Grants and Contributions

This project aims to facilitate knowledge sharing and engagement by placing Canadian university students in entrepreneurial environments within key Indo-Pacific markets, connecting relevant public-private stakeholders at the Cansbridge Indo-Pacific Conference, and simultaneously establishing lifelong relationships through the Cansbridge Mentorship Program. The project places 15 "Cansbridge Fellows" into the Indo-Pacific region for summer internships. These internships aim to provide 15 Canadian university students with over 8,000 hours of expertise and knowledge sharing at leading companies, enhancing cross-cultural exposure through internships, workshops, and mentorship. This project also seeks to generate over 100 new relationships with the region's top employers, connect and deepen ties with over 50 new prospective regional partners and leaders across the public and private sector through the Cansbridge Indo-Pacific Conference. Also, it seeks to provide mentorship to over 60 high-potential and traction st

This project aims to mitigate the longstanding and serious threats associated with “deliberate disease” emanating from Africa. These challenges that are prioritized by the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), the G7, the United Nations and INTERPOL. This project aims to support Africa CDC to further develop and deliver a comprehensive Strategic Plan on Biosafety and Biosecurity. This Project, a product of the Canada-led Signature Initiative to Mitigate Biological Threats in Africa, seeks to enable a multi-year sustained push by Africa CDC to prevent, detect and respond to deliberate disease threats through continent-wide capacity building for biosecurity (i.e. protecting pathogens from illicit acquisition) and biosafety (i.e. preventing accidental release of pathogens from laboratories and protecting lab staff from infection).

This project aims to improve sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) through access to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services for women and adolescents in Bauchi State, Nigeria. Project activities include: (1) developing behavior change intervention packages for in-school and out-of-school adolescents; (2) improving WASH facilities in schools and health facilities; (3) training teachers and establishing health clubs to support menstrual hygiene management and life skills training for adolescents; (4) building capacity of healthcare workers to deliver quality sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and WASH services; (5) strengthening sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) referral systems; and (6) improving the enabling policy environment by advocating for stronger WASH and sexual and reproductive health and rights policies.

The project seeks to reach 108,161 direct beneficiaries (20,717 adolescent girls and 71,907 women of reproductive age 15 to 49 years, and 15,537 adolescent boys) through 69 schools and 58 health facilities, 600,000 indirect beneficiaries in over 1,036 communities.

This project aims to support the Government of the Philippines’ efforts to address stunting among children under the age of 5 (CU5) by improving local health system governance and service delivery. Specifically, the project seeks to help build the capacity of select local governments to plan and implement a multisectoral program for nutrition, focusing on the first 1000 days of life, in line with the Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition 2023 to 2028. Project activities include: (1) training health service providers to improve provision of nutrition information and services (e.g. iron folic acid supplementation, antenatal care, exclusive breastfeeding, complementary feeding, zinc complements, among others); (2) raising awareness in communities to promote equal caregiving responsibilities among parents, and improve feeding practices for CU5; (3) advocating for the integration of nutrition interventions in key programs such as cash transfer program and food supplementation initiatives of the national government; (4) building the capacity of local government officials and health service providers to better track and report on nutrition interventions across relevant sectors and programs (e.g. food security, education, social welfare); and (5) engaging civil society and women’s rights organizations in nutrition planning and monitoring at the municipal level. This initiative reaches approximately 140,000 individuals, particularly pregnant women and CU5 in select provinces in the Philippines.

This project aims to enhance the empowerment of adolescent girls and female youth pursuing education in South Sudan by targeting both supply and demand side barriers that prevent them from attending school. The project targets three counties across two states, Central Equatoria (two counties) and Eastern Equatoria (one county). Project activities include: (1) providing support to education actors (such as teachers) to develop, test and implement, gender-transformative tools and approaches to deliver comprehensive sexuality education and life skills curriculum content; (2) providing support to community groups working in education to enhance and adapt approaches and innovations related to girls’ education and empowerment; (3) conducting participatory design process with teacher training providers to integrate gender-transformative and inclusive approaches and content to existing teacher training curricula; and (4) s providing support to local education actors to advocate for gender transformative education policy enhancements and implementation.

