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= History =
[[File:EWB-img-inline-our-history.jpg|thumb|DrEWB-img-inline-our-history. Bernard Amadeijpg]]
Civil Engineering Professor Dr. Bernard Amadei at the University of Colorado-Boulder was the pioneer of a partnership program connecting the engineering skills of his students with the community of San Pablo, Belize. His engineering team of 8 students traveled to San Pablo to install a clean water system powered by a local waterfall; a sustainable and low-cost solution to provide the community with clean water and a sanitation infrastructure.
Dr. Amadei decided to harness the power of professional and student engineers to complete similar low-tech, high-impact projects in other developing countries by officially founding Engineers Without Borders USA in 2002. The students at the University of Colorado - Boulder became the first EWB-USA student chapter following the San Pablo, Belize project. This chapter expanded to 96 students working on three projects by the end of 2002. These students gained soft skills not typically acquired in the engineering curricula.
= International Programs =
'''Community-Driven Development''': Within a program, chapters implement multiple projects to address the needs identified by the community. Chapters work directly with the community to assess, design, implement, monitor and evaluate appropriate engineering solutions for small-scale infrastructure projects. Staff at EWB-USA's headquarters assist chapters by facilitating a robust quality assurance and quality control process that enables EWB chapters to work on hundreds of programs across the globe each year. In addition, the EWB-USA Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), comprised of experts in their disciplines, review and approve all project designs.
'''Project Types''':
*Water Supply
*Sanitation
*Civil Works
*Structures
*Energy
*Agriculture
*Information Systems
<br/>'''Framework'''
*'''Planning''' - EWB-USA Headquarters provides resources for our chapters to establish an understanding of the baseline situation in their partner communities and plan for long-term sustainability.
*'''Monitoring''' - The chapter uses consistent organizational tools to assist them in monitoring the program's impact in the community.
*'''Evaluation''' - The chapter evaluates the technical functionality of each project and their role in reaching the community's overall objectives for at least one year after construction is complete. We conduct periodic impact reviews after the chapter closes out their involvement in the program.
*'''Learning''' - EWB-USA uses impact assessment tools to be accountable to our partners and to learn from our experience to improve our community-driven development delivery model.
= Purpose =