2013 PREMIER PROJECT AWARD WINNERS
The EWB-USA premier projects are chosen annually based on the community projects they have worked on over the past year. The award recognizes excellence in EWB-USA projects and highlights projects that deliver high quality, sustainable solutions to help meet the basic needs of partnering communities abroad. Read about these amazing projects here:
LAFAYETTE COLLEGE CHAPTER | El Convento, Honduras | Water Supply
The EWB-USA Lafayette College chapter’s water supply project in El Convento, Honduras is recognized as a 2013 Premier Project because it incorporates best practices in sustainability through community involvement. Prior to the implementation of this water supply project, the community of El Convento in rural Honduras collected water from a polluted stream that ran through the community. The chapter assessed the needs of the community through water quality testing, an extensive community needs survey and land surveying. In 2006, the chapter and the community decided to build a water treatment and distribution system that reached all members of the El Convento community in order to improve the health and welfare of the village.
The Lafayette College chapter began to implement the water distribution system in 2010. Since then, the chapter has successfully fostered long-term, meaningful relationships with El Convento. They have works diligently to ensure the community stake in the project by periodically collecting input through a community needs surveys. The community’s level of involvement was demonstrated when they took on some tasks themselves after the chapter returned to the United States.
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY CHAPTER | Ashaiman, Ghana | Structure
The EWB-USA Princeton University chapter’s library structure project in Ashaiman, Ghana is recognized as an example of a well-designed, community-implemented and sustainable project. The team performed extensive assessments and involved not only the host NGO, but separate community groups throughout the design development phases.
The Ghana School Library Project was created after a successful implementation trip in the summer of 2011. In the end, a library was constructed using sustainable landcrete blocks and was stocked with more than 7,000 books and 37 One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) computers. In addition, a variety of training programs were conducted in order to educate members of the community on how to best use and maintain the resources provided.
In the summer of 2012, the Ghana team returned to Ashaiman for a monitoring trip to close out the program. As a result, the community of Ashaiman has a well-stocked library that serves the needs of the local school and the community members at large. They have worked with the community leadership to develop a sustainable system for running the library, including librarian training, ensuring that they did more than build a building with the community, but created a community-wide resource.
OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY CHAPTER | Lela, Kenya | Water Supply
The EWB-USA Oregon State University chapter recently completed the successful implementation of a community well and rainwater catchment system in Lela, Kenya.
After three years of preparation which included a health survey, technical water source assessment, GPS mapping, and an alternatives analysis, EWB-USA OSU determined the best options for implementation were to drill a community water well and build a rainwater catchment system at the Lela Primary School. In July 2012, a team of students and one technical mentor traveled to Lela to oversee the construction of both systems. The trip was a success, and Lela now has improved access to potable water.
The team worked diligently to continually build the capacity of their team, think through all technical and non-technical aspects of the project, and establish a realistic schedule and scope that has led to significant progress over a relatively short period of time.
