Tanzania: Supporting an Open school for pregnant and teenage mothers

A school for pregnant and teenage mothers in Tanzania

Since gaining independence in the 1960s, the Tanzanian government has had a policy of expelling pregnant students and adolescent mothers from school. Tens of thousands of young women have been forced to abandon their ambition of completing primary and secondary education. In late 2021 the Tanzanian Ministry of Education officially granted adolescent mothers the right to return to school. Even so, due to the extensive expelling of adolescent mothers over more than six decades, it will take a considerable amount of time before the stigmatisation of the adolescent mothers disappears and their situation improves in Tanzanian society.

Benefits for teenage girls and the community

The main objective of Tumaini is to offer the abandoned mothering and pregnant students in rural Tanzania, a second chance by constructing an Open school with primary and secondary education as well as vocational training. The majority of the students will not be required to pay a tuition fee and the school is planning to provide facilities for child care, kitchen and dining hall, auditorium and dormitories for students needing to be boarding school students, etc. The completed school is planned to have a capacity of at least 450 students both day students and boarding school students.

Collecting data for a deeper understanding

The initial aim has been to collect as much data as possible to get a full understanding of the situation the young mothers are coping with as well as try to listen attentively to the Tumaini organisation what the needs really are. From a visit in August 2022 to Tabora, Malin Sandström, Leader of the Construction collected a great deal of information and specific project requirements. In interviews with some of the girls as well as their parents, they shared dreams and wishes for the future that they hoped the school could help them to accomplish. 

A multidisciplinary and holistic approach

The project itself is technically challenging and will run over a long period of time. Therefore a multidisciplinary team with a holistic approach is being recruited amongst volunteers. The project also has a need to include angels from both education, socialisation and communication within the school and its vicinity. As well as environmental impact, cost effectiveness and sustainability perspective.

Travel diary from Nepal

Field trip to Nepal by Oskar Örling, Partner Coordinator for Build up Nepal

I have worked as a partner coordinator for Build up Nepal on a volunteer basis for the last two years. During these years the collaboration between EWB-SWE and Build up Nepal has flourished and developed into a strong established partnership. I have had the pleasure of working closely with Björn, Founder and Managing Director of Build up Nepal, and very skilled engineers volunteering for EWB-SWE. We have had several projects focusing on developing the technical aspect of Build up Nepal's work.

Due to the pandemic, our visit to Nepal had been postponed, but at the end of November last year we finally had the opportunity to travel to Nepal to learn more about the project and visit our colleagues at the office in Nepal. 

Meeting with Build up Nepal staff

The journey started by encountering Petrus, our newly recruited project manager at a cafe at Arlanda airport. We were both overly excited about the trip and I think Petrus in particular was unsure about what he had just thrown himself into head first. The flight was quite exhausting, but we arrived safely in Kathmandu where we were greeted by one of the Build Up Nepal staff.

Meeting Björn and his wife Bina was like meeting an old friend, having worked with him for a long time, it was amazing to finally see him in person. Together with members of his team - Kajal, Angana, Indra among others - we went through the details of our field trip, and the material testing that Petrus was going to assist with and were shown around the premises of their new office and workshop.

Highlighits of the trip

Together with Marlene, Head of international projects, who arrived the next day, we shared a wonderful week in Nepal. Besides sticking to the planned agenda we had time to experience the chaotic but beautiful city of Kathmandu,  eat the most fantastic food in the world and get to know the all too friendly Nepalese people. But when people ask me what was the highlight of the trip, it is without hesitation meeting and being incredibly warmly welcomed by all the entrepreneurs, school staff and families during the field trip. Each one is a unique encounter that will never be forgotten. We were simply amazed by their ingenuity, charisma and hard work dedicated to creating jobs, businesses and enabling education and safe housing.

A collaboration since 2016

During the years since EWB-SWE started the cooperation with Build Up Nepal, I believe our partnership has had room to deepen a lot and we are lucky to have a partner where the contribution of our engineering expertise really makes a difference. I hope that we can maintain this strong cooperation and of course hope to see Björn and his team soon again!

Namaste, 
/Oskar Örling - Partner Coordinator Build Up Nepal

New Podcast - Meet Marianne from EWB-SWE and Kinna from Sandvik

Meet Marianne Grauers, Board member of Engineers Without Borders Sweden and Kinna Brundin, Global Event and Partnership Manager at Sandvik in a brand new podcast, in which they share their inspiring experiences from one of our projects in Tanzania, discuss the important role of engineers in development and highlight the long-term successful partnership between Sandvik and EWB-SWE.

