Strengthening local governance in face of climate change: The case study of an online educational initiative developed by the Union des Municipalités du Québec

Municipalities are increasingly called upon to take action on climate change, but there is too little information on what elected officials and employees need in order to gain the new skills they will require. This lack of data significantly limits the creation of capacity-building initiatives to meet the wide variety of challenges experienced in municipal contexts.  

The subject of this research project is a continuing education initiative on climate change created by the Union des Municipalités du Québec (UMQ) for municipal elected officials and employees. The aim of the project is to generate hard data on the structure, impact and relevance of this continuing education initiative. The results will be used directly to improve the UMQ’s training offering and other educational initiatives on adaptation for municipal elected officials and employees.

• Contribute to improving the relevance and quality of professional training on climate change adaptation offered to elected officials and employees of municipal governments in Quebec.

• Considering the absence of any literature review on the subject and the lack of available data, the first phase of this research will be devoted to the production of a review to identify the scope of the available literature on the subject (scoping review). A scientific article will be produced to elaborate on the implications of and priorities for future research, and to identify recommendations applicable to practices and public policy.

• A second phase of the case study will employ a utilization-focused evaluation approach, with document analysis, surveys, observation sessions and semi-structured interviews, to identify the impact of the training process and the learning needs of elected officials.

• The methodology promotes the continuous use of the knowledge generated during the research process to facilitate the use of the results by project partners.
   

• Produce a literature review and research recommendations on the subject of continuing education for elected municipal officials on climate change.

• Develop an approach for evaluating continuing education that can be used by the UMQ.

• Increase the expertise of UMQ and other partners on the design and evaluation of continuing education on climate change and adaptation.
   

This topic under study is funded by the Government of Quebec and meets the objectives of the Plan pour une économie verte 2030.

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