A party of about 17 people is travelling to the island of Paama in September, to design and implement projects such as water disinfection, desalination, pumps and gravity-based water systems.
The group will include 10 civil engineering students and recent graduates, as well as polytechnic staff members and representatives from Fulton Hogan and the Otago Regional Council.
Student Josh Peters said it would be a chance to use some of the things designed and built during their course, such as a water pump which did not use electricity.
The trip would give the students the opportunity to work creatively and ''think outside of the box'', he thought.
Fellow student Wei Liu said it would be an interesting experience just seeing the conditions in the country first-hand, and how people coped day-to-day.
Co-ordinator and senior lecturer Mike Mullens said Otago Polytechnic had covered a third of the students' costs.
As part of their fundraising drive to cover the rest, students would be designing and building two sleepouts to be auctioned off.
On July 27, they were also holding a quiz night at the polytechnic, and they had already held sausage sizzles.
Mr Mullens was travelling to Vanuatu in a month to do some ground assessments and work out how time could best be spent, he said.
His own background included relief and development projects in Honduras and the Dominican Republic.
After the Dunedin Highgate Presbyterian Church became involved in relief work on Paama, Mr Mullens came up with the idea of giving his students some practical experience there.
Ideally, the skills they gained would be transferable to New Zealand in the event of a natural disaster.
It would be a ''cultural experience'' as well as a look at what working in the development field was really like, he said.
Students had been in touch with firms who had already been involved in development work, and the polytechnic was keen to get more local businesses involved in the project, Mr Mullens said.
''We're asking for sponsorship, and for partners as well.''
* Mr Mullens can be reached at Michael.Mullens@op.ac.nz.
