Details on Transfer Payment Programs of $5 Million or More

Strategically invested $20.5 million in some 300 new and ongoing projects at the local, regional and national levels to find and implement concrete solutions to the systemic barriers women face, focusing on creating levers, leveraging partnerships as well as acting to transform institutions and systems impeding women’s progress and advancement such as:

• Funding a project to inform policy changes in the shelter sector;
• Launching for the first time, a  Call for Proposals exclusively for projects targeting Indigenous women and girls, to strengthen the voices of Indigenous women on issues affecting them or hindering their advancement in all aspects of life;
• Launching a Call for Proposals to advance Gender Equality in Canada providing a unique opportunity for women leaders and organizations in Canada to join forces and work for gender equality at both the local and national levels to foster a vibrant women’s movement in Canada;
• Funding some 50 organizations in support of 14 projects to create inclusive contexts to foster women’s participation and leadership in the public life of the country, and to address systematic barriers that contribute to the under-representation of women in politics;
• Funding a 36-month project to engage men and boys as agents of change to reduce violence against women and girls in Inuit homeland.

A number of projects were completed that aimed to build collaboration between sexual assault centres and their community partners to identify promising practices and coordinate implementation efforts to improve service responses. Funded projects contributed to increasing awareness of existing community / regional services, the creation of new networks to promote collaboration, sharing of knowledge and implementation of strategies, service improvements and new funding investments by other stakeholders.  In addition, some inter-provincial partnerships emerged among a network of sexual assault centres, to share promising practices and further develop collaborative solutions.

In the 2015 Budget, the Government of Canada (GoC) announced support for the Action Plan for Women Entrepreneurs. A key component included commitment to support the development of an online platform to foster networking opportunities for women entrepreneurs.

To deliver on this commitment, Status of Women (SWC) received $200,000 ($150K in 2016-2017 and $50k for 2017-2018 FY) in grant funding.

In the 2017 budget, the GoC announced support for Women Entrepreneurs. To capitalize on this larger GoC initiative and maximize outcomes for women, SWC had planned to transfer $150K to another Department who would lead the initiative. Since the initiative was not in place in 2016-17 FY, SWC was unable to transfer the funds and lapsed $150K. SWC will be transferring the remaining $50K planned for 2017-18 to the initiative.

SWC is continuing to implement its client engagement strategy. For example, it holds information sessions for potential applicants whenever it issues calls for proposals to explain the objectives. 

In 2015-16, SWC developed and piloted an online interactive client engagement platform to facilitate communication and foster dialogue between SWC, its clients, and other stakeholders. It seeks to encourage the real-time sharing of experiences and knowledge, and provides enhanced access to tools and resources. The Platform builds on previous SWC work, promoting networking amongst stakeholders that share a common goal, thereby creating communities of practice to help advance gender equality.

In 2016-17, SWC engaged with platform users / clients via a survey to solicit feedback to optimize and promote client use. Follow-up for continual improvement is currently underway.

Over the past year, Status of Women Canada regional operations have begun to expand beyond its four offices. This expansion will increase the reach of the Agency and enhance its ability to liaise with local stakeholders and organizations.