Engineers Without Borders
University of Maryland, College Park
Manual for Current and Prospective Project Leaders
by [redacted]
May 9, 2013
Table of Contents
Abstract3
Introduction4
Background on EWB-USA and College Park Chapter5
Project Leader Chapter Responsibilities5
EWB-USA Reporting Process6
Fundraising and Grant Writing7
Chapter-Specific Travel Preparations8
Leadership During Travel13
Conclusion14
Works Cited15
Appendices16
Appendix 1: Contact Table16
Appendix 2: Example Travel Team Application16
Appendix 3: Example Packing List17
Abstract
The University of Maryland, College Park chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB-USA) is a non-profit student organization that implements sustainable engineering projects in developing communities. The following document is a manual that describes the roles, responsibilities, and best practices of project leaders within the chapter. Although this manual can serve as a resource for any member within the organization, it is targeted at current and prospective project leaders.
The body of this manual is split into six sections (excluding the Introduction and Conclusion sections). The first section provides background and historical information about EWB-USA and the College Park chapter. The next five sections document tasks and processes that project leaders must be familiar with to be successful in their projects. The goal of this manual is to enhance the efficiency and quality of chapter projects by consolidating all information relevant to project leadership. All project leaders will have access to this document through the online chapter archives.
Introduction
Our chapter of EWB-USA provides students with the unique opportunity to spearhead the design and implementation of engineering projects in underdeveloped communities. Leading a project within the organization is a large responsibility to undertake, especially for the majority of project leaders who are undergraduate students. The purpose of this manual is to provide leaders with a comprehensive guide to effective and successful project management.
Several factors motivated the creation of this document. The first factor is that preparing to travel under the banner of EWB-USA involves careful maneuvering through the red tape of the national organization and the university. A new project leader is likely to find many of the steps involved in this process unexpected and unfamiliar. To alleviate this struggle, the manual presents a thorough and consistent description of travel preparation and documentation. Second, the executive board of the chapter has recently created initiatives working towards quality assurance and membership education. This document is aligned with these goals because it extends beyond a discussion of logistics and delves into best practices in a project leadership position. Last, there is currently no document in our chapter archives that provides a full description of the project leader position. The manual will fill this void, which has been present since the establishment of our chapter.
To be most effective, this manual should be a living document that is periodically updated by a current project leader. This is necessary because the procedures associated with project leadership are dependent on the dynamic bureaucratic structure surrounding travel. The manual is only as relevant as the date on the cover page, and it may become outdated if it is not maintained by future chapter leaders.
Background on EWB-USA and College Park Chapter
EWB-USA is a national non-profit organization focused on implementing infrastructural projects in developing nations around the world. Founded in 2002 by Dr. Bernard Amadei, the group consists of over 250 chapters, about 180 of which are university chapters. Since its founding, the organization has implemented 350 projects in more than 45 different countries. On its website, EWB-USA defines its mission as their support of “community-driven development programs worldwide by collaborating with local partners to design and implement sustainable engineering projects” (“Our Story”). This theme of partnership between chapters and communities is the core to the organization’s philosophy of international development. The College Park chapter of the organization became an SGA-recognized organization in the spring of 2004 (“About Us”) and since has implemented a variety of projects in communities across the globe.
Project Leader Chapter Responsibilities
The primary role of project leaders within the organization is to manage foreign development projects. One task associated with this role is the organization of weekly project meetings. Project leaders must work with the chapter’s vice president (see Appendix 1 for contact information) to reserve a room for a meeting. These meetings generally consist of project updates and allocation of tasks to team members, but they sometimes involve doing design work or compiling a design document. Another task associated with project management is the presentation of budget information to the organization’s executive board. According to the constitution of the chapter, the leader “will be responsible for submitting budget updates to be shared with the treasurer each month” (“Constitution” 4). Prior to travel, a project leader must present a full pre-travel budget to the board to get approval for project funding.
As members of the organization’s executive board, project leaders also have many responsibilities to the chapter unrelated to project management. Project leaders must attend weekly board meetings in which board members discuss the direction and operation of the chapter. Also, project leaders are expected to actively participate in the organization and oversight of major fundraising and outreach events. Finally, project leaders must periodically speak at chapter General Body Meetings and presentations to various departments in the engineering school.
