Research

BCCIC regularly engages in research in partnership with members and various community stakeholders at local, provincial and national levels. Below is a list of some research BCCIC is either in the midst of conducting or has released.

Kelowna SDG Scorecard Project

BCCIC, in partnership with the Global Empowerment Coalition of the Central Okanagan (GECCO), the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions (PICS) at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and the City of Kelowna piloted a project to explore and develop customized local and regional level ‘proxy’ indicators that align with the SDGs. The City of Kelowna pilot project is the first of its kind in Canada to explore SDG implementation at the city-scale, following on the Sustainable Development Solutions Network’s (SDSN) USA Sustainable Cities Initiative (USA-SCI) approach, which includes localizing SDG pilot projects with Baltimore, San Jose and New York.  The customized indicators enable the City of Kelowna to measure local level progress over the next 15 years relative to the province, using easily accessible means of verification. 

Leveraging the Interlinkages: Gender Equality, Women’s Empowerment and the SDGs

 

BCCIC coordinated a delegation of 14 women for the 64th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW64) this March in New York City. The BCCIC CSW64 delegation and other BCCIC members worked collectively to write this report on gender empowerment, women’s equality, and the SDGs.

In light of the outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19), the 64th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women was scaled back to a one-day procedural meeting and the BCCIC delegation did not attend. This underscores the importance of leveraging interlinkages. This communicable disease (and others to come) will fundamentally shift how we work together, calling for strengthened multi-stakeholder coordination and innovation to address ‘wicked problems’ that make a mockery of borders and render ‘us and them’ categories null and void. Innovative, transformational approaches are needed to traverse scales, silos, and sectors.

This report offers a selection of case studies that showcase the work that BCCIC members are doing in the field of gender equality and women’s empowerment. The objective of the report is to promote accelerated progress towards women’s empowerment, gender equality, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by highlighting innovative tools and promising practice interventions designed and implemented by BCCIC members. These case studies capture diverse perspectives as well as practical examples in order to inspire action and catalyze new initiatives.

International Cooperation in Small Cities: New Directions and Innovative Local Practices in British Columbia 

In August 2016, BCCIC, in partnership with the University of Calgary and with funding from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), completed a research project exploring small cities’ and rural communities’ approaches to international cooperation.

Over the course of the two-year project, we traveled to three communities in British Columbia – Nelson, Prince George and Comox – to hold one-on-one and group interviews and to hear about some of  the innovative and promising practices being used across the province.