By: Anna Garwood, former Executive Director, Green Empowerment (2010-2014)
“This time, I said, let’s wait to kill the guinea pig until the project is really done.”
Don Isidro Caja, Community Leader in Pata Pata, Peru
Don Isidro Caja had solicited help from local authorities to have a water system in Pata Pata for 20 years. The local politicians would say “yes”, guinea pigs were prepared for the groundbreaking feast, and then, disillusioned, the project never materialized. That is, until, someone from Pata Pata walked a day to the city of Cajamarca and knocked on the door of Rafael Escobar, a partner of Green Empowerment for the last 18 years and now Director of his own NGO, Energia, Ambiente y Sostenibilidad (EAS).
My Journey Back
My family and I joined Rafael and his team to visit Pata Pata, Peru, last month and got to see the completed water system (and yes, we were treated to heaping plates of guinea pig, rice and stew!). After so many years of seeking assistance, and months of volunteer labor of digging trenches to lay the water lines, the spring water from high up in the mountains now flows freely to the 23 adobe homes of Pata Pata.
While I was the Latin America Program Manager of Green Empowerment, I lived in Cajamarca Peru in 2008-2009 and worked closely with Rafael and a team of engineers and sociologists to coordinate water and renewable energy projects. This time, I came back with my husband and two young daughters. It was incredibly meaningful to reconnect with former colleagues and see how many communities they had since worked with to build water systems.
How Local Hands Build Micro-Utilities
The model of Rafael’s organization (EAS) and Green Empowerment is to contribute the technical expertise and materials while the community contributes the labor to lay the pipes to their homesteads. An agreement was signed with the local municipality of Magdalena for cofinancing. The community elects a board to coordinate the project and they figure out how best to divide up the tasks. In Pata Pata, each household was responsible for 400 meters of trenches for the waterline on each of those days. The EAS team not only designed the water system to traverse complex mountainous terrain, they also navigated the complex social dynamics of sharing a communal resource (water) among many people, collectively building the infrastructure project and setting up a community run micro-utility. Each household will have a water meter and pay a small amount into a fund for long-term maintenance.
How Climate is Changing the Challenge
Climate change and its effects on groundwater sources were more in the forefront of everyone’s mind in comparison to a decade ago. At these high altitudes, the extremes of climate variability are affecting agricultural cycles, where animals can graze, and when seasonal waterholes dry up. The people of Pata Pata will have to use the new water efficiently to keep enough water in the tank for their daily needs. But with their proven collective organization and pride in what they have already accomplished, they are more resilient and able to adapt to the changes.
What True Local Leadership Looks Like
What struck me most was that Green Empowerment still has a close working relationship with Rafael and many of the same people that I worked with all of those years ago. It may be in vogue to talk about “local leadership” but going back to Cajamarca and seeing how Green Empowerment continues to invest in trusted relationships drives home what makes their model unique. Rafael is from Cajamarca and has dedicated his life to this work. His deep dedication comes across in the ways he engages with each person in the community and develops the skills of his team. He combines attention to high-quality innovative work with a humble charisma essential for community organizing. Under his leadership, EAS is a low-overhead, effective, and value-driven organization so it makes sense that Green Empowerment has continued to cultivate that partnership over many years.
Lastly, I was also delighted to meet Claudia Romero Saavedra, Green Empwerment’s current Peru & Bolivia Coordinator. Born, raised and educated in Peru, Claudia is well positioned to facilitate in-depth partnerships. While I was nostalgic for those years hiking around rural communities, GE’s shift to hiring international staff is progress in the right direction. Even more than ever, Green Empowerment is putting into practice the values of local leadership, social justice and sustainability.
Anna Garwood worked at Green Empowerment from 2001-2014, including Executive Director from 2010-2014. She currently coordinates a food security program called Nourish for families of hospitalized children at Doernbecher Hospital of Oregon Health and Science University.
Great article very commendable work!
Anna , thank you for sharing and updating us on what the Peruvian families have gained and maintained with the clean water project. So inspirational and satisfying to see how it has all worked out. Great for you to go back with your family and share your history.