EWB-USA Reporting Process
EWB-USA has implemented an extensive reporting process to ensure that all chapter projects meet professional standards of design quality. Every submission in this process is reviewed by a professional engineer on the staff of EWB-USA, who subsequently provides feedback on the presented plans or designs. Final design documents are also reviewed by a Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), which consists of several professional engineers who must vet proposals before approving teams for travel. Each of the documents that are part of the typical project implementation cycle is described below. This information is condensed from the “Reporting Process” section in the EWB-USA member pages. For more detail, project leaders should follow the link corresponding to this section in this manual’s reference list.
Report Title / Description521 Pre-Assessment / Presents the project team’s technical and logistical plans for an upcoming assessment trip. The goal of the report is to show that the team is prepared to successfully obtain all information necessary for a subsequent implementation trip.
522 Post-Assessment / Conveys all relevant information about assessment trip activities to the EWB-USA reviewer. This includes data analysis and photo documentation.
523 Alternatives Analysis / Shows the team’s process of comparing and contrasting alternative design approaches to the infrastructural problem it wishes to address.
524 Preliminary Design / Thoroughly explains the team’s first attempt at designing a system to implement in the community that they are working in. The document contains schematics, calculations, and preliminary budgeting.
525 Pre-Implementation / Documents the team’s final design for the engineering solution to be implemented. This report includes final design drawings and calculations, as well as logistical plans surrounding travel.
526 Post-Implementation / Similar to the 522 Post-Assessment report, prevents all relevant information about implementation trip activities. This includes photo documentation and in-country testing of the implemented design.
Health and Safety Plan (HASP) / Documents the plans and preparations for emergency procedures during travel.
Table 1. Description of required reports in EWB-USA project cycle
Fundraising and Grant Writing
Chapter projects often cost in excess of $30,000 for a full cycle, and therefore fundraising efforts are crucial to the operation of our organization. There is a fundraising team within the chapter that is entirely dedicated to these efforts, but project teams are expected to volunteer at fundraising events and write applications for project grants. Regarding grant money, chapter vice president Abby Iacangelo explains that “by reaching out to different corporations and receiving grant money the organization is able to fund all of the projects while involving the local companies in the organization's work” (Iacangelo).
Fundraising activities include selling concessions, running a silent auction, and promoting our biannual Bands Without Borders benefit concert. Project leaders should encourage team members to participate in these activities and remind them that fundraising experience is one of the most important factors in choosing travel teams. For grant writing, project leaders should assign certain members of the team the task of preparing grant application materials. Grant applications usually call for an extensive history of the project that the grant would fund. The team members leading the grant writing cause should have experience with the project and have access to project documentation.
One potentially effective method of dividing team efforts between design work and fundraising is to follow the “dual-team” model of international engineering projects. In an EWB-USA project at Marquette University, the project team was split between students dedicated to doing technical design work and those dedicated to preparing for implementation via fundraising and developing travel logistics. The result was described as “successful interdisciplinary student teamwork to accomplish tasks and fulfill project requirements” (Borg 184).
Chapter-Specific Travel Preparations
Receiving travel approval from EWB-USA is just the beginning of a long travel preparation process that is specific to the University of Maryland chapter. This section describes all of the steps of this process in detail. Some of these steps are directly related to university travel requirements, whereas others are simply standard practices within the chapter.
Travel Team Selection
The first step in travel preparation is to select a travel team from student team members and mentors. Mentor selection is almost always straightforward because there are generally just enough mentors working on a project to fulfill the mentorship positions required by EWB-USA. Student member selection is more complicated because there are usually fewer travel slots available than there are interested students.
Travel team selection begins when a project leader creates and distributes a travel team application. An example application, used to select students for traveling on an assessment trip for the Compone, Peru Water Supply project in January 2013, is presented in Appendix 2. The application should be designed to identify the best candidates based on the criteria that are supported by our chapter. In general, the project leader should seek to select students who have a history of being very involved in project activities and the organization as a whole. Some candidates might have a leg up on the competition because they possess a particular skill that is relevant to travelling (speaking the language of the travel destination is a common example). Also, the application should ask for the student to list the fundraising activities that they have participated in during their time with the organization. The chapter considers this criterion to be a prerequisite for travelling, because it is one of the few ways to incentivize potential fundraising volunteers.
After collecting all applications from students, the project leader should set up a meeting with the chapter’s faculty adviser and the current chapter president to discuss team selection. During the meeting, the project leader will be advised on team selection, and will eventually choose which students will fill the available slots.
