Solidarity Engineering is a humanitarian engineering organization whose mission is to provide community-driven, public health-focused engineering for people in crisis.
Believing in building systems that protect health, Solidarity is a women-founded, women-led public health-focused organization. In low-resource, high-need areas, we focus largely on filling gaps in the provision of water, sanitation, hygiene (WASH) and basic infrastructure. Solidarity currently works in the state of Tamaulipas, Mexico, which sits directly across the border from some of the poorest U.S. regions. Here we provide access to basic needs for thousands of displaced men, women, and children within the cities of Reynosa and Matamoros. Although this region has been one of the hardest hit by the U.S.-Mexico border humanitarian crisis over the past four years, it remains one of the lowest-resourced. As engineers, infrastructure specialists, and technology experts, we have a wide scope of programming that prioritizes the root causes of public health crises that often compound in humanitarian settings. We break our activities into three programs: WASH & Basic Infrastructure; Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Mathematics (STEAM) & Play; and Data & Advocacy.
In our project locations, we are one of the few aid organizations present. This is partially because traditional humanitarian response efforts categorize priorities into disaster/emergency response, which is immediate but temporary, or development, which is long-term. The reality is that displacement is often both an immediate disaster and a potentially indefinite circumstance–this gap in how populations are defined leads to an ever-widening chasm in the delivery of humanitarian aid. Political realities also prevent aid from reaching certain populations, as larger humanitarian organizations like the U.N. are subject to legislation and can lack organizational agility. This is why technology-based and data-driven advocacy is an indispensable pillar of our work. By using data to articulate the scale and urgency of crises, we bolster accountability, transparency, and informed decision-making. Our approach not only amplifies the voices of those affected but also enhances our ability to secure resources, mobilize support, and catalyze effective interventions.
Context: Solidarity is good at tracking our inputs, but we need help tracking our impact. The nature of our work makes this difficult:
(1) We work with a very transient population in an area with extremely limited resources. Formal registration systems to track population and demographics are practically non-existent. We roughly estimate that we serve up to 11,000 people each month, but we don’t know our annual reach.
(2) We work in the field of prevention, treating the cause of disease. We have found it impossible to measure the amount of suffering and illness our projects have prevented.
Goals: The main goal is to quantify the impact of our work. This can be done directly with our available data and/or by reviewing external data sources and literature. Our organization thrives on creativity, and we have open ears when it comes to your ideas on how to best navigate this project. As a reference, we’d love to improve these pages on our website:
https://www.solidarityengineering.org/the-people
https://www.solidarityengineering.org/the-numbers
Available data:
- WASH Assessments: primary data collected by our field team that surveys community members on the accessibility and functionality of WASH infrastructure, facilities, and practices at our project sites.
- Water Quality Data: testing of samples collected at various water sources at all of our project sites
- Distribution of WASH Consumables: our field team distributes consumable WASH supplies (drinking water, soap, diapers, menstrual pads, etc.) and records the quantity of each item distributed.
- GIS Basemaps and Drone Imagery: Drones are piloted by our field team to collect aerial footage to capture spatial information, infrastructure, and environmental factors relevant to our work, and how these factors change over time.
- Photos and videos: our field team takes photos and videos of our ongoing projects, infrastructure, product distributions, and other factors relevant to our work
Stakeholders:
- Local: Displaced populations, host community, shelter/camp directors, humanitarian organizations
- Local/national governments: U.S. and Mexico
- International: Our current advocacy audience includes many organizations that can influence policy and help garner more sustainable aid to the region - Haitian Bridge Alliance, ACLU, Amnesty International, UNHCR, IOM, UNICEF, Human Rights First, and more.
Pending time and interest, we would also be interested in discussing how to incorporate these findings into a funding or strategic plan
Success would include an Impact Analysis Report that includes:
- Number and demographics of population served
- Quantifiable metric of our impact
- Potential return on investment
- Methodological overview and guide for how this analysis can be replicated by our team in the future
- Feedback on our current data collection/analysis practices (strengths and areas for improvement)
Pending time and interest, we would also be interested in discussing how to incorporate these findings into a funding or strategic plan.
Ideally by the end of Summer 2024, but we are extremely flexible and accommodating to your schedule!
