Guiding Principles

Inclusivity: All the SW Fire and Climate Adaptation Partnership initiatives/actions will be inclusive, diverse and equitable. The Partnership values and strives to integrate non-Eurowestern worldviews.

Cultural Awareness: The SW Fire and Climate Adaptation Partnership supports cultural awareness and cultural safety: recognizing that Indigenous as well as other cultural groups, have unique needs with respect to their history, culture and traditions. The Partnership is committed to working with all communities and their self-identified priorities. The Partnership follows and supports the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) which states specifically in article 31: Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain, control, protect and develop their cultural heritage, traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions, as well as the manifestations of their sciences, technologies and cultures, including human and genetic resources, seeds, medicines, knowledge of the properties of fauna and flora, oral traditions, literatures, designs, sports and traditional games and visual and performing arts. They also have the right to maintain, control, protect and develop their intellectual property over such cultural heritage, traditional knowledge, and traditional cultural expressions.

Collaborative: The SW Fire and Climate Adaptation Partnership applies Trust, Respect, Willingness, Empowerment, and Effective Communication to build relationships and maintain them.

Evidence Informed: The SW Fire and Climate Adaptation Partnership strives for evidence informed action. All initiatives/actions and decisions promoted by the Partnership are based on current research, local data and expertise.

Consensus Based: The SW Fire and Climate Adaptation Partnership are made through consensus rather than majority rule.

Transparency: The SW Fire and Climate Adaptation Partnership aims to be open and transparent with all its initiatives and actions. Decisions take place in the public eye.

Collective Impact: The SW Fire and Climate Adaptation Partnership has adopted a Collective Impact approach as a tool to understand and refine how it approaches collaborative work. This includes five conditions: a common agenda; mutually reinforcing activities; continuous communication; shared measurement systems; and Coordinating Team.