Haury Program Tribal Resilience Initiative: Promoting sustainable solutions and assisting scholars and others working on the water access and water quality issues facing many Native and Indigenous communities

In Spring 2020, the Haury Program engaged in conversations with UArizona and Navajo leaders and experts to help them respond to water access challenges respecting tribal sovereignty. The result was the establishment of the Haury Program Tribal Resilience Initiative (TRI). TRI's work aims to address a critical need and model how to support the community's water goals in ways that respect and honor traditional knowledge, customs, and governance.

TRI aims to elevate UArizona Native and Indigenous voices and promote campus-wide collaboration among the many UArizona people and programs that engage in education, research, outreach, and other work devoted to Native and Indigenous issues.

The Initiative has two primary components: support of work that addresses water sustainability challenges for Native and Indigenous communities and strengthening the Native and Indigenous scholar, student, and staff pathway at UArizona. 

• The Water Sustainability in Indian Country Initiative supports projects and people who offer the most powerful, culturally appropriate, innovative, and effective means of addressing water access and quality issues facing Indian Country, particularly the Navajo Nation.
• The Native Pathways initiative supports the recruitment of faculty, researchers, students, and staff whose teaching, scholarship, or outreach centers on matters relevant to Native American and Indigenous resilience.

Other initiatives include,

• Supporting the work of the Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous peoples appointed by the UN Human Rights Council and hosted by the UArizona College of Law
• Facilitating the development of new areas of policy to tackle the most pressing needs in Indian country
• Promoting tribal outreach through partnerships and continuing education
• Strengthening internal and external communication with UArizona and community partners, and
• Assisting in philanthropy and research efforts of Native researchers 

Through the Tribal Resilience Initiative, the Haury Program hopes to make a visible dent in this resilience and justice problem in the short run and mark a path toward forging permanent solutions to this and related resilience and justice problems going forward.