The Mothers Matter Centre conducted an orientation meeting today to initiate the Women’s Insight Project (WIP). WIP is a new addition to the innovation portfolio of the Mothers Matter Centre (MMC). The project takes an empowering approach targeting isolated, vulnerable and low-income women in indigenous, newcomer and racialized communities to support them through confidence and capacity building.
MMC is supported by 3 implementation partners in this project: The Immigrant Services Society of BC (ISS of BC), the Vancouver Aboriginal Friendship Centre Society (VAFCS), and the Al Mustafa Trust Foundation.
The project seeks to build the skills of these women to identify SDG gaps in their communities through a participatory action approach and design their unique solutions to be implemented as projects in the communities. The project builds on intensive community involvement and bottom-up approaches to ensure no one is left behind – and that isolated women are able to break their isolation and transform into leaders that drive change within their communities.
The project will follow the cascade model of training where facilitators employed by partner organizations will be trained by MMC to recruit and build capacity of women on the ground. Trainings will be structured and will follow a curriculum developed as part of the project.
The project will:
– Increase public awareness of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
– Support racialized and newcomer vulnerable women in communities to build their capacities
– Identify existing SDG gaps in their communities and
– Bridge them through innovative community led projects. Project partners include 3 social purpose organization (SPO) partners including ISS of BC, VAFCS, and the Al Mustafa Trust Foundation. A train-the-trainer model will be adopted to deliver the Women’s Insight project training and guide project development. Each SPO partner will recruit and train 15 racialized low-income women in theory practice format to conduct research, analyze data on the SDG knowledge gaps in their communities and pilot projects that address the identified SDG gaps in their communities in partnership with SPOs and other relevant stakeholders.
MMC and its partners are thankful to Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) for their support and commitment to make Canada more inclusive by mainstreaming the needs of communities that are at risk of being left behind.
