Engineers Without Borders – Panama

Engineers without Borders Panama (EWB-P) is a group that focuses on rural and isolated communities in Panama  to provide solutions for problems like sanitization, access to clean water, education and health care. The volunteer group is made up of retired engineers, construction workers, safety inspectors, and other skilled professionals. EWB-P works with other non-profit organizations,  private investors and government agencies to implement projects in targeted communities.   Recently EWB-P built a foot bridge in a Ngäbe-Buglé community located between Almirante and Bocas Del Toro. The new bridge allows a village of 200 to cross the river during rainy season. The bridge gives the community access to the outside world where children can go to school and the sick can seek medical attention. Without the bridge, the village is forced to endure months of isolation.

“What is so exciting about EWB-P is that we are getting Panamanian companies to invest in areas that have been otherwise ignored”, says Clinton Donnelly a retired engineer working with EWB-P. Among those involved are large construction firms, MEDUCA - Panama’s School board, Canal de Panama and several Panamanian universities.

“We work closely with our partners and the local communities to identify needs, and come up with solutions.” Said Clinton. “The goal is to come up with sustainable projects using affordable technology and to teach the technology to the community.”

EWB-P offers volunteers the unique experience of building bridges, schools, community centers, clinics and other projects that transform communities. The program is constantly seeking people and like-minded organizations to partner with.
 
Over the next 5 years EWB-P will execute the following projects. To get involved contact them by visiting www.ewbpanama.org
 
Canal de Panama Watershed Community School Program: Canal de Panama and MEDUCA will work with EWB-Panama to carry out the rehabilitation of 15 schools in disadvantaged communities Within the Canal de Panama Watershed.
 
The Panama footbridge program: Bridges to Prosperity (B2P), a U.S. NGO, will work with EWB-USA and EWB-P to construct footbridges in disadvantaged communities.
 
Rio Oeste Community and Artisans Group: This program will work in an artisan community in the province of Bocas Del Toro. It aims to improve the quality of the community’s water supply, improve public sanitation, create an off-the-power-grid electricity supply and build a community center.
 
Guna Yala Cerro Patacon Community Center and Island Community Programs: This is a multi-phased program that has already begun with the construction on the community center in Cerro Patacon. The second phase of the program seeks to engineer and construct a way to harvest rainwater.