In this session, the Gulf Research Program (GRP) at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine will discuss the process, outcomes, and lessons learned from engaging stakeholders through its Adaptive Capacities for Transformation Initiative (ACT). Participants will gain a basic understanding of group concept mapping; strengths and weaknesses of the methodology; and learn about the shared adaptive capacity priorities in each Gulf location.  
  
ACT is a 10-year initiative to promote transformative sciences as a strategy to achieve greater social impact with Gulf communities. Under ACT, the GRP has been building the capacity of local stakeholders to better adapt to disasters and their cumulative impact on the health and resilience of their communities. Building adaptive capacities has and will continue to involve strengthening existing and developing new assets—knowledge, skills, abilities, resources, and strategies—that communities can use to adjust to harm or damage, take advantage of opportunities, or respond to the consequences of stressors and disasters. With the promotion of transformative sciences, building adaptive capacities has and will continue to be driven by robust stakeholder engagement that accounts for the interconnectedness of assets, the structural and relational conditions of asset mobilization, and the systems and functions that underpin the health and resilience of Gulf communities.
  
The GRP is proposing a session with local stakeholders from all three regions that participated in the GCM process. The session will be grounded by a demonstration of GCM with a focus on the role of stakeholder engagement and its complementarity to different aspects of transformative sciences. In following, the GRP will lead a facilitated discussion with local stakeholders on the outcomes (e.g., alignment of stakeholders on shared priorities, sharing of assets among stakeholders) and lessons they learned from participating in the GCM process.

Speakers: 

Francisca Flores, Program Officer, The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Lance Slater, Chief Resilience Officer, City of Mobile
Ashley Williams, Director of the Center for Health Communities and Assistant Professor of Surgery, University of South Alabama Health
Danny Patterson, Coalition Coordinator, Gulf States Health Policy Center
David Gilkeson, Strategic Partnerships & Outreach Officer