FAQ

Q: Is EIA only working in Bolivia?

A: Currently, the answer is yes. Our office and engineers are located in La Paz, Bolivia.

Q: What is Engineers In Action’s relationship with Engineers Without Borders?

A: In many ways we are a sister or partner organization to EWB. In fact, the majority of our projects are actually done by EWB chapters. They raise the money, do the engineering design and bring the teams to do the work. What we do is develop the project proposals for EWB, provide all of their logistical and communication support when they are ‘in country’; and we provide follow up and follow through on these projects after the EWB chapter is finished.

Perhaps the most crucial part of this is the Project Development. EWB does not allow any of its funds to be used for the “development” of project proposals. In fact, many of these communities do not have very many persons who even speak Spanish, the national language of Bolivia, but only speak Aymara, Quechua, or some other indigenous language. So they never have the opportunity to even ask for help. Generally, only those communities with some North American NGO in them ever hear about EWB and are able to develop a project proposal to present to EWB.

Engineers in Action go out into these remote villages and ask them what they need and then develop the Project proposals for an EWB chapter to adopt.

Q: Do Engineers in Action work only with Engineers Without Borders?

A: No. We currently are partnering with the Tulsa Southside Rotary Club on a Water Well in Konani, and with the Center for Renewing Ecosystems and Watersheds (CREWS) at the School of Civil Engineering at the University of Oklahoma. CREWS, EIA, and Tomas Frias University in Potosi Bolivia are developing a pilot research project to clean up mining waste water using a ‘wetlands’ technique. (See “Current Projects”)

We also anticipate working with the Bolivian government, USAID, other Rotary Clubs, and anyone interested in bringing engineering solutions to the needs of the poor of Bolivia.

Q: How is a community selected to receive an initial visit from our EIA engineers?

A: Each country will be different. However, in Bolivia, Communities are recommended from a variety of sources. Since our pilot project and initial work was done through the Methodist Church of Bolivia, often times it is the Methodist Church which recommends we visit a particular village. Increasingly, villages near to where we have projects are coming and asking for help. Individuals, or even the government or other national leaders may recommend communities for us to visit.

Q: How is a particular ‘type’ of project decided on for a specific community?

A: Once a community is selected for an initial visit, our EIA engineers go to that village and speak with a few ‘elders’ in the community. They briefly explain what we can do, and that leads to a community-wide meeting.

That initial visit and meeting between EIA engineers and the local community is one of the things which is special about EIA. We don’t come in and say ‘we will drill you a water well’ or ‘build an irrigation system’’ and then explain what that is.

Instead, our engineers will have a meeting with a community. This usually involves all of the community leaders plus other interested persons from the community. There may be as many as 30 people from the community at this meeting. The question we bring is, “What are the primary needs, and what would you like to see EIA bring to your community?”

In indigenous villages of Bolivia, decisions are not made by one single individual, elected or not. It is done by these community meetings which often take 3-4 hours or even longer. Everyone who attends has an opportunity to ask questions and have their say about the needs of the community. At the end of those meetings a consensus forms around one or two projects.

EIA then develops a specific project proposal to address that need and submits it to EWB or other engineering organizations.

Q: Are women involved in the decision making?

A: Usually what happens at these meetings is that the authorities, all male, speak first and lay out their priorities. This usually takes at least an hour or longer. But then the women begin to speak and ask questions. As they talk, they are usually bringing up what is most important to the needs of the children of the community. What we have found is that usually whatever concerns the women bring up at the meeting, becomes the consensus top priority for the whole village.

Q: Do the local communities ‘pay’ any portion of the project, or are they just receiving?

A: Because most of these communities are very poor, usually the communities are unable to pay for any of the materials costs. However, in every situation, the community is expected to do what they can to help with the improvements. Usually this means that they provide most of the labor. In fact, it is a requirement in Bolivia, that when an EWB team comes to work on a project, at the very least, an equal number of Bolivians must join in doing the work. Usually there are far more Bolivians working during those days then there are EWB team members.

Q: How are projects selected by EWB chapters?

A: The process can be a little unique to EIA. Because we have so many potential projects under one umbrella organization, EWB chapters often send a single faculty advisor or student team leader to Bolivia for a “Look-See” visit. They will actually come and directly visit two or three potential project sites, visit with the community leaders, and then determine which project is best suited for their particular EWB chapter.

Sometimes EWB chapters simply select a project from our website or from information we bring to national and regional EWB Conventions.

We also have chapters adopt projects in the more ‘traditional’ way for EWB-USA. EIA fills out a full 17 page Project Application for EWB-USA. That application is then sent to the Technical Advisory Committee of EWB-USA for review, modification, and acceptance or rejection. The process of gathering all of the necessary information for the application, filling it out, sending it in to the TAC, making adjustments based on the TAC recommendations is handled by EIA.

Once a project is approved by EWB-USA, it is placed on the EWB-USA website and offered for any chapter in the country to adopt.

Q: What do EWB Chapters do once they have “adopted” a project?

A: First, an EWB chapter will have an “Assessment Trip” by a small team of 2-6 engineers. They visit the community and have meetings. The priorities of the community are reconfirmed and the request by the community for that specific type of project is reconfirmed. A 3-4 day ‘site assessment and mapping’ process is undertaken to gather all of the data needed for the engineering design phase. EIA provides logistics for this trip.

Over the next year, the EWB chapter builds a Team to do the work in Bolivia, does the engineering design of the project, and raises funds to pay for transportation, logistics and materials for the project.

The EWB work team finally arrives, and begins the actual work. EIA provides all of the logistical and communications support for the team when it arrives (See “Logistical Support Services”).

Q: Are the projects usually completed within the week the team is there?

A: Not typically. Depending upon the project, the EWB chapter may return every year for several years, adding more and more to their community’s project. In between EWB work teams, the community is often expected to work on the projects also and move toward completion. EIA engineers usually supervise that work, handle the money coming from the US, actually purchase the materials and have them delivered to the community, and encourage the community to get their work done.