Engineers Without Borders Bolivia Project

Who Are We? 

Engineers Without Borders USA is a non-profit international service organization that aims to build a better world by empowering communities to meet their basic human needs and providing them with the skills to solve their future demands. The University of Pittsburgh Student Chapter has had two previous projects in years past including a fishing farm in Mali, Africa and a water distribution project in Tapagem, Brazil as well as several other local projects in Pittsburgh. At the moment we have two international projects, one in Bolivia and one in Nicaragua, along with a local project in Ohio. Historically, our organization has been largely, if not completely, composed of engineering majors. While our projects are engineering in nature, we have always recognized the necessity for a public health sector of our organization to ensure our projects address the needs of the community. These steps not only ensure sustainability but help to positively impact the quality of health and life.

Our Project 

EWB-Pitt partnered with the community Carijana in the Fall of 2018. The community is located several hours north of one of Bolivia’s capitals, La Paz. Specifically, the community is 20 miles east of the border of Peru and 50 miles north of Lake Titicaca. Carijana consists of around 50 different households. The main languages spoken in the community are Quechua and Spanish. The community’s economy and workforce focus largely on cash crops and subsistence agriculture. Alongside the community, we are working on a sanitation project with a focus on the construction of latrines and updated sanitation education. Carijana requested approximately 50 personal latrines, one per household. After an assessment trip to the community and many discussions with the people of Carijana, we have agreed that an offset pour flush latrine is what is currently needed. These specific latrines function very similar to western style toilets, where water is poured into the bowl until the toilet flushes. Waste is then piped to a sealed pit. In October 2020, our team was able to coordinate a remote implementation of five latrines with the help of our partnered non-governmental organization, Engineers in Action. Looking forward, our team hopes to continue with remote implementation trips until we can safely travel to Bolivia again.

Where will your Donation Go? 

Our chapter is conducting remote implementation, as our travel plans have been halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The process of remote implementation includes hiring our project engineer that works for our partnered in-country NGO (in this case, Engineers in Action) to collect all of the construction materials and equipment to be transported to the community. Since the community of Carijana is so remote, the shipping and handling fees for the materials are very costly. Additionally, the project engineer stays in the community for a few days, and returns once every few weeks, to monitor the construction process. The NGO also hires a mason to help with professional brickwork to ensure the safety of our structures. Your donations will directly cover the cost of sending the project engineer to oversee construction and the cost of providing the materials to the community.

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Contributions received for this project shall be used in accordance with the purpose described herein, the terms in the FAQs and applicable law. For questions that cannot be answered in the FAQs, please call 412-383-5001 or email engage@pitt.edu.