Renewable-Energy
Sustainability
Innovation
Community
Empowerment
Engineering
Collaboration
Development
Hope
Volunteerism
Community Realities in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka has improved access to safe drinking water from 76% in 2006 to 93.2% in 2020, and safe sanitation from 91.2% in 2016 to 92.1% in 2019. However, regional disparities remain, especially in the estate sector. The country aims to achieve 100% safe water access by 2025, end open defecation by 2025, and ensure universal safe sanitation by 2030. Budget Brief: Water Sanitation and Hygiene (Wash) Sector Sri Lanka 2021
The Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2016 revealed that access to safe drinking water was 98.2% in the Western Province while it was just 71.2% and 77.7% in the North-Central and Central Province respectively Budget Brief: Water Sanitation and Hygiene (Wash) Sector Sri Lanka 2021
"The greatness of a nation is not measured by how much it can accomplish, but by how it uplifts its most disadvantaged people.”
Mahatma Gandhi
They need our help
Why Do We need to Help?
Enhancing Community Well-being:
Humanitarian Approach:
At the heart of our mission is the belief that every individual deserves access to basic human needs such as clean water, sanitation, shelter, and energy. Many rural and marginalized communities in Sri Lanka still lack these essentials, leading to health issues, social inequality, and limited opportunities for growth.
How EWB-SL Helps:
EWB-SL collaborates with local stakeholders to assess community needs through participatory methods. We design low-cost, sustainable engineering solutions such as gravity-fed water supply systems, composting toilets, and off-grid solar installations. These solutions not only improve day-to-day living conditions but also uplift the dignity and self-worth of residents.
Building Resilient Infrastructure:
Humanitarian Approach:
Natural disasters disproportionately affect the most vulnerable populations. Without resilient infrastructure, these communities face repeated cycles of loss, displacement, and hardship. Humanitarian engineering focuses on protecting lives and livelihoods.
How EWB-SL Helps:
Our teams design flood-resistant housing, slope stabilization systems, and community shelters using locally available materials and appropriate technologies. We work with disaster-prone villages to map risks and co-create infrastructure that prioritizes safety, functionality, and local capacity building.
Improving Education and Awareness:
Humanitarian Approach:
Access to education and awareness creates a ripple effect—changing lives, communities, and systems. We see knowledge as a powerful tool to eradicate poverty and build resilience.
How EWB-SL Helps:
Through university chapters, rural outreach programs, and public engagement events, we create platforms for young engineers to interact with real-world problems. Our mentorship programs and collaborative workshops nurture leadership, empathy, and a service-oriented mindset among future professionals.
Humanitarian Responsibility:
Humanitarian Approach:
Engineering is not just a profession—it’s a commitment to society. EWB-SL is founded on the principle that technical knowledge must be used to serve humanity, especially those left behind.
How EWB-SL Helps:
We select projects based on humanitarian value, prioritizing marginalized, post-conflict, and under-resourced areas. Our work is guided by compassion, ethics, and inclusivity, ensuring that engineering serves as a bridge—not a barrier—to equality and justice.
Empowering Local Communities:
Humanitarian Approach:
Empowerment means giving people control over their own development. Instead of creating dependency, our focus is on enabling self-reliance through training, shared decision-making, and inclusive participation.
How EWB-SL Helps:
We conduct skill development workshops for youth and community leaders, introduce tools for local maintenance of engineering systems, and promote knowledge transfer in simple, understandable formats. Our engineers serve not just as designers but as facilitators of long-term growth and independence.
Sustainable Development:
Humanitarian Approach:
True sustainability considers people, planet, and prosperity. Our humanitarian duty extends to future generations by ensuring that today’s solutions do not become tomorrow’s burdens.
How EWB-SL Helps:
Our projects align with the UN SDGs, particularly SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation), SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy), and SDG 13 (Climate Action). We promote renewable energy, water conservation, low-carbon building techniques, and environmentally responsible construction practices that blend innovation with cultural and ecological sensitivity.
Addressing Economic Disparities:
Humanitarian Approach:
Economic inequality is both a cause and a consequence of inadequate infrastructure. Our interventions are geared toward closing the development gap through equitable access to resources and opportunities.
How EWB-SL Helps:
We assist in building community marketplaces, improving rural road access, and designing facilities for small-scale enterprises. By enhancing basic infrastructure, we contribute to job creation, local entrepreneurship, and community-led economic growth.
Volunteers
Projects
Engineers Involved
Communities Reached
OUR PROJECTS
Completed Projects
Community Project
Pitigoda Bridge Project
Community Project
Karawwa Bridge Project
Community Project
The Lankaponics Project
Community Project
Pitigoda Bridge Renovation
Community Project
Eluthumadduval Bakery
WORKING PROCESS
Empowering Communities
Disadvantaged Community
EWB-SL teams build trust with the local disabled community through interviews, observations, and surveys to understand their challenges. They collaborate with caregivers, local leaders, NGOs, and medical professionals to gain a well-rounded view of the community’s needs.
Providing Solutions
EWB-SL prioritizes issues like lack of mobility aids, inaccessible infrastructure, and limited job opportunities. They co-design practical, sustainable solutions—such as assistive devices and accessible facilities—with the community, ensuring they are affordable and user-friendly. Projects are implemented with help from volunteers, local craftsmen, and students.
Better Life
Through EWB-SL, communities gain practical, inclusive solutions that improve daily life for people with disabilities. By addressing barriers and empowering locals, the program fosters greater mobility, independence, and access to opportunities—leading to a more inclusive and better quality of life for all.
ENDORSEMENTS
What professionals think about our organization?
Appropriately administrate proactive value with to niche markets. Dramatically target market position idea after high quality best practice. Dramatically synergize open source service
Prof. Priyan Mendis
Professor,
University of Melbourne
Appropriately administrate proactive value with to niche markets. Dramatically target market position idea after high quality best practice. Dramatically synergize open source service
Mr Kapil Dev Regmi
President,
EWB Nepal
Appropriately administrate proactive value with to niche markets. Dramatically target market position idea after high quality best practice. Dramatically synergize open source service
Eng. Shiromal Fernando
Managing Director.
Civil and Structural Engineering
Consultants (Pvt) Ltd
Our Partners
