Get Started: Establish a Local Steering Committee

 

Having a local steering committee helps create community buy-in to project outcomes. The steering committee should represent different stakeholders in the community so that the process represents the diversity of community views. This is the group that the coordinator can bounce ideas off of, seek advice from, and use as a focus group and as a network to reach out further into the community.

Committees may already exist in the community that can be used for this purpose. Examples include local government green committees, environment committees, sustainability task force or OCP committees. Given climate change impacts will touch on all aspects of the community, try and ensure you have a broad range of folks such as:

  • Local goverment elected officials
  • Local government staff
  • Chamber of Commerce
  • Educational groups
  • Youth
  • Recreational groups and/or services
  • Emergency services
  • Opinion leaders and/or other influential community members

It is important to note that all city departments need to have a presence on the committee and that decisions for adaptation affect all departments. There needs to be agreement on adaptation action so that no one department suffers as a result of a measure developed by another.

In addition, some communities way choose to reach beyond the local level. The provincial or federal representatives may offer expertise, knowledge, and guidance, especially for access to, compilation and interpretation of climate data--both past and future.

 

Experiences from Kimberley and Elkford

 

Kimberley

The Kimberley Steering Committee on Climate Adaptation was formed by the City of Kimberley to help guide and oversee the year-long Climate Adaptation Project. The committee played an active part in guiding the planning, hosting and debriefing of all workshops and community engagement activities. They were also responsible for periodic process reflections to identify key learnings and for building the final climate adaptation plan and recommendations for action.

Members:

  • Senior Planner, City of Kimberley (Chair)
  • Economic Development Officer, City of Kimberley
  • Councilor, City of Kimberley
  • Tourism Kimberley
  • CBT Climate Advisory Committee and local resident
  • College of the Rockies
  • Nature Park Society and Wildsight (Alternate Chair)
  • Chamber of Commerce
  • SPARK/Lee Haskell Youth Society
  • Kimberley Climate Adaptation Project Coordinator
  • CBT Climate Adaptation Initiative Coordinator

 

Elkford

Elkford's process was combined with their Official Community Planning (OCP) process. The OCP advisory committee was also used for the climate change work in Elkford. Given the in-depth OCP process taking place, Elkford didn't rely on their local committee to the extent that Kimberley did. They came in at the beginning of the project to provide initial direction and at the end of the project to review the consulting team's work.

The Community Advisory Community (CAC) was particularly focused on the OCP and very highly engaged. The OCP is a critical community document, so having an engaged CAC should result in a strong OCP with lots of buy-in. Still, coordinating the CAC required a lot of work (up to 12 hours per week) and this time should not be underestimated. If working on a CCAS and OCP you should anticipate increased time commitments from your community volunteers.

Some advice for future communities:

  • Agree on a shared communication mechanism at the outset
  • Agree on a decision-making mechanism so that in the absence of participants, the CAC can still advance
  • Have deadlines for reviewing materials
  • Budget adequate time and resources for managing the CAC
  • Have a set of general 'ground rules' that everyone can work from. This needs to be done early on in the process.

Download Terms of Reference for the Elkford Community Advisory Committee