**2. Scope and objectives**

In 2009, the Department of Civil Engineering of the School of Architecture, Engineering and Design of the European University began an international cooperation project to offer students the opportunity to carry out final degree projects (TFG) and final projects. Master's degree (TFM) in real contexts, but in countries with lower rates of economic development than Spain.

The first three years the students travel to Ethiopia, in 2012 to Guatemala and, from 2013 to 2019, to Honduras. It was about putting into practice the knowledge learned in the classroom in real contexts but very different from those existing in their environment. In these circumstances the student was forced to set different working schemes, with significant opening exercise in relation to the knowledge acquired in a Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) from Europa. Some advances in these works have been published by Bernaldo, MO et al. [14].

One of the main differences was in the considerations that they had to adopt in relation to sustainability, the weighting of the balance between environment, society and economy and the possibility of implementing solutions that would bring technological innovation to the project.

The objective of this article is to carry out an essay and propose a reflection on the state of knowledge in relation to the different sustainability proposals in different contexts in relation to a real case, as well as to review the trends of the western world and the needs of the third world.

## **3. Practical case**

The Universidad Europea (EU) has an international cooperation program, which has been carried out since 2009, where students of all years are incorporated with the aim of carrying out, as already mentioned, the TFG and TFM in real contexts in order to apply the knowledge acquired in the classroom through formal learning to concrete practical cases.

The first project was carried out in Ethiopia with the design and construction of some basic infrastructures identified as priorities for the local society (construction of dams, implementation of water distribution networks, irrigation and sanitation) and the performance of work related to health in the environment of orphanages (studies of diseases, deformities, medication and health system). This project involved disciplines of civil engineering, physiotherapy, pharmacy and medicine. It was financed and supported by the Spanish Agency for Development Cooperation (AECID) and the University of Addis Ababa. Within this framework, it was decided to incorporate the students of the project through a volunteer program, through the development of microprojects and end-of-degree projects/end-of-master projects in real contexts. In the Ethiopia project, a total of seven end-of-degree projects/endof-master projects were carried out in different disciplines (physiotherapy, information and communication engineering and civil engineering).

Subsequently, five students from the Civil Engineering Degree traveled to Guatemala to carry out a study on water distribution systems in the city of Tecpan with the aim of analyzing different alternatives that would guarantee the supply of drinking water to the population. Two final degree projects were carried out in Guatemala.

In 2013 he started a new volunteer program in collaboration with the Cerro Verde Foundation (FCV). It focused on a small village, Cerro Verde, in the Choluteca region of Honduras. This project in Honduras (2013–201 9) is the selected case study.

These volunteer work is carried out in the village of Cerro Verde in Honduras at the request of the Fundación Cerro Verde (FCV) which, knowing the work carried out by the UE in Ethiopia and Guatemala, decides to establish a collaboration agreement to generate synergies between the needs of the local population and the knowledge that the UE has in the university field and in the field of International Cooperation projects to technically solve the requirements of the projects to be tackled in the area.

The village of Cerro Verde is located in southern Honduras, one of the most depressed areas of the country, without water or electricity, where for some years they have suffered a severe drought that has decimated crops and forced part of the population to emigrate. to the United States and Europe. In this context, a series of changes in the village are addressed, aimed at improving the quality of life in the village.

Among all these improvements, it is worth highlighting the significant change that has occurred at the educational level. In the village there was a school that allowed the population of the area to undertake primary studies, from first to sixth, from 6 to 11 years. High school and university studies forced students to move to other towns. This situation meant that the inhabitants of that area, both in the village of Cerro Verde and in the neighboring villages, dropped out of school given the economic difficulty of assuming the economic expenses that for the families the displacement of their children to other towns. This economic difficulty has two biases, the first one to pay the economic amount that the trip to school and the other, although it is indirect, it is no less important, and it is the one that has to do with the poor condition of the accesses between populations and the time that children/young people would spend on these movements. It must be taken into account that, in the conditions in which this population lives, the participation of all members of the family in domestic, agricultural and livestock tasks is essential, if a lot of time is spent traveling to school, it is not necessary. They can dedicate themselves to these tasks.

In this context, the FCV decided to expand the school that would include all the courses prior to entering the University and avoid dropping out at an early age. This expansion greatly benefited the inhabitants of the village of Cerro Verde, but for the population of nearby villages the problem remained the same. This meant going from a school that housed studies for 53 children to a school that currently has 355 children from the Cerro Verde Village and 15 other nearby villages.

For this reason, it was decided to design a mobility plan that would prevent students from walking the path, in some cases the time exceeded two hours for each route, and a mobility plan was designed that consisted of hiring the services of a bus with a tour that will reach most of the surrounding villages, funded by the FCV,

and allow students to invest less time on the route to school. This tour is done in a gasoline bus, with many years old.

Although it is considered an ideal solution to favor the highest possible schooling of students in the area, the analysis of this mobility plan from the perspective of some indicators of sustainability, such as environmental and economic ones, holds up worse.

From an environmental perspective, student mobility plans in more developed countries are being designed, thinking of low-polluting vehicles and/or the creation of safe routes for the student to either walk or cycle by favoring and promoting healthy exercises from an early age.

