RCE Borderlands Mexico-USA - 2018

CURRENT PROJECT 1. The Mobile Living Lab as a Driver for Sustainable Community Development: Environmental, economic and human wellbeing along the Sustainability Corridor in Chihuahua, Mexico
CSV
Basic Information
Title of project : 
CURRENT PROJECT 1. The Mobile Living Lab as a Driver for Sustainable Community Development: Environmental, economic and human wellbeing along the Sustainability Corridor in Chihuahua, Mexico
Submitting RCE: 
RCE Borderlands México-USA
Contributing organization(s) : 
° Plan México Hambre Cero
° Museo Ejido Favela
° Cooperativa El Ranchero Solidario
° Agricultura Sustentable y Evolución
° Presidencia Municipal de Bachíniva, Chihuahua
° Esceula Secundaria Federal 25 'México Insurgente'
° Living Lab/Centro de Diálogo y Transformación Inc.
Focal point(s) and affiliation(s)
Name: 
Arq. Luis Miguel Mayagoitia
Organizational Affiliation: 
Plan México Hambre Cero
E-mail: 
planmexicohambrecero@gmail.com
Name: 
Elizabeth Dávila & Eliseo Villegas
Organizational Affiliation: 
Museo Ejido Favela
E-mail: 
living.lab.cdt.inc@gmail.com
Name: 
Sr. Dolores (Lolita) Gallegos
Organizational Affiliation: 
Cooperativa El Ranchero Solidario
E-mail: 
living.lab.cdt.inc@gmail.com
Name: 
Ing. Gaspar Mayagoitia Penagos
Organizational Affiliation: 
Agricultura Sustentable y Evolución
E-mail: 
livinglablmayagoitia@gmail.com
Name: 
Lic. Linda Lizette Avitia
Organizational Affiliation: 
Presidencia Municipal de Bachíniva, Chihuahua
E-mail: 
presidenciamunicipalbachiniva@gmail.com
Name: 
Profra. Griselda Adriana Saucedo Acosta
Organizational Affiliation: 
Escuela Secundaria Federal 25 "México Insurgente"
E-mail: 
mexicoinsurgente_25@hotmail.com
Name: 
Prof. Dr. Carolina López C.
Organizational Affiliation: 
Living Lab/Centro de Diálogo y Transformación Inc.
E-mail: 
living.lab.cdt.inc@gmail.com
Format of project: 
° Each community carries out transformative projects, ° Results are published & disseminated in the academic & the popular press, ° Policy implications studies are provided to appropriate legislative bodies, ° a Power Point Presentation will summarize al
Language of project: 
Spanish. A PPT summarizing all projects will be provided in English
Date of submission:
Friday, September 28, 2018
Web link: 
FB: Living Lab/Centro de Diálogo y Transformación Inc.
Additional resources: 
° Each project has myriad reference sources as well as reporting and evaluation documents.
° An English-language PPT summarizing Sustainability Corridor activities will be uploaded here shortly.
Does this project link to any education and/or sustainable development policy or policies?: 
Yes
Plan Estatal de Desarrollo- Chihuahua 2016-2022
At what level is the policy operating?: 
Local
Geographical & Education Information
Region: 
Americas
Country: 
Mexico
Location(s): 
1) Chihuahua City, 2) Santa Isabel, 3) Ejido Favela, 4) Anáhuac, 5) Bachíniva, 6) El Molino Namiquipa. All communities are in Chihuahua State- México.
Address of focal point institution for project: 
Priv. de Encino 1905-2
Col. Granjas
Chihuahua, Chih.
31100 México
Ecosystem(s):
Agricultural, Dryland, Fresh water, Grassland, Mountain
Target Audience:
Community, Primary, Secondary, Youth (Informal)
Informal & Non-formal Community Education
Socioeconomic and environmental characteristics of the area : 
Environment:
The Sustainability Corridor in Chihuahua, México runs along the high meadows and the base of the Rocky Mountains region of Western Central Chihuahua State.

