2019 GLISA Small Grant: Bringing For-Profit Companies into the Boundary Chain Model

Project Summary

Private sector service providers are entering the adaptation field at an increased rate. Through integration into the boundary chain model, private sector businesses have the opportunity to play a critical role in scaling equitable, ethical, and actionable adaptation. This project will provide the foundational steps to ensure private sector service providers have access to and support in implementing the best available climate information for the Great Lakes region by surveying their existing data needs and applied services and developing a replicable training program for service providers that highlights GLISA resources, tools, and methods.

Project Accomplishments

  • Project White Paper
  • Contact list of climate adaptation service providers operating in the region
  • Report documenting the practices and needs of climate adaptation service providers operating in the region
  • Academy workshop series for climate adaptation service providers
  • Report documenting the workshop proceedings, conversations that take place at the workshop, and workshop feedback

 

Research findings

Relationships and relationship-building emerged as major themes and influences throughout the project. The project team’s strategic use of relationships and relationship-building among all participants, including instructors, yields complex emergent benefits throughout the Academy workshop. Using strategies that deepened and leveraged extant relationships, the project team and project Advisory Group supported effective recruitment, instruction design, discussions, feedback mechanisms, peer learning, and networking opportunities. It helped the team to recruit and learn from a diverse group of participants across the climate services marketplace, develop nuanced lessons learned from the Academy, and support new connections for participants, ASAP, and GLISA with potential for short- and long-term collaboration.

GLISA Contribution

GLISA funded this 2019 small grant project and partnered with the grantee to plan and co-facilitate the September 2020 workshop.

Project Partners

  • American Society of Adaptation Professionals (ASAP, grantee)
  • Adaptation International
  • Farallon Strategies
  • NEMAC and Fernleaf

GLISA Contact

Jenna Jorns, GLISA Co-Director, jljorns@umich.edu