EWB-UK Placements Programme

WHAT? and WHY?

DISCLAIMER

Going to be…• Frank• Honest

So that you can…• Learn from us• Understand approach and concerns

• Please keep in context and perspective• Note: In general, we rock!

In the beginning…

We wanted to:

• Make a difference

• Relieve poverty

• Use our skills

• Travel

• Experience other cultures

• Put our learning to good use

But we quickly learned:

• It’s ‘us’ that gets the most of it• What we can do for ‘them’ is limited

… so we acknowledged this truth

• We were seen as gap-year students• We were seen as a clique – only

choosing our friends to go…

… so we fixed what we could

And we also learned…

IT’S NOT EASY!

EWB-UK Placements Programme

HOW IT IS TODAY

WHAT?

1.Send people to work for on development projects

2.Volunteers SUPPORT Local Partners rather than LEAD development projects

3.Students and Graduates

4.Engineering students

5.For 3-12 months

6.In singles or in pairs

7. We do not fund our partners (ish)

8.National recruitment

WHAT?

•February launch for summer placements

•Large placements team (diagram!)

•Placements staff member

•Security Committee & emergency systems

•Pre-departure training required

•Technical training and professional engineering support available… we don’t train up per placement

WHAT?

•What we look for in a partner organisation…

WHY?

1. Send people to work on development projects

The aim of EWB-UK is to:

“Facilitate human development through engineering”

And one way of doing this is (we have lots of ways!) is to send volunteers to share their skills n development projects

EWB-UK, in effect, runs a work experience scheme where students can learn on placements with organisations that benefit from their skills.

WHY?2. Volunteers SUPPORT Local Partners rather than LEAD development projects

The GOALS of a development project are best defined by those who best understand:

•The development need• What the need is – barriers to development• Who is most needy etc

•The environment in which the project will take place:• Local politics (who influences whom)• Local relationship structures (gender, authority etc)• Local language• Local resources (availability of skills, funds, materials etc)

WHY?

Does EWB-UK know these things about the places where we want to help?

•No, because most of us are based in the UK

So we ALWAYS work through local organisations who do!

•A very common approach in the development sector

Other benefits of this approach:

•We can contribute to a project in short bursts (3-12 months) because the project does not rely on having the volunteer there all the time

2. Volunteers SUPPORT Local Partners

rather than LEAD development projects

WHY?

3. Students and young graduates

•Young people are the future – change attitudes & awareness

•Young people are enthusiastic, available and cheap

•Young people approach things with a (more) open mind

•Young people can learn and inspire others very easily

But, actually, we work this way because…

•We grew from a student club

•Most of our members are students and young graduates

•Most of our manegement are students and young graduates

•This has changed while we’ve met more and more complex requests for assistance, and will continue to change

WHY?

4. Engineering students

•Have very practical and useful skills to share

•There is a severe shortage of engineering skills in the world

•Engineering can be done on short projects

•It is difficult to gain meaningful experience elsewhere

But, actually, we work this way because…

•EWB-UK was set up by engineering students

•Most members are engineers

•Again, this may change in the future as the organisation learns and opens up to more people (e.g.: EWB Canada)

WHY?

5. 3-12 months

A range of durations because:

•Short placements: Give people an introduction to the field of development work

•Longer placements: We can make more impact work and carry out more complex work

Also…

•Fits with university holidays

•Fits with level of commitment volunteers willing to give

•We don’t do permanent recruitment or offer jobs

•Cheaper this way than, say, two-year projects

WHY?

6. In singles or in pairs

•Don’t want to overload our partners! One-to-one supervision and support is often needed in the field.

•More likely to get involved with local people, in their culture and to be treated as colleagues and peers.

•Valuable opportunity to think independently rather than ‘following the herd’, offering greater learning and rewards.

•You can support each other by sharing the experience.

•Diminishing returns.

•Fewer people for longer is better than more people for shorter.

•It’s work. Not a group holiday or a gap year trip.

•BUT… DOES change depending on scale or type of project.

WHY?

7. We do not fund our partners (ish)

•We want our partnerships to be based on skills

•Money distorts the capacities of communities

•Often introduces new, higher barriers to development

•It costs less – less fundraising effort means more placements

But…

•We have and do fund our partners, even if indirectly

•We fund them in-kind with voluntary work (distorts labour)

•It causes PR problems – we spend money on rich people???

•Often severely limits what we can achieve or offer

Learning the hard way...

…. By doing!

• The following are examples of what has gone wrong for us

• Don’t take them out of context• It’s why we’re offering this course!• We’ve done about 200 placements• Lots of them were amazing• Lots of examples of work gone well

What’s gone wrong for us:• Hard to know our impact• Very hard to get and share reports and learning• Expectations were wrong• Money – project funds cut / late / spent• Money – corruption• Money – project costs limit• Crime – victims• Crime – perpetrators• Security situation prevented work being done• Security concern raised severely by lack of communication• Sexual harassment• Culture Shock• Illness• Malaria• Injury• Hindu / Muslim tension• Partner organisation was rubbish• Partner pulled out• Partner didn’t need us• Partner only wanted us for prestige (white people, grants)• Partner wasn’t expecting us• Placement Managers went AWOL• Placement volunteers hated each other• Placement volunteers hated partner organisation• Partner organisation hated placement volunteers (arrogant etc)• We weren’t able to recruit to find the skills• Photos and blogs gave bad PR• Photos showed bad health and safety• Cost us far too much money in the end

Summary

IT’S NOT EASY!

Summary

KNOW BEFORE YOU GO!