Since the pan-Amazon workshop in May, the UF GIA team has been working with partners in regional and thematic working groups to complete a series of products and plan next steps. In this issue of the GIA Bulletin, we launch the Final GIA Project Report: Synthesis of Lessons and Recommendations for Infrastructure Governance.
We also share the guiding principles that we are using to develop future projects for possible funding, in collaboration with GIA academic, grassroots and NGO partners in our focal mosaics and across our pan-Amazon network. Finally, we provide a link to the portfolio of completed and forthcoming products on the GIA website.
Happy Reading!
At the recent GIA Pan-Amazon Workshop, the Upper Madeira CoP-L organized Panel 2: Knowledge management: applied research to strengthen communities’ participation in infrastructure governance. In this 14th edition of the GIA newsletter, we inform about the II Carretón del Conocimiento (Knowledge Exchange) in Bolivia which was a key moment of knowledge exchange and delivery of relevant GIA results with local communities in the Upper Madeira and discussion of possible next steps. Happy reading!
GIA PROJECT FINAL REPORT: SYNTHESIS OF LESSONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR INFRASTRUCTURE GOVERNANCE
The report begins with a very brief overview of the GIA project and the “business as usual” conceptual framework that shows how infrastructure proponents control infrastructure planning and implementation without adequate participation and governance by social and environmental interests that are directly impacted. We then present our theory of change for socioenvironmental governance of infrastructure, based on effective collaboration between grassroots organizations, NGOs and academia on strategies for knowledge production and communication to influence legal and political decision-making. Access report here
GIA demonstrated the importance of providing information and building capacity that partner organizations can incorporate into their infrastructure governance strategies. We learned to base this work on:
- community engagement from definition of research topics to data gathering and analysis.
- recognition and respect for grassroots ontologies, epistemologies, timing, and knowledge.
- community autonomy and co-ownership of research products.
GIA identified the following strategies as key opportunities for improving infrastructure governance:
- continue dissemination of knowledge products already produced but not widely accessible.
- expand the use of new and innovative communication strategies for political impact.
- strategically engage with broader audiences, such as churches, legislatures, government agencies, the private sector and investors;
- deepen application of legal and judicial tools, including protocols for free, prior, and informed consent.
To maximize our impact on infrastructure governance, we need to look for synergies across scale, i.e. continued GIA work with grassroots organizations, NGOs and academia at local and regional scale, that complements policy advocacy and transparency efforts at national and international levels.
Check out photos of Carretón del Conocimiento II HERE!
The set of UF grad students above, with deep personal experiences and relationships in the Amazon region, were the key factor for building the GIA network, facilitating dialogue and reflection with partners, and the analysis and writing of GIA products. Continuity of GIA depends on maintaining the existing network plus a new cohort of students. Part of our fundraising challenge is to be able to support new students from the Amazon region — at UF as well as at partner universities.
————- GIA’S SUSTAINABILITY PLAN —————-
GIA’s fundraising strategy to continue and expand our collaborative work is adaptive, modular, and collaborative:
- exploring a range of possibilities and building on success (adaptive).
- focused projects on specific regions and themes, complemented by an integrative pan-Amazon project (modular).
- developed with and for partners, with shared funding and responsibilities (collaborative).
The GIA project emerged from UF’s Tropical Conservation and Development program, and GIA’s approach is applicable to other regions and broader themes related to environmental justice, sustainable development, climate change and biocultural conservation. The key elements of GIA’s approach that will guide future work are:
- Using Theory of Change to focus reflection and analysis on results, and to systematically measure results.
- An integrated network of grassroots organizations, NGOs, and partner universities – within and across regions.
- Engage students from the Amazon region at UF, and complement with a cohort of students and faculty at Amazonian universities.
- Action-oriented, addressing partners’ needs.
- An integrated strategy that combines knowledge, communications, and collaboration.
This GIA network diagram above shows the different groups and scales where UF and partners are developing projects according to specific priorities, interests, and opportunities:
Colombia: focus on intercultural collaboration and forming a new generation of community leaders.
Brazil: focus on legal and judicial strategies that support grassroots organizations’ participation in governance.
Upper Madera: using knowledge and communication to influence governance.
Communications group: using innovative approaches to influence political behavior and decisionmakers.
Our pan-Amazon network will allow continued learning and exchange on all of these strategies and approaches across regions.
Transdisciplinary research products: in partnership with the Universidad Amazónica de Pando (UAP) as the main organizer. The objective of the webinar is to present the products from five UAP students’ research that was done in collaboration with local communities.
When: TBD
Time: TBD
Zoom link to participate: We will provide soon. Please send us a note if you want to receive the link to participate.
We welcome and request that all GIA partners join and support this fundraising strategy. Please contact us if you have ideas, proposals or opportunities that we can pursue together.
Access Completed and Upcoming GIA Products Here
