Assisting the Water Haulers: Using Grassroots Driven Development to Secure Environmental Justice

1. Assisting the Water Haulers: Using Grassroots Driven Development to Secure Environmental Justice Forgotten People CDC Rita Sebastian Capacity Building Initiative, Heller School for Social Policy, Brandeis University May 12, 2009

2. Roadmap • The Challenges • Project Overview • Introducing the Participatory Approach • Internal Participation • External participation • Conclusions

3. The Challenges

4. Challenges: Abandoned Uranium Mines

5. Challenges: Local water sources contaminated

6. Challenges: The Black Falls Community

7. Challenges: Unsafe transportation and storage of water

8. Challenges: The Bennett Freeze

9. Challenges: Achieving Environmental Justice “If a fraction of the deadly contamination the Navajos live with every day had been in Beverly Hills or any wealthy community, it would have been cleaned up immediately. But there's a different standard applied to the Navajo land... while time passes, people get sick, people die, people develop kidney disease, children, babies are born with birth defects, bone cancer develops and gets worse, lung cancer, leukemia, while we wait” US Senator Henry Waxman, 2007

10. Challenges: The Government Response • EPA pressured by Congress to address uranium contamination of water supplies in Navajo Nation • Plans to address issue were based on extending water pipelines to families near roads • 3-meter per mile rule: no plans to assist people in remote locations

11. Challenges Addressed by this Project • Target population: Families too remote for pipeline who will continue to haul water • Short-term goal: Provide safe way to haul, store, & access water • Long-term goal: Provide full sanitation system • Interlinkage: Address health problems and other consequences of uranium contamination

12. Project Overview

13. A Collaborative Model to Achieve Environmental Justice

14. September, 2008: Assess Needs

15. October, 2008: Develop Goals

16. Initial prototype storage system

17. November, 2008: Project Planning

18. Finished Storage Tank

19. Sink base for in-home distribution

20. February, 2009: Implementation -Coop at work

21. February 7, 2009: Implementation - with Home Depot Partners

22. February 15-21, 2009: Implementation: w/Brandeis partners

23. February 24, 2009: Home systems completed

24. Transportation system

25. Working with partners on the next step: sanitation

26. Addressing interlinkages: Health

27. Monitoring & Evaluation:Tangible results

28. Introducing the Participatory Approach

29. Introducing the Participatory Approach to Government Partners

30. Internal and External Participation in Grassroots Driven Development

31. Internal participation

32. Internal Participation: The exchange

33. Internal Participation: Sweat equity

34. Participation required

35. Internal ParticipationFinding resources in the community

36. Internal Participation:Food & fun

37. Internal Participation: Provide tangible outputs

38. Internal participation:Intangible benefits

39. Internal Participation:How to achieve Synergy

40. Participation: How was it achieved ?“Value Added Translation”

41. Participation: How was it achieved ?Consensus decision making

42. Participation: How was it achieved ?Total transparency

43. Internal Participation: Responsibility

44. Internal Participatory Process:Everyone Speaks

45. Internal Participation: Key Points • The true measure of success of a grassroots organization is not whether it accomplishes its mission statement, but rather the extent to which it creates a meaningful participatory experience that enriches the lives of the people. • This is also the best way to achieve the mission statement.

46. External Participation

47. External Participation: The exchange

48. Grassroots contribution: More effective planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation

49. Grassroots contribution:Reach Target Population

50. Partner contribution: Standing and status