Engineers in Action

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Engineers in Action

Building bridges. Connecting communities. Creating change-makers.

10/12/2026

The Lokhwishi Suspension Footbridge is now open, bringing safe, year-round connectivity to the communities of KaNdwandwa and Vusweni.

Prior to construction, essential destinations including Nftonjeni High School and the community clinic just 1.2 miles (2 km) away, were blocked by the Phophonyane River. The closest alternative crossing was a 5-mile (8 km) detour to Mshingishingini, and floodwaters regularly isolated the area for up to 30 days at a time. Tragically, three people were injured and one person lost their life attempting to cross the river in the last three years.

This newly completed crossing directly serves 700 daily users (including 300 children) and provides reliable access for 2,000 residents across the wider region.

We extend our appreciation to the local government for their support, to our Eswatini field leadership, and to the dedicated student engineering teams from UCL, McGill, and Southern Indiana (UCL Engineers in Action , McGill Engineers in Action, Engineers In Action University of Southern Indiana) who built side by side with the community.

Essential Infrastructure for All.

10/09/2026

Clean water has arrived at Manyovu High School! 🚰

For the 191 students and 13 staff members, this means no more relying on unsafe water sources, no more depending on rain, and no more facing dry winter months without reliable access to clean water.

Located in Eswatini's Lubombo Region (3.1 miles (5 km) from the nearest paved road and 6.2 miles (10 km) from a health clinic) Manyovu’s lack of safe water was taking a heavy toll. Stomach aches were a regular occurrence for students and teachers alike. Today, reliable water is completely transforming what a school day looks like.

This impact takes a village. Huge thanks to:

⏺️ Local Leadership: The local government and the Ngevini Royal Kraal, who backed this project from day one.

⏺️ Our Field Team: Our incredible Eswatini staff for guiding construction from start to finish.

⏺️ Student Engineers: The team from Cornell and Western ( and ) for designing and building side-by-side with locals.

⏺️ The Community: The KaNgcamphalala Community, who identified this need, built alongside us, and will keep the water flowing for years to come.

That, is how we S.O.A.R

Essential Infrastructure for All.

10/07/2026

Hispanic Heritage Month runs from September 15 to October 15. For us, it isn't just a theme on the calendar, it is the backbone of our entire field operation.

Our work across Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru is driven by in-country staff from our offices in Cochabamba, La Paz, Quito, and Puno. They evaluate sites, partner with municipalities, uphold technical standards, and support projects long after volunteer teams have flown home.

In our S.O.A.R. model, this embodies the O and the R: Orchestrated by Staff, Rooted in Communities. It is also why these structures endure. A bridge stands strong because the engineers who designed it live down the road, and because the community that requested it truly owns it.

To our teams in South America and every community building alongside us: thank you for your skill, dedication, and lasting contributions.

10/06/2026

Round 2: Your top questions, answered! 👇

Never been on a build site before?
Wondering if you'll do real, hands-on work?
Curious about placement length and actual costs?

We’ve got you covered. Check out the cards to see what volunteering on your own is really like.

Start your application today: engineersinaction.org/free-agent-program

10/02/2026

Another completed project for 2026!

The Pili Pili Bajo Pedestrian Bridge is now open.

It spans 42.5 meters over the Río Pescado, in the municipality of Padilla, Chuquisaca, Bolivia.

There was never a reliable river crossing here. People walked into the river and found their way across wherever the water allowed and for roughly 150 days a year, that wasn't possible at all.

Primary education ends at 6th grade at Pili Pili Bajo's Unidad Educativa 29 de Marzo. Beyond that, life's necessities lie 12 miles (20 km) away in Padilla: the secondary school, the hospital, and the local market. For years, a treacherous river stood right between the community and these essential services.

Today, 230 residents (15 of them children) cross freely and safely, with over 300 people across the wider area now benefiting from safe access.

Thank you to the municipality of Padilla, whose backing made this a formal part of local development. To our in-country Bolivia team, who carried this from survey to ribbon. To the student engineers of the Duke chapter (Duke University Engineers in Action), who designed it and built it on site. And most of all to the community of Pili Pili Bajo. You're the reason it will still be standing for generations.

09/30/2026

Safety is in the details. ✨

On every EIA footbridge, our vibrant, nationally colored fencing does double duty: keeping pedestrians secure while celebrating local identity. Engineered to handle extreme weather, high airflow, and heavy daily foot traffic, it ensures every community member crosses with complete peace of mind.

Because when bridges are built safe, opportunities stay open, from children walking to class to traders heading to market.

Essential Infrastructure for All.

www.engineersinaction.org

09/28/2026

A bridge site needs more than .

Yes, there is the engineering people picture: stability calculations, reinforced concrete design, construction drawings, masonry placement, concrete batching and mixing, cable hoisting, and walkway assembly.

But delivering a bridge also takes procurement, scheduling, logistics, safety, project management, coordination with local partners and municipalities, and the kind of supervision that keeps a quality standard in place when a late delivery, bad weather, or a closed road takes days out of an already tight schedule.

That is exactly why our Free Agent Program is built around more than one type of professional experience.

If your working life has taught you how to design, build, manage, coordinate, solve problems, lead teams, improve systems, or keep complex projects moving, there may be a place for that experience on an EIA project.

You apply as an individual and join a team that is already forming: other professionals, student volunteers, EIA in-country staff, Bridge Corps or WASH Corps mentors, local crews, and the community members who identified the project and are building it with us.

If you have years of professional experience and have been looking for a meaningful way to use it outside of your day-to-day work, the Free Agent Program is one way to do it.

Learn more: www.engineersinaction.org/free-agent-program

09/25/2026

There is a version of childhood that most of the world calls normal. You wake up, you go to school, you come home. Nobody in that sentence is thinking about infrastructure, because infrastructure is the thing you only notice when it is missing.

For millions of children it is missing. Not as an emergency, as a permanent condition. The route to school depends on the season. Clean water is a walk, and the walk is hours, and the hours come out of a school day.

That is what we mean by essential. Not helpful. Not extra. It is the difference between a childhood with options and a childhood organized around obstacles.

Communities know precisely what they need, and they have known for a long time. What has been missing is capacity, not clarity. So we work alongside them to build it, with their labor, their knowledge and their decisions shaping the result.

Learn more about our work: engineersinaction.org

09/23/2026

Llama tell you something.🦙

The mountains aren't the problem. Isolation is. And isolation is a design problem, which means it has a solution.

Communities here know exactly what they need. We build it with them: bridges over the rivers that cut them off, water systems that hold up for decades.

No punchline for that part. Just real work.

Engineers in Action | Essential Infrastructure for All.

09/21/2026

Every project this year started the same way: a community naming what it needed, and a team figuring out how to build it with them.

Several are finished. A few are still in the ground. The largest one is still ahead.

That's the work, steady, sequenced, built to last.

Learn more about our work at: engineersinaction.org

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http://engineersinaction.org/

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