Mercy Corps, Engineers Without Borders Announce Collaboration

April 18, 2006

Engineers Without Borders CEO Cathy Leslie (center) stands with Mercy Corps' Jim White (right) and Dan Garbely, founder of the organization's West Coast Region chapter. Photo: Caitlin Carlson/Mercy Corps

Mercy Corps has enhanced its capacity to rebuild schools, construct health clinics and install drinking water systems by announcing plans to collaborate with Engineers Without Borders USA on international development projects.

The two organizations signed a broad Memorandum of Understanding this week that sets the framework for collaborative social and physical development projects in some of the world's poorest countries. The partnership unites Mercy Corps' extensive community-building efforts around the globe with Engineers Without Borders' deep pool of professional and student engineers eager to volunteer their skills to build and improve physical infrastructure.

Local engineers typically oversee the wide range of building projects that Mercy Corps undertakes as part of its community-development work overseas, explains Jim White, the agency's senior director of program operations. But there's often an unmet need for engineers well-versed in structural design and project management.

"The people we serve stand to benefit greatly from the vast knowledge and expertise that Engineers Without Borders can provide to Mercy Corps, especially in the design, management and quality assurance of large infrastructure projects," says White.

Founded in 2000, the Colorado-based nonprofit boasts a nationwide network of qualified engineers and university engineering students who are willing to volunteer their time to work on humanitarian and development initiatives around the globe.

Executive Director Catherine A. Leslie says the partnership with Mercy Corps offers her organization a new pipeline of projects for students and professionals, an opportunity for them to work with a respected international humanitarian agency and further exposure to engineering work in developing countries.

"It's appealing to work with an established NGO that is credible, trustworthy and does good work for the communities we all serve," she says.

The two organizations hope to kick off their collaborative work this summer in Tavildara area of Tajikistan, a remote area in the country's northwest that was heavily affected by civil war. Engineers Without Borders' volunteers will help design and build a new market bazaar as part of Mercy Corps' efforts to revive economically depressed areas through multiethnic collaboration.