Long live ALL Native Nations. 

We hope that Indige-FEWSS can contribute to off-grid solutions to provide food, energy and water securities. Thank you for visiting our discussion. 

Hi, Lydia thanks for your questions. I’ll leave how the Indige-FEWSS program came about for one of our other presenters to answer. However, I’d like to share a bit more information about the relationship between the university and Indigenous communities. As a researcher working with the Navajo Nation, I have found that this concept of tribal consultation is essential. What tribal consultation means is that we work directly with the tribe in a collaborative manner in which we understand that the tribe is a sovereign entity. In the work I do with the Navajo Nation from start to finish, the tribe is aware of my research. There are meetings with the communities and tribal entities. Their input is key to the long-term sustainability of the information and technologies we are developing with these Indigenous communities. The informative delivery of the status of the research is part of the research process that the Navajo Nation has. Searching to see if the Indigenous community a researcher is interested in working with has its own Institutional Review Board could provide further information on how to move forward in a respectful manner. Much like your efforts with the NGCI inventory, Indige-FEWSS is working to understand better our tribal partners’ challenges and interests regarding the FEWS nexus. Through this collaboration, I’ve seen trust being built with the communities through the consistent interaction over time between the researchers and the community. On a personal level as an Indigenous researcher, I have begun to translate some of my work I am involved with into the Navajo language to help with the building of trust in which I am speaking the language of the Indigenous community.

Hi Lydia, I'm Cara the program coordinator for IndigeFEWSS. This is an NSF Research Traineeship program (#DGE1735173) awarded to an interdisciplinary team at UArizona and led by Dr. Karletta Chief (Navajo). The program aims to develop the next generation of scientists and engineers to work with and within Indigenous communities to address food-energy-water challenges. Dr. Chief has been working with Navajo communities and government for many years and the trust she has earned allowed the IndigeFEWSS team to engage in a meaningful way, both in our training program and when COVID-19 created the urgent need for technical contributions. I appreciate that Nikki highlighted the continuous communication with the community, as that is at the core of our mission. 

I feel the same way, Lydia, and completely see more of these programs bringing us to the truly mutually beneficial work for the future you speak of. I really liked how you phrased that; thank you. 

Hello Maya thanks for taking time to watch our video and asking such a great question. During this past year and through great collaboration with the UArizona Controlled Environment Agriculture Center, we were able to donate large amounts of produce to the Navajo Nation. Unfortunately our pilot program system is still under construction and we hope to have it completed by the end of this year. The system involves working with Diné College's Land Grant Office (Navajo tribal college) to renovate their Hoop House. The renovation would include more environmental control technology, reinforced structural support, conversion of raised bed gardening to a variety of hydroponic systems, integration of a photovoltaic panel grid, and solar nano-filtration unit. The tribal college will use this system for educating their students and community members, workforce development in modern CEA practices, and research opportunities. As part of Indige-FEWSS, graduate students will be developing training modules for the off-grid system and all its components with continuing support provided to Diné College by the UArizona CEAC faculty and staff. While they may not be providing substantial produce for community use, the off-grid CEA system will encourage and strengthen food sovereignty amongst the community through knowledge and training. In light of the pandemic and its significant impact on the reservation, the Navajo Nation government was very interested in the off-grid system - so watch out for future project development! Short answer, we have not grown any fresh food for local consumption, but hope to empower the community in the future to do so with a more integrated sustainable culturally relevant approach in mind! Thank you for your time.

Hi Maya, to give you an estimation of what some residents on the Navajo Nation may travel now for groceries and produce. I know of people in my home community on the reservation that will travel over a hundred miles for an estimated two-hour drive to get groceries that would also include some produce. Within the boundaries of the Navajo Nation, there are 13 grocery stores. Taking into consideration the information Jaymus shared with you these systems brought into communities would help greatly in distance traveled for some fresh produce options. 

