About This Course

We designed this course on the request of specific chapters of Engineers Without Borders (EWB) to address challenges they were facing in the field within the particular organizational context of EWB.

This two-day short course focuses on both the theory and practical methods of sustainable community-based development, in particular, strategies for enhancing trust, communication, and participation with EWB's partner communities.

Topics:

• Brief history of the development practice
• Communication and community mobilization
• Theory of community-based development
• Strategies for building trust and communication and community planning.
  

**Contact us to today for pricing and scheduling information!
nancy@villageearth.org or 970-491-5754

Here's What Past Particpants Have Said:

"To put it mildly, this course has changed the way I view myself in the world. I have no doubt that it will affect how I conduct myself as a member of a team and as a leader. I am especially interested to see how it affects my interaction with my existing social groups of work, family, school, and friends."

"The course was eye-opening as a platform for self-reflection as a group. It allowed me to learn more about the perspectives of my peers and understand, first-hand, the power of inter-group dialog."

"I have learned important communication tools that will be useful in my future line of work (which directly involves facilitating discussions with indigenous groups)... Also, our EWB chapter was effectively strengthened through these interactions."

"I feel like I am better able to understand our position in the community as a mediator and listener. I also feel like the participatory planning model is a great way of engaging what the community really wants and where our project fits into their vision for their village overall."

"The overall process was good, but for my particular project, I got a lot of benefit from the the anecdotal examples from the facilitators own experiences. They helped me picture how we might better interact with the community for our project."

"I really like the mapping and vision exercises. I'm hoping I can convince my superiors to invite IISD back this fall. I've been reading quite a bit about this style of community development and I thought it was really helpful to see it first hand. I also think the workshop convinced my peers that this is the model we need to adopt. I liked the facilitators way of going through the planning with us in order for us to understand what we are doing. It also helped us figure out ways we can improve our own organization.

"It made me realize that the most sustainable project is one that the community decides on implementing and to not just dive straight into a community and try to fix all their problems like an oppressor. Also, I realized that it takes a long time and commitment to really see a project succeed all the way through."

For more information or references from past EWB Chapters contact: Nancy Murray (nancy@villageearth.org)