Socioeconomic:
Challenges faced by all communities in the Sustainability Corridor include:
- The presence and control of potentially violent groups dedicated to illicit economic activities which 'serve' consumers of their products in the USA.
- Lack of sustainable and licit economic activities and job opportunities in the communities
- Youth- particularly males- often envision themselves in the future as ° joining forces with the illicit economic masters in the region, migrating as undocumented labor to the USA, or possibly studying in Mexican cities, after which the young professionals often choose not to return to their homelands.
- Lack of edifying leisure activities for children and youth in their after-school hours
- A degree of land degradation
- Sometimes, water scarcity
Description of sustainable development challenge(s) in the area the project addresses: 
Please find copied here the information submitted above. Although these areas face multiple other challenges, those listed here are of primary concern.

Challenges:
- The presence and control of potentially violent groups dedicated to illicit economic activities which 'serve'consumers in the USA.
- Lack of sustainable and licit economic activities and job opportunities in the communities
- Youth- particularly males- often envision themselves in the future as ° joining forces with the illicit economic masters in the region, migrating as undocumented labor to the USA, or possibly studying in Mexican cities, after which the young professionals often choose not to return to their homelands.
- Lack of edifying leisure activities for children and youth in their after school hours
- A degree of land degradation
- Sometimes, water scarcity
Contents
Status: 
Ongoing
Period: 
April, 2018
Rationale: 
Each community determines the central focus of projects conducted in their localities. Community members are the people who decide what specifically is needed and why. Common threads among the communities have to do with:
- Revitalizing and developing sustainable local economies
- Creating activities for children and youth designed to ° Occupy their off hours in licit activities, ° offer sports and other healthy lifestyle opportunities, ° help the upcoming generations to envision themselves as having a variety of options for a constructive future, i.e. higher education, creating local businesses in their communities, working as future professionals in activities that serve the greater good both at home and beyond.
Objectives: 
Each community will:
° Develop and implement a sustainable development plan designed to their specific needs which makes use of existing infrastructure and human resources. Each local plan contemplates humanity, the local environment and local economic development.
° Seek synergies which begin by making use of existing infrastructure and human resources using a win-win dynamic. Starting from this foundation, funding is sought in order to add needed non-existent infrastructure, and to provide human development activities which keep people working as a community toward their shared goals.
° Special attention is paid to children and youth, i.e. the community itself becomes the ‘Living Lab’ where the locality is analyzed to uncover existing resources and challenges. As children and youth ‘discover’ the strengths and the potential of their communities, they work with us to develop transformation plans which meet the specific objectives of each community. In the act of transforming their beloved communities for the greater good, the people themselves are transformed. * Other activities include sports teams, dance, art, and TVET training.
° Great emphasis is placed on helping community members create small local business, and on offering training in small business management.