Plane Tickets and Travel Insurance
Before purchasing plane tickets and travel insurance, a project leader needs to collect personal information from each travel team member. The data fields required from each person are listed below:
UID Number / First Name / Last Name / Project RoleDate of Birth / Passport Number / Gender / Country of Citizenship
Permanent Phone / Email Address
Note that a UID Number is not applicable for professional mentors who are not directly affiliated with the university. The best way to obtain the majority of this information while ensuring its accuracy is to get a scanned copy of each traveler’s passport. This eliminates the risk of disagreement between a name on a plane ticket and a name on a passport, which could lead to issues going through airport security.
The University of Maryland contracts with three different travel agencies for the coordination of trips related to university activities (“Travel Agencies”). Our chapter works with Globetrotter Travel for all plane tickets (see Appendix 1 for contact information). To reserve plane tickets, a project leader must call Globetrotter Travel with all traveler information (listed above) readily available. The project leader needs to know the departure and return date for each traveler (these can differ from person to person) and the airport that each traveler will fly out of (this is almost always Dulles International Airport). The agent from Globetrotter will purchase tickets and assemble travel itineraries for each team member.
All travel team members affiliated with the university are required to purchase the UMD International Health Insurance Plan, which is administered by Cultural Insurance Services International (CISI). Team members are automatically enrolled in this insurance plan and are billed to their university accounts (“International Health”). Those team members who are not affiliated with the university (e.g. professional mentors) must purchase travel insurance separately and be reimbursed by our chapter.
Packing List and Master Travel Document
The project leader must assemble some informational materials for traveling team members prior to departure. The first document in this category is the packing list for the trip. This informal document should provide a suggested checklist of all of the materials and supplies that a traveler should pack for the trip. The chapter saves packing lists from previous trips for project leaders to reference in the future, but the contents of a list will change based on destination and duration of travel. An example packing list is provided in Appendix 3.
The second document in this category is the Master Travel Document. This document is a condensed presentation of the logistics and safety information relevant to travelers. Table 2 below lists and describes the required sections of this document. At least one member of the team must print a copy of the Master Travel Document to pack for travel. Also, the project leader should ask travelers to send an electronic copy of this document to their families prior to departure.
Section Title / DescriptionTravel Team Members / Lists full names and positions of all travelers. Also includes telephone number and email addresses
Flight Details / Describes the full flight itinerary for every traveler. This should include airline; flight numbers; departure times, dates, and locations; and arrival times, dates, and locations.
Community Contacts / Lists the names, phone numbers, and emails (if available) of the most important contacts in the community that is the destination of the trip.
Schedule and Gantt Chart / Provide a graphical representation of the tasks and timeline associated with the trip.
Accommodations / Include any hotels or hostels that the team will be staying in during the trip.
Locations of Aid / Describe the size and staffing of any hospitals or health posts close to travel locations.
Embassy Information / Provide contact information for the U.S. embassy in the country that the team is travelling to.
Protocols for Emergencies / Sample a summary of the safety plan from the HASP document described in the “EWB-USA Reporting Process” section of this manual.
Table 2. Description of sections required in the Master Travel Document
Schedule Review Meeting
The project leader must organize and run a schedule review meeting prior to travel. All travel team members and the chapter faculty adviser must be present at this meeting. During the meeting, the project leader will present a schedule of activities for each day of the upcoming trip. Tasks in the trip should be allocated to specific team members. Note that two or three tasks can be listed in parallel if the team is split up appropriately. After receiving feedback on the presented schedule, the project leader will revise the schedule and pack a printed copy with travel supplies.
Finances and Travel Approval
There are two possible methods for financing trip expenses directly related to the project (i.e. not including lodging and food expenses for team members). The first method, which is often used for less expensive assessment trips, is to pay for travel expenses out of pocket and get a reimbursement after travel. This reimbursement comes from chapter funds and is accessible through the Civil Engineering Office. Stephanie Peters, a business manager in that office, is the primary contact for working out these reimbursements (see Appendix 1 for contact info). The second method for financing is to obtain a working fund for the project. This method is generally used for implementation trips, which are more costly. Ms. Peters is also the main contact for this financing method. Note that the process for obtaining a working fund is far from immediate, and so a project leader should begin working on this financing method as soon as possible after travel has been approved by EWB-USA.