Engineers focuses on local communities

Engineers Without Borders focuses on local communities for 2010

Media release
March 14

Engineers Without Borders New Zealand (EWBNZ) has made a commitment to focus their aid efforts on kiwi communities this year, at their official 2010 launch event at the University of Auckland’s School of Engineering this evening.

EWBNZ was established in 2008 to confront the global challenges of poverty, sustainable development and social inequality by undertaking community-driven engineering projects and programmes in New Zealand and the South Pacific region.

EWBNZ undertook three major projects in the South Pacific in 2009 – two in Tonga and one in Samoa, providing much needed engineering expertise to the tsunami effected region, however hopes to focus their efforts on building up their membership base and undertaking more local projects this year

“We are very proud of the projects we undertook in the South Pacific in 2009, but this year we would like to place a greater emphasis on the work that can be done right here in our local communities,” Athena Zhu, President of the EWBNZ Auckland Student Chapter, says.

Zhu also maintains that EWBNZ will be putting a lot of effort into membership engagement in 2010.

“We’ve set some big goals for 2010 such as engaging more tertiary institutions and establishing a Wellington Chapter. We want to build up a strong and sustainable membership base so that we can achieve more as an organisation,” Zhu says.

Over 100 guests and members of EWBNZ including university students and professionals gathered at the function to celebrate the work of EWBNZ in 2009 and to officially launch the 2010 programme.

The event included speeches from key members in EWBNZ and Dr Peter Brothers, Chief Executive of MIT and former Dean of Engineering at Auckland University, and featured stalls run by different parts of the organisation.

The event was made possible by the generous support of Hilti – a global leader of value-added, top quality products for professional customers in the construction and building maintenance industry.

ENDS

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