And, from the economic perspective, the non-institutional nature of the economic endowment of the mobility plan leaves the continuity of the project and, therefore, its sustainability to the risk of the financing of a private foundation.

Regarding water resources, the village of Cerro Verde did not have a water distribution network. This forced the inhabitants to make long journeys on foot for sourcing when sources close to the village were exhausted, a situation that happened several times over a year. This provision was not only for human consumption, but also for livestock and agriculture, sectors that constitute the way of life of the population.

This situation led the FCV to execute a drinking water distribution network for human consumption from the water extracted from one of the two wells, it executes two.

The critical situation in the population 's has led to the use of the water obtained drinking from this well not only for human consumption, but for agriculture and livestock. In addition, if the estimated water consumption before implementation of the distribution network water was about 10 times less than the usual consumption in a developed country is logical to think that this value increases significantly with the ease and convenience reporting n networks water distribution. This situation can generate in the future a situation of overexploitation of the aquifer that can lead to a decrease in the piezometric or water table level to the point that the springs dry up and the flow of the rivers is diminished or exhausted, even to their contamination.

Since this is the only viable solution for a population so neglected by the institutions, from the perspective of sustainability, agricultural, technological and management policies that consider the local/regional context would be necessary to provide solutions that considering the social, economic and environmental impact, it would allow establishing strategies at the regional level to guarantee the continuity of the project. The proper management of the water resources is the key to ensuring the sustainability of a water project and that requires institutions to be involved in a holistic manner in decision-making and financing of projects.

The abandonment of institutions in this region affects both the supply of water to the population and the installation of sanitation networks, both in relation to the very existence of the infrastructure and the quality and provision of services of the existing ones.

Regarding the electricity supply, the village did not have electricity, there were only some houses with solar panels that allowed them to charge batteries and light a light bulb, the rest of the population depended on the solidarity of the neighbors. About recharging mobile phone batteries, it must be considered that many family members work far or even abroad, so their only way to maintain family ties is through this type of device.

For this reason, local institutions were involved in the construction of the electrical network and thus provide the area with electricity supply. This has meant a very significant improvement to the population that has allowed them to expand

their way of life with businesses that were previously unviable and, in addition, the use and access to common technologies in any home that were not possible without electricity. It goes without saying that, in addition, it makes lighting possible inside and outside the houses. It was difficult to study in school on rainy days without lighting.

According to the analysis of the electricity sector and its efficiency carried out by Flores, MA [26] in Honduras, it points out the lack of interest on the part of the administrations as the reason for the lack of energy efficiency in the country, a fundamental element for sustainable development. In addition, the study leads him to conclude that there is no rational use of energy, an aspect that reduces competitiveness, in the sense that the production of wealth has a high economic cost and a significant environmental impact. Among the general energy policy objectives set by the government in 2010, 2 are worth highlighting:


This approach clashes head-on with the reality that the FCV encountered in 2013 when it first arrived in the village.

By last in the part relating to the building, l should mention that a large majority of the houses are built with local materials, constructions of clay, tile and wood requires high maintenance. The torrential rains, which are common in that area, along with use and age of the houses, generates significant impairments that require significant and costly repairs. This has led the inhabitants to use more resistant materials that require less maintenance, such as the concrete that they use both for repairs and for the construction of new homes.

The use of the area's own materials for the construction of buildings, in addition to being a more sustainable practice, has generated, throughout the history of humanity, a seal of identity of the peoples favoring constructions that show a certain mimicry with the environment. The village of Cerro Verde is characterized using materials from the environment for construction, but a gradual transformation is observed, coupled with the growing purchasing power of its inhabitants. This transformation has led to the change towards the use of more resistant materials that require less maintenance to the detriment of the use of indigenous materials.

It is necessary to consider how to optimize the use of materials in the area, preserving the type of construction that had been used, taking advantage of its advantages and, looking for a way to improve its properties to favor its use and maintenance, as stated by Rodríguez et al. [25], thus avoiding the economic and environmental costs of acquiring non-native materials.

There is no doubt that the work carried out by the FCV has led to a significant improvement in the quality of life of the inhabitants of the Cerro Verde village and

#### *Globalization and Education: Trends towards Sustainability DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.99974*

nearby towns, allowing a very significant number of children and adolescents to opt for the education, with access to drinking water that prevents both children and women from spending part of their time on family water supply and carrying heavy loads from an early age, as well as opting for electricity that has led them immediately into the 21st century.

Now an important question should be raised: the improvement in the quality of life is more or less sustainable than what they had before the FCV intervention. The fact that these actions are not sponsored by a reliable state that ensures the life of the project is a negative indicator. The lack of that holistic view of the problems in the area and the medium and long-term solutions in the region that can only be provided by administrative managers by evaluating the priorities and real technical and economic possibilities of the country is also a negative indicator.

The importance of accessibility, transport, mobility and infrastructure in improving people's quality of life is not questionable, but this makes environments more unsustainable if they are covered by second or third lives of Western projects and there is no institutional support to ensure the life of the project.