As a Board member of EWB-SWE, Marianne has been part of our school project with Mavuno in Tanzania for several years. Mavuno Boarding School opened in 2016 and aims to give young girls the opportunity to attend school in a very rural region of the country and prepare them for university studies. In this podcast, she is joined by Kinna, responsible for the collaboration with EWB-SWE at Sandvik who visited the school in September 2022 and shares her experience from the field trip.

Call for Board Nominations

Are you looking for a way to contribute to our cause and make an impact? Do you have ideas to help Engineers Without Borders Sweden become a stronger organization? 2023 call for nominations to the Board is now open!

Deadline: February 19th

Engineers Without Borders Sweden´s Board has the overall responsibility for the organization and mainly works with the development of the organization and support for the management team of 4 full-time employees. In line with the launch of our new strategy for 2023-2027, we are taking a more strategic approach to our cause and are looking for new Board members to lead the way, bring a breadth of skills and perspectives, and make a significant impact on our organization and for the communities we engage with.

In the role as Board member, you get to work with competent colleagues and participate in the organizational development of our growing organization. 

What we are looking for is an individual who:

• has a strategic mindset

• can support a non profit and growing organization

• has a broad experience in strategy, growth and follow-up

In the role as Board member, you are expected to:

• dedicate approx. 4-6 hours of work per month for Board meetings, ongoing Board work and work with the organization's management;

• share your expertise, contribute with challenging questions and, if possible, act as a sounding board for EWB-SWE´s team.

Does this sound like an interesting role for yourself or someone you know? Share your nomination with our election committee before February 19th > election.committee@ewb-swe.org

For questions about the work within the Board, please contact Jan Byfors, acting Secretary General and Board member > jan.byfors@ewb-swe.org

Engineers Without Borders Sweden celebrates 15 years of impact!

It's official - EWB-SWE has turned 15! As we reach this important milestone for our organization, we couldn't think of a better way to mark the occasion than to gather our amazing community for two days of celebration, throwback, inspiration, learning and networking.

It all started in 2007 when a handful of students and a retired engineer initiated Engineers Without Borders in Sweden. A lot has happened since. And there is so much more to look forward to. 

On November 11th, we had the pleasure to invite our members, volunteers, partners and stakeholders to a celebration evening at Ingenjörshuset in Stockholm, honoring our 15 years of engineering for humanity and social impact for the communities we engage with. Following two years of digital events, we are grateful to be able to meet again with our fabulous community of like-minded people standing behind our vision and supporting our ambitions to use humanitarian engineering to engage, inspire and unite people to build sustainable communities.

A growing community 

After a quick walk down memory lane featuring how our organization and its impact have grown over the years, we took a chance to honor our volunteers who play a pivotal role in our work. Together, they form a network of passionate and experienced people bringing their skills and experiences to our projects, activities and organization, carrying out most of the important work of EWB-SWE. 

Our work is also powered by the commitment of corporate partners and supporting companies and we are thrilled that so many joined us. We are incredibly happy to see our community of partners growing year after year and grateful for the funding and knowledge-sharing they offer to increase our impact and develop our activities further.

Engineering for a sustainable future

EWB-SWE mobilizes its engineering expertise to power innovative solutions and solve challenges related to poverty and global development. We believe that engineering is a critical enabler of change for communities in need - a vision also shared among the global community of Engineers Without Borders organizations.

 We are grateful to our keynote speaker Joe Mulligan, “Change Maker” at our sister organization EWB-UK, for joining us on stage and sharing spot-on thoughts on globally responsible engineering. Based on his extensive engineering experience in different contexts, Joe emphasized the role and the importance of engineering in the development of our societies and our globe, as well as the four principles of globally responsible engineering: purpose, inclusivity, regeneration, and responsibility. We see many synergies in our approach, putting global responsible engineering on the map for a sustainable future for all, and look forward to a stronger collaboration with EWB-UK. 

Member Day 

The second day of our weekend was dedicated to Members Day - an important arena for our organization to build our community and also share new ideas and thoughts on how we can improve our work. Over 60 members joined on this sunny Saturday to network, get inspired, shape the future of the organization, and have fun! 

Throughout the day, we focused on social impact through humanitarian engineering and the important role of our members in achieving this. First, we deep dived into the concept of social impact and how it links to our work at EWB-SWE. We then had the privilege to hear more on humanitarian engineering and the engineers' role from Keven Passino, Director of the Humanitarian Engineering Center - Ohio, and writer of the book: Humanitarian Engineering: Advancing Technology for Sustainable Development Research. The last part of the day was dedicated to workshops based on some of our ongoing projects to invite our members to think beyond the technical solution and share perspectives on our work. 

Until we meet again

This fall's events were truly inspirational and we are very much looking forward to the next time we all meet again soon. There is quite an exciting journey ahead of us and we will rely on our community to reach our ambitions. Thank you for your continuous support and commitment toward Engineering for Humanity!