‘Now is the time ... for an engineering vision for delivering the UN Millennium Development Goals’ - ICE President Paul Jowitt
On the evening of Tuesday 19 October at One Great George Street, ICE President Paul Jowitt revealed the innovative ‘Engineer’s toolkit for a developing world’. The culmination of a year’s work, the toolkit is a first in the civil engineering field. It is an open-source set of materials and ideas to help engineers plan and deliver infrastructure for international development, poverty alleviation and the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The President described the Apprentices’ journey, including the study of infrastructure development projects in South Africa and attending training workshops in London and at the UNESCO HQ in Paris. This journey and experience allowed them to define the key elements of the toolkit.
ICE President Paul Jowitt, His Excellency Gabriel Machinga (Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to the UK), Charles Ainger (joint lead tutor to the Apprentices), Sam Amod (Past President of the South African Institution of Civil Engineers and scheme tutor) and two of the Apprentices, Fang Fang and Joe Mulligan, gave an insightful introduction about how and why the toolkit came into being, and revealed the end result. A preview of the toolkit is online now and the full version will be freely available to engineers worldwide via the ICE website from the end of November 2010.
“Engineering is at the heart of most human endeavour, and to integrate it in this way to specifically address the problems of the developing world is admirable and to be encouraged. I salute this brilliant and original idea.” Bill Nighy – Actor and Oxfam Global Ambassador
To preview the toolkit, go to ice.org.uk/patoolkit or for more information, view the press release or contact Daphne Guthrie at apprentices@ice.org.uk.