Rather than start new projects from scratch, HEI participants collaborate on pre-existing projects managed by Ingeniería Sin Fronteras (ISF) Argentina. This is a very deliberate decision aimed at avoiding a number of common pitfalls in the humanitarian development sector.

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ISF has an exemplary approach to project selection and development to ensure that projects that are appropriate to the situation and genuinely serve the needs of the community. This takes many months of community consultation, co-design and buy in, that simply cannot be done without a local team. Attempting to assess community needs and design a solution from a foreign country is a common thread in countless failed aid projects.

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Trying to complete quality, impactful engineering solutions from start to finish in a short window when HEI participants are in-country would be inviting logistical nightmares and rushed, poor quality work. ISF is chiefly a volunteer organisation, and so the pace of construction is largely dictated by the availability of volunteers. For urban projects, this is typically one day a week. By providing a dedicated team working full-time for a two-week period, HEI provides a welcome injection of quality resources that significantly accelerates the delivery timeline of the project. However, the ongoing project management is in the hands of experienced, local personnel. Participants can rest assured that the work will continue once they are gone.

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