This project aims to enhance welfare and protection of refugees and host community populations, particularly vulnerable women and girls, in Egypt. The project seeks to improved access to protection services and gender-responsive assistance for refugees, in particular women and girls, and enhance their socio-economic inclusion and resilience through employment and entrepreneurship training. Project activities include: 1) providing cash-assistance to 3,446 female-headed refugees households, benefiting 7,719 women and girls and 6,065 men and boys; 2) providing 300 SGBV survivors with case management and safe relocation services to ensure their physical safety, of which 290 will be women; 3) providing training and seed funding to 265 refugees with the aim to create income- generating businesses; 4) providing job placement services to 180 refugees to facilitate access to market opportunities and develop vocational skills. These livelihood interventions would support 60% women and 40% men; and 5) providing access to social cohesion initiatives including cultural exchange events and gender-sensitive training sessions on conflict resolution for 445 members of refugee and host communities. These initiatives would include the launch of community service programmes and festivals showcasing different cultural traditions, including music, dance, and cuisine. In total, the interventions will benefit 14,934 direct beneficiaries, including 8,519 women and girls and 6,415 men and boys, of which 93% are part of female-headed households. At least 97% of beneficiaries will be refugees or asylum seekers.

This project aims to support the Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation in advancing its mandate of assisting developing and least developed countries in implementing the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA). The Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation is a public-private partnership that brings together governments and businesses as equal partners to deliver targeted trade facilitation reforms that enhance the speed, cost-efficiency, ease, and predictability of cross-border trade. The Alliance seeks to improve trade performance and promote inclusive economic growth in project countries.

Project activities include: (1) mobilizing international and in-country public-private dialogues on trade facilitation reforms; (2) operationalizing cooperation of the private sector towards Alliance objectives; (3) trade facilitation project concepts with public and private sector perspectives; (4) co-creation and co-implemention of leveraging Alliance-developed inclusive trade methodologies, best practices and measurement tools to inform the design and implementation of trade facilitation projects; and (5) developing and disseminating the Alliance's measurable results, lessons learned, and best practices.

This project aims to have community-led recovery that is inclusive and responds to Ukrainian citizens’ needs, especially women, the most vulnerable and marginalized. The project works in partnership with the Government of Ukraine’s (GoU) Ministry of Development to support the capacity of 50 territorial communities from war-affected areas. This is done to boost the capacity of local authorities for service delivery, strategic planning, project management, investment attraction, urban planning, and improved stakeholder engagement. The project supports these communities to develop recovery action plans and manage recovery initiatives that are gender-responsive, citizen-oriented, environmentally sustainable, and aligned with national policies and European Union (EU) accession criteria. It also seeks to strengthen the GoU’s capacity to manage decentralized, strategic, and inclusive recovery planning systems. These systems align sector plans across the government and support EU integration processes at the national level. The project seeks to work closely with the responsible ministry for strategic planning and the Ukraine Plan and the Ministry of Economy to institutionalize "Project UA", a national digital results-based management platform used to monitor recovery priorities and plans.

This project aims to survey the energy policy, regulatory and commercial environment for small modular reactors (SMR) in selected Indo-Pacific countries. It does this through collaboration between Royal Roads University and Kyoto University. This research study involves collecting both quantitative and qualitative data from primary and secondary sources. It takes a transdisciplinary approach, involving the knowledge fields of nuclear science, international economics, international trade and investment and climate policy. It aims to use primary sources such as in-person interviews with government, industry officials, and non-governmental organizations in each target country. The project also seeks to draw upon secondary sources including academic research literature, information from government agencies, country databases and national statistics, and other public and private data sources. The project aims to produce a final research report and a presentation of the findings for Canadian stakeholders.

This project addresses climate vulnerability and economic challenges, particularly for women and youth, by enhancing rural livelihoods and fostering climate-resilient communities through ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) solutions, promoting job creation, food security, and environmental conservation. This includes: (1) strengthening the institutional capacity of local governments and other key stakeholders through technical assistance to manage climate risks and implement adaptation measures based on gender-responsive climate policies and multi-level governance mechanisms that include active participation from local communities, particularly women and youth; (2) collaborating with financial institutions to develop innovative credit enhancement mechanisms that facilitate access to financing for EbA interventions, particularly climate-smart agriculture, multifunctional restoration, and sustainable food systems; and (3) providing women and youth-led micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) with the financial resources needed to adopt climate-resilient practices and scale up their operations. These efforts aim to transform the department of Cesar, into a model of sustainable, climate-resilient, and inclusive economic growth, supporting Colombia's transition to a post-fossil fuel economy.