EWB's Mission and Vision

Have you ever had to condense detailed and extensive feedback of over 600 people into two sentences?  Two short sentences.  I can tell you it is tough.  I was fortunate enough to be invited by Lizzie Brown, CEO of EWB Australia, to participate in the refresh of EWB Australia’s Mission and Vision Statements.  I was joined by numerous other representatives from EWB Australia; we also refreshed, debated, spruiked and clarified the organisation’s values and definition for humanitarian engineering and created a culture statement.   

In addition, what made this even more challenging and exciting was the fact that EWB Australia and EWB New Zealand have decided to join forces and create common statements and values.  Over a period of two months, we arranged numerous teleconferences and met for a workshop/conference in Melbourne.  I never thought that I would have such intense debate about the words “and”, “the” and “our”! Following many conversations, a few compromises, and a sanity check every now and then, Lizzie Brown and the EWB Australia Board of Directors will finalise the Identity Refresh in the coming month or so.  We hope to publish it with much fanfare in early 2012. 

What all the participants of the workshop did agree on was that there is so much passion, pride and enthusiasm for our organisation.  With over 600 people responding to the survey and numerous local workshops around the country, I felt very privileged to be able to contribute to EWB as they clarify, improve and collaborate on what EWB stands for.  At EWB, we firmly believe in getting things right – whether it is our mission statement and values, our partnerships with local communities, or our planning and implementation of engineering processes, we strive for ongoing excellence and collaboration. 

EWB: planning, improving and interacting

James Fitzgerald
President
EWB Victoria Region