Landmark Report on the Role of Engineering in Development
By Webmaster, 10 November 2010
If engineering’s role is more visible and better understood more people would be attracted to it as a career. Now and in the years
to come, we need to ensure that motivated young women and men concerned about problems in the developing world continue
to enter the fi eld in suffi cient numbers. It is estimated that some 2.5 million new engineers and technicians will be needed in
sub-Saharan Africa alone if that region is to achieve the Millennium Development Goal of improved access to clean water and
sanitation.
Engineering as a human endeavour is facing numerous challenges, including attracting and retaining broader cross-sections of our youth, particularly women; strengthening the educational enterprise; forging more effective interdisciplinary alliances with the natural and social sciences and the arts; enhancing our focus on innovation, entrepreneurship and job creation, and; promoting increased public awareness and support for the engineering enterprise. This volume, the first UNESCO Report on engineering, is an attempt to contribute to greater international understanding of the issues, challenges and
opportunities facing engineering, with a particular focus on contributions of our discipline to sustainable development.
