With funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Northwest Boreal Partnership is helping to lead a collaboration of 17 organizations, including Indigenous organizations and universities, government agencies, and non-profits. The Northern Connections program aims to support and connect Indigenous-led science and knowledge programs focused on food security, land and water stewardship, environmental changes, and climate adaptation efforts in Alaska and northwest Canada.
The 3-year program included a kick-off virtual workshop in 2020 that drew over 150 participants across Alaska and Canada, and the formation of three working groups focused on the following:
- Capacity & Funding – focused on facilitating dialogue and engagement between Northern communities and public and private funders, in order to address priority issues, discuss solutions, create positive connections and understanding, and to provide better access to funding for community-led efforts
- Data Management & Data Sovereignty – focused on creating a Data Management Guidebook for Indigenous programs & communities in the North that are doing their own research & monitoring
- Indigenous Knowledge – focused on developing strategies and/or projects to support Indigenous scientists & knowledge keepers in Northern communities who are grounded in Indigenous Knowledge & western science
The Northern Connections program is also providing two trainings as part of the program:
- Strategies for Sustainable Funding – a 6-week grant writing and funding strategy training offered in early 2022 for Indigenous-led research & knowledge programs
- Decolonizing Research – a training that is specifically aimed to help more positive collaborations among communities and Indigenous organizations with agencies and universities, in order to support community-led research
A Network Analysis and Mapping Tool will also be developed to provide an up-to-date documentation of projects and efforts throughout Alaska and northwest Canada, in such a way that can help community-led programs connect and learn from one another, leverage resources and data, and examine potential avenue to create larger coordinated monitoring & research networks.
Finally, Northern Connections will create a compilation of the program’s work and lessons learned into a final product intended as a resource to communities, Indigenous organizations, funders, and researchers.