnating or even regressing, there is an urgent need for global collaboration and to combine resources to prevent future climate disasters.