Living Without Electricity in Baja California

Living Without Electricity in Baja California

Community Self-Management

Implementation of community self-management processes can be a useful tool to address the problem of energy poverty in Baja California. This concept sets forth a vision for actions to originate from within the communities through participatory and democratic processes, with the participation of outside experts that provide knowledge, including financing, to achieve the objectives and goals. Through community self-management, a crucial element to consider in Baja California is the organizational capacity of the neighbors affected by the lack of electricity. We found that there are adequate conditions for neighborhood organization since they share a common interest, which is to have electricity . Further, a community’s organizational capacity is supported by citizens’ sense of belonging to the place where they live since they see it as where their families can prosper economically and socially. This situation, as well as the apparent weariness from so many after years of waiting for access to electricity, makes the neighbors more willing to collaborate as a team, as expressed by the following comments: “…there is a well -organized team here, we have very astute neighbors who are vigilant of the tricks that the vendors make with the water (improper charges) and have worked to file the papers that are needed to get electricity (attempts to solve th e problem)…”

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