Activities and/or practices employed: 
° Community meetings. We begin by LISTENING to what community members have to say
° Situational Analysis
° Needs Analysis
° Objectives
° Implementation
° Ongoing monitoring and evaluation of project implementation in light of project objectives
° Studies of Policy Implications from the outcomes of project implementation
° Policy recommendations are given to the municipal and the state authorities in order to help ease policy regimes toward sustainability
Size of academic audience: 
A rough guess ° In the communities combined- 2000 people. ° In the state Congress- 33 individuals. ° In our published outcomes- unknown numbers of readers.
Results: 
The communities gain awareness of their community’s assets as well as the challenges faced on the path to development and wellbeing. People gain a sense of pride upon getting to know their history and their potential as individuals and as a collective. Many of them gain a commitment to the licit development of their community. We often see genuine growth in small business and in other licit economic activities. We don’t really know if the increased retention of youth in these communities is due to these projects, or whether it may be a result of the Trump administration’s aggressive policies of deportation and repatriation of undocumented workers. Concerning the gradual policy shift toward sustainable development, we believe that the overall positive results shown in human, economic and environmental concerns in each locality do encourage Congressmen and women to legislate more toward laws which are gradually helping institutional sustainable development in the state.
Lessons learned: 
1) We dare not challenge the illicit economy in any of the localities, nor to even make mention of it, as this can bring great peril to anyone daring to do so. This is something we have to work with ‘as if it weren’t there’ while the problem is ever-present and dangerous.
2) Instead, we focus on ‘journeying toward sustainable development’ in terms of humanity, economy and the natural environment. In the latter variable, our focal area has to do mostly with sustainable agriculture, soil restoration, water usage, and renewable energy.
3) We don’t critique that which we don’t like. We jointly create objectives and we move toward them.
4) If we are pressured by illicit power holders in any way, we leave, and try to continue working at a distance over Skype, teleconferences and other modes of communication. This is necessary in order to help ensure our safety.
Key messages: 
Helping rural communities as they choose their own path to human, environmental and economic development has benefits such as helping to retain youth in their own localities as licit economic activities increase. It further helps to lower the number of youth migrating to cities which deal with and already overloaded infrastructure, or from migrating as undocumented immigrants to the United States. The illicit economy in these communities is a reality. We strive to encourage children and youth to gain visions of other options in their adult lives which, we hope will lead them to choose licit livelihoods as they grow into adulthood.
Relationship to other RCE activities: 
This project currently includes seven different communities. While many underlying concerns are the same, our role is to help communities discover their existing strengths, assets and challenges, ° to create objectives in the three variable areas of sustainable development, implement these projects, to engage in ongoing monitoring and evaluation and, to provide the resulting policy implications studies designed to encourage the institutionalization of sustainable development models.
Funding: 
° We currently have only a small amount of funding from an NGO located in New Mexico USA. ° Living Lab/Centro de Diálogo y Transformación personnel are trying diligently to gain funding from international sources, while ° local authorities in each community are attempting to gain funding from the state and the national governments.
°°° Please help guide us to potential funding sources. There is so much that is needed,so any amount of funding would be greatly valuable to the efforts of these communitiues!

Pictures:

File Name Caption for picture Photo Credit
Image icon 1. Mobile Living Lab. 24-9-18.jpeg (103.31 KB) The Mobile Living Lab attends to communities throughout the Sustainability Corridor. In addition to community-led development projects, the Mobile Lab provides hands-on experiences for children in the sustainability sciences. Dr. María Sajquim de Torres
Image icon 2. Children. Demonstration Site. 24-9-18.jpg (67.95 KB) Children learning about Biointensive Organic Agriculture at the Santa Isabel site. Plan México Hambre Cero
Image icon 3. Santa Isabel, Chih. 24-9-18.jpeg (154.74 KB) Panoramic view of the Santa Isabel Demonstration Site and Learning Centre. The dome structure is a house made of recycled materials and the building on the right is the Learning Centre. Living Lab/Centro de Diálogo y Transformación Inc.
References and reference materials: 
PDF icon Mobile Living Lab. 6-9-18.pdf
PDF icon Mobile LL Summary. Funding. 19-11-18.pdf
PDF icon 2018 Annual Report. RCE BMU @ LL-CDT.docx.pdf
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
(https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdgs) and other themes of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)
SDG 1 - End poverty in all its forms everywhere 
Indirect
SDG 2 - End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture 
Direct
SDG 3 - Ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all at all ages 
Direct
SDG 4 - Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all 
Indirect
SDG 5 - Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls 
Indirect
SDG 6 - Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all 
Direct
SDG 7 - Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all 
Direct
SDG 8 - Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent work for all 
Direct
SDG 10 - Reduce inequality within and among countries 
Direct
SDG 12 - Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns 
Direct
SDG 15 - Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification and halt and reverse land degradation, and halt biodiversity loss 
Indirect
SDG 16 - Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels 
Direct
SDG 17 - Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise the global partnership for sustainable development 
Direct
Theme
Traditional Knowledge  
Direct
Agriculture 
Direct
Arts 
Indirect
Curriculum Development 
Direct
Ecotourism 
Indirect
Forests/Trees 
Direct
Plants & Animals 
Direct
Waste 
Direct
Global Action Programme (GAP) on Education for Sustainable Development – Priority Action Areas
Priority Action Area 1 - Advancing policy 
Direct
Priority Action Area 2 - Transforming learning and training environments 
Direct
Priority Action Area 3 - Building capacities of educators and trainers 
Indirect
Priority Action Area 4 - Empowering and mobilizing youth 
Direct
Priority Action Area 5 - Accelerating sustainable solutions at local level 
Direct
Update: 
No