Board Elections 2024
Every year, new directors from national EWBs are elected to the board of EWB International. This year, each national EWB on the website list received 5 votes. Voting opened on January 17th 2024, and each designated voter was emailed directly with voting instructions, a link to the voting platform, and the individual voting password. Everyone then has 2 weeks to cast their vote, the last day being January 31st, 2024.
There are seven (7) candidates up for election, sorted alphabetically by their EWB’s country/region. Each of them provided a headshot, a written statement, and a video.
Peter S Nzabanita
EWB East Africa, Executive Director
I aim to bring my extensive leadership and engineering experience to the EWB International Board, contributing to the global engineering community’s efforts to create sustainable solutions for developing regions. My career in impactful engineering projects, program management, and social impact engineering aligns with EWB’s mission to support community-driven development programs worldwide. My experience with EWB East Africa as an Executive Director has given me a unique perspective on the challenges and opportunities in engineering for sustainable development.
I am passionate about harnessing the power of engineering to build a better future, particularly in underdeveloped regions. My experience and proven track record in engineering make me a valuable asset to the EWB International Board.
Luis Eveline
EWB Honduras, Director
Our outstanding project is called: Barrio Engineer, IDB, (Engineer of the Neighborhood), a project that is in the process of its launch in January 2024, and consists first of providing training in community volunteering and linking, increasing membership in EWB- Honduras. With the IDB, the engineers of Honduras will be oriented to be Volunteers, so that an engineer assigned to a neighborhood can develop its leadership, forming relevant human behavior, mapping infrastructure needs, profile projects, guide the patronage of the neighborhood for best governance and correct use of their resources, accompany meetings in government agencies and support in the constraint of projects. This IDB project will come to fill a great empty in the development of the neighborhoods of Honduras and other countries. Initially, the IDB will provide its volunteer hours with small funds from the central government or international entities to cover its minimum expenses, until the process becomes sustainable.
Rajeev Lal
EWB India, Director on the Board
I envision EWB International as a global community of engineers, contributing in achieving UN SDGs. My endeavor as a Director will be to enhance its role in:
Greater visibility in, and collaboration with global organizations, governments, engineering ecosystem, academics and general public
Creating a network of donors
Helping EWBs improve lives of economically weaker sections and protecting the environment
Cooperation and sharing between member EWBs. Common policies, systems and processes.
Quantitative evaluation of impact of projects
Improving quality of engineering education
I join workshops of EWBI. I promote entries by our Student Chapters in WEF Hackathon, and volunteered to be a judge.
I am associated with EWB-India for about 15 years, am a Life Member and a Director. We take up projects like eLearning centers, water, sanitation, and infrastructure upgrades in orphanages and govt. schools to serve economically weaker sections.
I drafted a Student Chapters Handbook. I play a key role in organizing our annual All India Meets- agenda, events, arranging keynote speakers, etc.
I have been a judge in contests held by us. I am working on revamping our website.
My ex-employers, CYIENT and Belcan, donate to EWB-India. Their employees participate in furthering its cause and in executing projects.
I headed divisions and departments in companies – acquiring skills in leadership, communication, business management, marketing etc. I was on the boards of some companies.
Kapil Dev Regmi
EWB Nepal, President
I envision an EWB that serves as a beacon of unified global action via partnership where every country learns from each other. I aim to catalyze EWB’s expansion into SAARC countries, positioning Nepal as a regional hub. This strategic initiative aims to amplify our local impact on a global scale.
I along with my very passionate team have engineered EWBN’s rapid growth, transforming it into one of Nepal’s growing Social Sector Institutions. Moreover, my tenure leading prominent educational institutions in Nepal for two and a half decades has been instrumental.
I always intend to seek collaborative pathways among EWB worldwide. Through in-person visits and online meet-ups, I have fostered relationships with EWB Singapore, Germany, Switzerland, Finland, Israel, and India among others. These interactions form a global network for impactful partnerships.
My engagements as a Treasurer for the Self-Help Group for Cerebral Palsy, leadership within global networks like stars, and cross-cultural affiliations as Vice President of the Shalom Club assist me in multiple ways.
I’m passionate about being part of the EWB global movement and bringing synergy to it. EWB’s ethos resonates deeply with my vision.
In conclusion, I strongly believe that my candidacy will bring a larger good to society.
Karl Ove Ingebrigtsen
EWB Norway, Chairman of the Board of Directors
I strongly believe in strengthening the global EWB movement in a way that makes the national EWBs stronger and give more possibilities to join forces in humanitarian engineering for a sustainable and just world.
As Chairman and member of the Board in EWB-Norway for the last five years, I’ve been following closely the growth of a young organization from 2 employees with some hundred volunteers, to 6 employees with more than a thousand volunteers. Alongside my professional experiences from international manager roles for teams across the globe, this will be my base for contributing to the Board in EWB-I. I will also benefit from my experience with hands-on volunteering myself. As a volunteer in EWB-Norway I have been involved in our project Waste for Warmth (W4W), where I was responsible for the HSE (Health Safety and Environmental) assessment performed for the main equipment used in the production of isolation. The aim of W4W is to use plastic waste to make insulation products for warm and safe shelters and provide work opportunities for displaced people. https://www.
My vison for EWB-International is to continue the important development of a body that helps to coordinate, promote and strengthen the global EWB movement. My work will focus on enhancing the collaboration between the national EWBs, promote greater collective recognition and influence, and strengthen the cooperation towards greater collective integrity and impactful humanitarian engineering.
Abduqadir Yusuf
EWB Somalia, CEO
My intent in joining the EWB International Board is rooted in leveraging my diverse skill set and experiences to drive impactful change. As CEO of EWB Somalia, I’ve honed leadership, project management, and community engagement skills, spearheading initiatives tackling water scarcity and environmental justice. My active involvement in global EWB meetings showcased my ability for global collaboration and strategic planning. With a Master’s in Climate Change, Policy, and Society, my expertise aligns with EWB’s commitment to sustainability.
My motivation lies in fostering positive change globally. I’m passionate about supporting the EWB movement’s vision of empowering communities through sustainable engineering solutions. My background in climate change adaptation and mitigation aligns seamlessly with EWB’s goals, evidenced by initiatives such as tree planting in urban areas, combating deforestation, and advocating against plastic waste. I aim to contribute this expertise and passion to the board, furthering EWB’s mission on a larger scale and driving meaningful impact across borders.
Pritchard Mukuka
EWB Zambia, Board Chairperson
I am a true believer that global EWB movement has great potential as a conduit for international collaboration towards a prosperous and equitable world and society. Setting up and leading EWB Zambia over the past 3 years has given me insight, skills and experience on the challenges associated with developing projects in developing communities. These skills include; Project development, fundraising and member/stakeholder engagement. I want to bring this experience to the EWB International board to further strengthen our global impact and build capacity in developing communities. My vision is to see EWB International become the development partner of choice for international cooperation.
Being part of other international networks that would enable me link our work in the EWB network with potential partners and collaborators, such as the IEEE INSIGHT group and the Forum Alpbach Network of the European Forum Alpach. Through these networks, I hope to bring in new projects.
Coming from a developing country and understanding the challenges that come with running an EWB with extremely limited resources, I desire to see all EWBs to become sustainable and thrive especially those in developing countries. Therefore, given the opportunity to serve as a board member, I will support capacity building activities by strengthening EWB national members’ engagement as well as increase north-south and south-south collaboration among national EWBs.