Great question, Nuria. There are recently two articles that have come out that address some points you have mentioned. The first article is titled Chronic Wicked Water Problems in the Navajo Nation Heightened by the COVID-19 Pandemic, was written as a collaboration with representation from the tribe and members of Indige-FEWSS. This article describes some of the long-term challenges that the Navajo Nation faces concerning water access and water quality. The second article in this issue is titled Addressing Food-Energy-Water Insecurities of the Navajo Nation through University-Community Collaboration. In these articles, you will find a more in-depth explanation of the work happening and the current water challenges on the NN with the acknowledgement of the long-term needs. To your point of evaluating impacts, I’ll allow some of the other co-presenters to share more information. This is the link of where these two articles are shared in the Water Resources IMPACT Magazine https://wrrc.arizona.edu/news/impact-magazine-f...

Great work, which I hope continues for the long-term establishment of infrastructure.  Within the presentation I noticed that there was a focus on collaborations among multiple entities (federal, non-profit, etc.), apart from corporate, for-profit companies.  Are there plans to maybe leverage relationships in that sector?  If so, what are tribal considerations that may currently exist from this type of arrangement?

Great question Stephen! Indige-FEWSS does have corporate partners on our advisory board and Coca-Cola does fund our training with tribal students. For the Navajo Nation Water Access Coordination Group, I don't believe they have any partnerships with corporation. Indige-FEWSS has gone through tribal consultation and approval process and has ongoing oversight by the Navajo Nation. I believe corporations can go directly to the Navajo Nation and engage in that process too.  

Good morning Overtoun; thank you for your feedback and questions. I feel the goal of Indige-FEWSS can answer some of your questions. The goal of Indige-FEWSS is to develop a diverse workforce with intercultural awareness and Food-Energy-Water Security (FEWS) expertise to address FEWS challenges in Indigenous communities. I’m a trainee in this program, and I feel that the training and experience will continue to be prevalent in my work. Through this traineeship, I think that the goal of Indige-FEWSS in addressing the FEWS challenges in Indigenous communities will continue to sustain this initiative on a long-term basis. Indigenous and Non-Indigenous graduate students participate in the Indige-FEWSS traineeship with distinct research interests tailored to their programs. In this tailoring of research and community outreach, the Indige-FEWSS program will reach other Indigenous communities. To your questions of how others can become involved and the question about replicating the program in other Indigenous communities, I’ll let some of the other co-presenters speak to that.

Hello Overtoun, in addition to what Nikki and Torran replied, I can tell you the University of Arizona is engaged at the administration and the departmental levels to continue many elements of the IndigeFEWSS training program and community engaged research. The Native American leadership at UArizona and IndigeFEWSS faculty Dr. Karletta Chief and Dr. Valerie Shirley are collaborating to institutionalize trainings on best practices for community participatory research with Indigenous sovereign nations. 

Dear Overtoun Jenda, Yes, we are continuing to pursue grants to sustain the efforts. We hope that we get awarded so we can continue on!

Hey Brigitta - thanks for watching and inquiring further! I am a junior trainee with Indige-FEWSS and for the past 3 summers we have hosted a summer STEM education program for undergraduate students with Dine' college called Tribal Colleges and Universities Programs (TCUP) where trainees facilitate Food-Energy-Water (FEW) learning through teaching modules they make. This year we are holding this event virtually and I am excited to be a part of the 4th cohort to lead this program. While this is a more formal example, we have had trainees who took the modules developed for TCUP to teach high school students on the Navajo Nation. Some members of Indige-FEWSS have given career talks to middle school audiences as well.

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Thank you for your comment Dr. Reid. Lack of access to water on the Navajo Nation is a long standing challenge that needs innovative solutions. We hope that through our work we can provide creative and innovative off-grid solutions. The water treatment systems aims to remove contaminants from non-potable water sources using solar energy. Please vote by sharing our video via social media or email. Thank you so much for your support!