The POLIS Water Sustainability Project is turning 20 this year! We couldn’t have made it this far without the support of our colleagues, partners, advisors, funders, water leaders, and many many supporters across B.C. (and beyond!) who give their time and energy and continually champion the necessary and crucial work of water sustainability and watershed security. To celebrate some of the people who have made this milestone possible, POLIS Communications Director Laura Brandes got in touch with several “POLIS alumni” to find out what they’ve been up to since leaving POLIS, and to ask if there are lessons from their POLIS days that they still carry with them…
Mabel Martinez-Dussan worked as our Events and Special Projects Coordinator from 2019 to 2020. She supported and helped develop the B.C. Water Leaders’ Network, played a key role in organizing the Watersheds 2020 forum, and also provided research assistance. Prior to her time at POLIS, Mabel worked for nearly 10 years in the environmental and natural resource sector in Colombia, where she worked across multiple development projects. Her background includes environmental assessment, permitting and compliance, and regulatory and policy analysis. She has a Diploma in Business Administration and a Master of Science in Environmental Management from the University of Victoria, and a bachelor degree in Environmental Engineering from Colombia. Mabel enjoys facilitating processes where actors identify areas of mutual interest and engage to move forward to comprehensive and practical solutions.
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Laura Brandes: What is your current job and how long have you been there?
Mabel: I’m a Project Assessment Officer with the B.C. Environmental Assessment Office and started in February 2021.
Laura: When did you work at POLIS and what did your role involve?
Mabel: This is a two-part answer! I worked at POLIS from July 2019 until December 2020. However, I came across POLIS’ work around 2018 while I was taking a diploma at UVic, and I couldn’t stop reading and following POLIS reports! They gave me the best insights into environmental and water governance in B.C., which was important to me as I had recently arrived to Canada from Colombia. I also had the opportunity to volunteer at a couple of POLIS events before I officially worked there. When I started in July 2019, I worked as Events and Special Projects Coordinator and mainly supported the development of the B.C. Water Leaders’ Network to advance dialogue and strategic collaboration for sustainable watershed governance. This was a great opportunity to connect with water leaders and funders from many organizations across B.C.
Laura: What was your biggest contribution to the work at POLIS? And what were the impacts of that work?
Mabel: Organizing the Watersheds 2020 forum, Stepping Stones to Collaborative Watersheds Governance! My work included planning the delivery of this latest event in a decade-long series of gatherings, building on the learnings from each previous forum, and responding to emerging challenges—including COVID-19 and pivoting from an in-person event to a virtual setting. This event demonstrated the resiliency of the water community in B.C.!
Laura: Are there any skills or lessons from your POLIS days that you still carry with you today?
Mabel: So many! The value of lead-in work to meetings/events and debriefing; not only focusing on the pieces but their collective impact (and creating a cohesive tissue); relying on your team and bringing them along; always ‘upwards and onwards’. For me, the most important part has been feeling that I still carry the POLIS legacy.
Laura: What adventures have you been on since leaving POLIS? Are there any major milestones—either personally or professionally—that you’d like to share?
Mabel: In general, consolidating my work experience in B.C. and continue to meet and work with amazing people. Living in Canada for almost six years now has been an adventure itself!
Laura: Now that you can look at the work of POLIS from a distance, what are your thoughts? Are we achieving what we should be? Where do you think we’re having the biggest impact?
Mabel: POLIS continues to demonstrate the value of a collective vision—and collective impacts when you break up silos. The way in which POLIS and water leaders across the province have collaboratively helped advance work on the water security front, as part of decades-long water governance work, has been remarkable and inspiring.
