WEBINAR | Bridging Barriers: Advancing Equitable Engagement & Partnerships in Climate Adaptation

Description

A 4-Part Connected Webinar Series | March 18, 2026 | May 20, 2026|July 15, 2026 | September 23, 2026

Climate adaptation is no longer a question of if - but of how. And across Canada, communities are discovering a shared truth: the hardest barriers to climate adaptation are not technical. They are relational, institutional and systemic.

Bridging Barriers is a four-part, connected webinar series designed for municipalities, Indigenous rights holders, community organizations, and cross-sector partners who are ready to move from climate planning to equitable, real-world implementation.

Rather than offering disconnected “best practices,” this series creates a learning journey. Each session intentionally builds on the last - guiding participants from naming what gets in the way, to building internal readiness, to designing engagement rooted in belonging, and finally to taking action through strong multi-sectoral partnerships.

Webinars in the series

What participants will gain from the Series

By committing to all four sessions, participants will:

• Strengthen their ability to lead equitable climate adaptation from within their organizations

• Build readiness for collaboration across departments, sectors, and communities

• Learn how to design engagement processes rooted in belonging, lived experience, and trust

• Develop practical approaches to multi-sectoral partnership and shared action

• Connect with peers facing similar implementation challenges across Canada

Participants are strongly encouraged to attend all four sessions, as the content, tools, and reflections are cumulative and designed to deepen over time.

Part one: Naming the Barriers - Understanding Common Barriers to Equitable Engagement in Climate Adaptation

March 18, 2026 | 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM EDT

This opening session sets the foundation for the entire series.

Too often, climate adaptation efforts struggle not because of a lack of commitment, but because engagement processes are constrained by siloed decision-making, limited capacity, and mistrust rooted in past exclusion. These barriers are rarely named—yet they shape everything that follows.

In Session 1, participants will:

• Explore the systemic, institutional, and cultural barriers that hinder equitable community engagement

• Examine real-world case examples highlighting challenges such as lack of trust, fragmented governance, and inadequate resourcing

• Build a shared language across sectors to talk honestly about what is getting in the way

• Establish a common foundation for the solution-focused sessions that follow

This session is designed to create clarity, alignment, and momentum so that participants are better equipped to move into action together.

Part Two: Building Internal Readiness - Shifting Culture & Practices for Inclusive Engagement

May 20, 2026 | 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM EDT

Equitable climate adaptation does not begin in the community; it begins inside our institutions.

Following Session 1’s exploration of naming the barriers, Session 2 turns the lens inward. This session focuses on the internal conditions that either enable or quietly undermine equitable community engagement. Participants will examine how organizational culture, leadership norms, policies, timelines, and resourcing shape who is invited into climate decision-making and how power is shared.

Through practical tools such as Equity, Accessibility, and Reconciliation (EAR) audits, participants will explore what it means to build readiness across departments and teams—not as a one-time exercise, but as an ongoing leadership practice. Real-life examples will help participants identify the policy shifts, capacity investments, and leadership behaviours needed to support inclusive engagement and cross-sector collaboration.

This session is about moving from intention to readiness, so that when communities are invited to engage, institutions are truly prepared to meet them.

Part three: Designing for Belonging - Methods for Inclusive Engagement & Centring Lived Experience

July 15, 2026 | 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM EDT

Once internal readiness is in place, the question becomes: How do we design engagement that people want to be part of?

Session 3 shifts from internal systems to the design of engagement itself. Moving beyond transactional consultation, this session explores how climate adaptation efforts can be co-created with communities, centring lived experience, cultural relevance, and belonging.

Participants will learn about trauma-informed and culturally responsive engagement practices that recognize the emotional, historical, and social dimensions of climate impacts. The session will also highlight Indigenous partnerships and grassroots-led models that are redefining how trust, leadership, and shared ownership are built in climate adaptation. This session invites participants to rethink engagement not as a process to manage but as a relationship to nurture. The result is adaptation work that feels grounded, inclusive, and deeply connected to community priorities.

Part Four:  Multi-Sectoral Partnership in Action Breaking Silos: Tools for Cross-Sector Collaboration

September 23, 2026 | 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM EDT

Climate adaptation does not happen in isolation, and neither can the solutions.

The final session brings the series together by focusing on multi-sectoral partnership in action. Building on the foundations of readiness and belonging, Session 4 explores how municipalities and partners can move beyond coordination to shared, cross-sector implementation.

Participants will be introduced to practical frameworks, including collective impact, systems mapping, and community benefits agreements. They will examine real-world examples of municipalities aligning climate adaptation with health, housing, and social services. The session concludes with a practical case example focused on designing a joint action plan with diverse partners, offering a concrete pathway from learning to action.

This session is about momentum - translating relationships, trust, and shared vision into coordinated action that delivers real outcomes for communities.

This webinar series is aligned with Leading Together: Local Governments Advancing Equitable Climate Resilience, an action-oriented learning cohort delivered by the Tamarack Institute, with funding from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM)’s Green Municipal Fund and the Government of Canada.

SEssion One speakers

Stephen Ngonain. Senior Manager of Communities, Climate Transitions. Tamarack Institute

Stephen is the Manager of Communities of Tamarack’s Community Climate Transitions. He brings deep, practice-based experience working at the intersection of climate adaptation, equity, and community change. Stephen’s work focuses on supporting municipalities, Indigenous partners, and community organizations to move from intention to implementation - by addressing governance gaps, building trust, and embedding equity into decision-making. He brings a systems lens grounded in lived experience, cross-sector collaboration, and real-world delivery, making this series both practical and deeply relevant to today’s adaptation challenges.

Erika Massoud. Community Animator, Networks for Change. Tamarack Institute

Before joining the Tamarack team, Erika worked with non-profit organizations and academic institutions in Canada and internationally, on issues of youth engagement, immigrant and refugee rights, gender equality and social inclusion.  She holds a bachelor’s degree in International Development and Globalization and a Master’s degree in Migration and Intercultural Relations. Erika is passionate about mobilizing communities towards social justice.

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