How Are We Doing, MeCAB? Workshop: Citizen Co-Management of Air Quality in Bogotá

Abstract

Managing air quality in Bogotá is the institutional responsibility of the District Environment Secretariat (SDA), but the effects of polluted air fall on all citizens. This naturally creates a shared responsibility among all residents of the capital for decontaminating its atmosphere; for this reason, the Citizen and Academic Technical Roundtable for Bogotá's Air Quality (MeCAB) was founded, a group whose initial goal is to promote air governance to improve the air we breathe in the city. Citizen collectives generally face needs related to their formation, funding, and independence. MeCAB specifically faces four challenges: structuring itself organizationally, uniting ideas, communicating assertively, and maintaining a flow of projects. To begin addressing these needs, a two-session workshop titled "How Are We Doing, MeCAB?" (CVM) was held, whose methodology is presented here as a guide for organizing citizen environmental collectives. In CVM, the strengths, weaknesses, resources, and needs of MeCAB were explored, and a subsequent compilation led to a plan for the Roundtable, outlining five initial projects associated with one of the four established permanent lines of work: i) Advocacy in public policy and governance, ii) Population-level impact of air quality, iii) Knowledge exchange, and iv) Interdisciplinarity. Implementing these projects allows for the continuity and growth of the collective and its members.