The welfare impacts of Engineers Without Borders in western Kenya

Abstract

The undergraduate chapter of Engineers Without Borders at Montana State University (EWB-MSU) work towards improvement of student welfare by providing bore hole wells and composting latrines to primary schools in Khwisero, Kenya. These projects seek to improve the safety of drinking water at the school, increase school attendance and performance and decrease time spent collecting water in these communities. Data were collected from 776 households in Khwisero in order to measure the organization's impact. Instrumental variable methods are used to analyze EWB-MSU's impact on health outcomes, while fixed effect analysis is used to investigate the impact on education and time-use outcomes. No impact is detected on student health or education due to EWB-MSU projects but households surrounding EWB-MSU water projects spend almost one minute fewer, on average, traveling to their primary water source relative to other households.