Advancing United States-Mexico Binational Sustainability Partnerships (2021) / Chapter Skim
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3 Opportunities and Challenges for U.S.Mexico Sustainability Partnerships
3 Opportunities and Challenges for U.S.Mexico Sustainability Partnerships
Pages 45-62
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From page 45... ...
This chapter focuses on what makes successful partnerships effective in the U.S.–Mexico border region by summarizing discussions and insights gathered at a virtual seminar, "Sustainability Partnerships in the U.S.–Mexico Drylands Region," held in July 2020.1 By hearing from stakeholders in the region, this activity served as the primary source of information gathering for committee deliberations. To plan the webinar, the committee developed a bilingual online questionnaire to generate a list of potential speakers and attendees; see Chapter 1 for an explanation of the process.
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From page 46... ...
However, the stakeholders' feedback on forming and sustaining partnerships, improving communication among partners, and planning for present and future uncertainties in the operating environment served as the cornerstone for the committee's work. HOW BINATIONAL PARTNERSHIPS EMERGE AND EVOLVE Binational problems require binational solutions -- Irasema Coronado (Arizona State University)
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From page 47... ...
These examples are set in the backdrop of other, related asymmetries, notably the differences in water management regimes between the two countries. Despite the presence and largely effective work of a binational water institution, the International Boundary and Water Commission in the United States and its Mexican counterpart, la Comisión Internacional de Límites y Aguas, the two countries have very different federal, state, and local legal and institutional arrangements for water resource management and policy; see discussion in Appendix D
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From page 48... ...
The Alianza Indígena Sin Fronteras partnership, led by Octaviana Valenzuela Trujillo (Northern Arizona University) , a Yaqui3 citizen, works with Indigenous people on both sides of the border.
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From page 49... ...
Because decision makers in the national capitals are often disconnected from the realities of the region, subnational diplomacy at the state and city levels has become prominent in transboundary sustainability partnerships. Carey mentioned how border mayors meet regularly, as do border legislators.
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The Comisión Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas funded a multiyear climate study that used self-implemented designs from Indigenous peoples. The project helped people outside the region see that Indigenous communities are not homogenous; while they have shared challenges, each group takes a unique approach to address them.
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From page 51... ...
Panelists emphasized the need for NGOs and universities to consult with Indigenous communities in the region before embarking on projects, which aligns with the United Nations' Office of Human Rights call for free, prior, and informed consent of Indigenous peoples.4 Múñoz-Meléndez reinforced this point by underscoring the importance of organizations taking time to build relationships with local stakeholders. Gabriel Armenta (Índex Nogales, Asociación de Maquiladoras de Sonora, A.C.)
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From page 52... ...
Hare also noted the importance of engaging with and mentoring youth in the United States and Mexico around border sustainability issues. Trujillo noted how the Healing the Border Project organizes community hearings and helps youth create digital stories about the region.
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. Carey told panelists about the U.S.–Mexico Border Health Commission,5 which began as a binational commission in 2000 between the HHS Secretary and the Mexican Secretary of Health.
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From page 54... ...
The webinar panelists all said that the true test of the strength of the binational partnerships will be how they fare during and after this pandemic. However, the panelists noted that the binational response to the health crisis would not have been possible if partnerships had not been formed and developed before COVID: the trust, confidence, and personal involvement that had been cultivated before the pandemic were essential to continued collaboration.
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From page 55... ...
Successful partnerships emerge from the entrepreneurial activities of conveners with big aspirations and a strong commitment to challenge the status quo. This section focuses on what makes successful partnerships special in the U.S.–Mexico border region.
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From page 56... ...
The work of partners is crucial to educate leaders in both countries on the complexity of the region and develop the future leaders that successful partnerships require in government, in NGOs, among academics, among indigenous communities, and in the private sector. Universities in the region address important and complex topics in the U.S.–Mexico border region, including migration, health, and applied social policy; media and expressive culture; culture, language, and learning; and U.S.
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Leveraging Established Frameworks to Develop Trust The building of interpersonal trust that underlies effective partnerships itself depends on several factors, one of which is the existence of formal or established frameworks. Such frameworks provide a degree of structure and predictability that can facilitate the development of personal and informal relationships, which can be especially important when facilitating relationships across differences that are usually barriers to a partnership.
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From page 58... ...
In addition to engaging organizations, partners need to do extensive community engagement to build trust in a broader sense. Citizen-to-citizen diplomacy is essential to address sustainability challenges.
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More generally, cross-border university partnerships can help bring people together in ways that both foster learning and contribute to relationship building. Cultivating Leadership Partnership processes are slow, and if partnerships last a long time (which is one measure of effectiveness)
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From page 60... ...
wrapped up the webinar by noting that the key challenges for effective partnership involve recognizing the scale of the border and including those actors who have been otherwise excluded by the tendency to pull power away from the region. Central to this pursuit are narratives, as was mentioned many times during the webinar, and the need to tell the story of the
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From page 61... ...
And "that's certainly a warning shot across the bows of academics," he said. Key to that process, and the process of building effective partnerships, is what Bebbington referred to as "interculturality," the vital importance of recognizing a broad range of kinds of knowledge and being able to find a way to communicate across them, which may involve bridging differences between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities or across generations or just across different organizational cultures.
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From page 62... ...
Such partnerships are par ticularly effective for binational communications and coordinating rapid response to acute and chronic challenges. • Binational sustainability partnerships are in need of improved evidence and data for decision making, as well as human, financial, and institutional resources to maintain or extend their effectiveness.
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