Pilot Projects are Ramping Up

As part of its State of the Basin (SOTB) initiative, the RDI is ramping up efforts to help communities use indicators and assets to support research, planning, and action. Since its inception in 2011, the RDI has worked to support evidence-based decision-making in our region, including the release of annual State of the Basin reports and the development of the Digital Basin in partnership with the Selkirk Geospatial Research Centre.

“Building on lessons learned from our Business Retention and Expansion work, the RDI is providing support in the form of project scoping, research design, analysis, reporting, and training of community-based researchers in pilot communities,” says Dr. Terri MacDonald, Regional Innovation Chair. “We also have a Selkirk College Co-op student on hand to help with aspects of data collection and geospatial analysis.”

The goal of the pilot projects is to enhance the capacity of our communities to collect and use data to support planning and strategic action in the areas of climate adaption, poverty reduction, economic development, and asset-based rural development.

“A series of Knowledge Briefs are being released in an effort to ensure all stakeholders are on the same page with respect to key concepts and possible best practice approaches that may be applicable to our region,” says MacDonald. “We are looking forward to working more closely with our communities on these 11 pilot projects and furthering our impact on evidence-based decision-making in the Columbia Basin-Boundary region”.

Pilot Communities Include:

Canal Flats (asset-based rural development)

Cranbrook (poverty reduction)

East Shore Kootenay Lake (asset-based rural development)

Kimberley (climate adaptation)

Lower Columbia (poverty reduction, asset-based rural development)

Nelson (poverty reduction)

New Denver (asset-based rural development)

Revelstoke (poverty reduction, economic development)

Rossland (climate adaptation)

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Please click on the links above to learn more about these exciting applied research projects and to view recently released Knowledge Briefs.