EWB-SWE renews partnership with Vattenfall

EWB-SWE is pleased to announce the renewal of the partnership with Vattenfall, to continue a joint commitment to drive sustainable change and work towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

As part of the earlier two-year partnership, Vattenfall participated in activities towards EWB-SWE´s local groups, and employees supported the organization´s capacity building by lending their expertise within the group on partnership assessment, competence groups on energy and construction, as well as risk-management and policies evaluation. 

“Our work is powered by the support of our partners, and we are extremely pleased with the renewed support from Vattenfall towards our mission“, says Jan Byfors, Chairperson of  EWB-SWE.

The current partnership will foster deeper collaboration between EWB-SWE and Vattenfall by involving more employees and participation in workshops and webinars organized by EWB-SWE with a specific focus on diversity and inclusion work.

About Vattenfall:
Vattenfall is a leading European energy provider which for more than 100 years has electrified industries, supplied energy to people's homes and modernised our way of living through innovation and cooperation. The company is committed to attaining a life free from fossil fuels within one generation through innovation and cooperation.

EWB-SWE releases “2021 in review: Engineering for Humanity”

EWB-SWE is pleased to release the video “2021 in review: Engineering for Humanity” to look back and celebrate another year of humanitarian engineering.

During the past year, the organisation has strengthened its capacity to provide sustainable solutions and improve the living standards of people today and in the future. Together with supporters, members and volunteers, EWB-SWE is ready to take on 2022 and keep working for everyone´s right to a sustainable future.

EWB-SWE calls for nominations: Board & Chairperson

EWB-SWE is opening up for nominations to the upcoming election of board and chairperson.

During the annual meeting in May, the members of EWB-SWE will elect the new board for the following period of one full year. This year, there will also be an election for a new chairperson of the board.

What is the Board?
The Board is the body within EWB-SWE that represents all members through operative decisions. Their role is to coordinate the work of the different focus areas, support local groups and lead the work from a strategic perspective. The Board meets regularly (approximately once a month) either online or physically. Each board member is elected for one full year and is usually responsible for a focus area or an internal function. Read more about the board here.

Who is the Chairperson?
Besides being the official representative of EWB-SWE as an organisation and an employer, the chairperson is overall responsible for annual and member meetings, as well as for the board's strategic work and monthly meetings. The chairperson works in close cooperation with the Secretary-General.

Who can nominate and be nominated?
Anyone can nominate either themselves or someone else. As to provide a good representation of the organization, the aim is to maintain a dynamic group of different backgrounds and competencies. Experience of similar work and/or previous engagement within the organization is valued but not required - more important are the values, commitment and aspiration of the candidate, to help lead the organization through further development and growth. After interviews and evaluation of the nominees, a proposal is presented by the election committee to the annual meeting. Any candidate can still be nominated and considered during the meeting before the election is made jointly by the members. Existing members of the board are allowed to run for re-election. To be elected, the candidate has to be or become a member of EWB-SWE.

How do I nominate a candidate?
The election committee warmly welcomes nominations for the board by email to election.committee@ewb-swe.org, by the 14th of February 2022 at the latest.

For questions about the work within the board or the role of the chairperson, please contact Caroline Bastholm, Secretary-General (caroline.bastholm@ewb-swe.org) or Jan Byfors, chairperson (jan.byfors@ewb-swe.org).

EWB-SWE announces Membership of Giva Sverige

As a cheerful start to the new year, Engineers Without Borders Sweden proudly announces a new membership of Giva Sverige (the Swedish Fundraising Association). 

Giva Sverige is a professional membership body for fundraising organisations in Sweden. Their aim is to increase giving in Sweden by improving the conditions for organisations to fundraise in a trustworthy way.

Giva Sverige is a leading provider of fundraising training in Sweden. By offering supporting activities, such as fundraising specific training courses, seminars and research, member organisations are able to enhance fundraising activities based on three main areas - professional development, governance and compliance, and advocacy.

This membership allows EWB-SWE to develop and improve its fundraising activities to advance the mission of #EngineeringforHumanity. As members, EWB-SWE is also part of supporting better conditions for transparent, ethical and professional fundraising in Sweden.

We are delighted to be part of this important initiative!

Read more about Giva Sverige > https://www.givasverige.se/in-english/

A Recap of EWB-SWE and openhack’s Advisory Board Meeting on October 4, 2021

EWB-SWE and openhack’s advisory board met with representatives of both organizations on October 4 to take stock of the organization’s progress over the last year and discuss opportunities to improve our fundraising activities. This was the third meeting of the Advisory Board which was put together in 2020. 

The Advisory Board consists of Hans-Olov Olsson, Emma Rozada, Sofia Appelgren, Joakim Hedin, Carl Lindberg, Johanna Lakso. From EWB-SWE and openhack, Jan Burenius, Caroline Bastholm, Jan Byfors, Lukas Scheffer Leander participated in the meeting, held at Techno Creatives’ office in Gothenburg – a huge thank you to Emma Rozada for hosting us. 

Are we spreading ourselves too thin?

One central topic discussed during the meeting was if and how EWB-SWE could benefit from narrowing down the scope of our work to establish a clearer identity and avoid spreading ourselves too thin. 

Today, EWB-SWE works both within Sweden and internationally. In Sweden, we primarily focus on activities that serve to make the engineering sector more equitable, just and accessible. We also engage in capacity building activities. Internationally, we focus on providing know-how and hands-on assistance in primarily construction, digitalization, and water and sanitation projects. You can learn more about the different areas here.

In the next few months, we will continue to discuss how we can strengthen existing partnerships and initiate new collaborations that ensure our activities have a lasting impact in the communities they serve.

Strengthening our bond with openhack

EWB-SWE and openhack aim to work closer together in the future. How this can be achieved was another main topic discussed during the Advisory Board meeting. A concrete example of how the two organizations can collaborate is the upcoming Engineering for Humanity hackathon on November 12-14, 2021. The aim is to make the hackathon an annual event. The advisory board pondered how we can grow this event format through creative partnership structures. 

Beyond discussing concrete activities by the EWB-SWE team, the Advisory Board also examined how we can become better at communicating about our work to both partners and the general public. One question asked during the meeting was whether EWB-SWE should keep English as our main language of communication, or if we should instead communicate more in Swedish on social media and other external communication channels.

If you are a member of EWB-SWE and want to share your thoughts on how we can improve, please take five minutes to fill out our member survey (closing on October 31, 2021.)