Grants and Contributions

The initiative supports governments and community organizations to improve access to safe and high quality learning environments, to strengthen child protection systems and increase birth registry with the objective of reducing early marriage, violence, and abuse of children.

Project activities include: (1) developing a toolkit to guide provision of gender-responsiveness, cultural sensitivity and adolescent friendly health and nutrition services; (2) organizing exchange visits for health workers to experience and learn from skilled and qualified SRH providers; (3) training community groups on SGBV, its impact on physical and psychological health, and prevention; and (4) engaging with government bodies to adapt existing policies or promote policy changes (as needed) and allocate sufficient resources for resilient health systems that can met the SRHR needs of rights-holders.

Project activities include: (1) enabling 6,650 households to graduate from extreme poverty with better sustainable livelihoods and socioeconomic resilience; (2) strengthening the resilience of 17,500 climate vulnerable households; (3) providing comprehensive health and SRHR services to 100,000 people; (4) supporting 5,550 children (at least 50% girls and 2% with disabilities) to complete primary education with better learning competencies; (5) training 1,360 people with marketable skills linked to decent employment opportunities; (6) providing counseling and legal aid services to 20,750 women survivors of violence against women; (7) engaging with over 1 million people through awareness efforts on violence against women and children and prevention of child marriage; (8) producing and distributing reusable cloth masks among the low-income people to slow down community transmission of COVID-19; (9) improving protective health initiatives through community engagement and communication for better case management, infection prevention, risk reduction and awareness building; and (10) creating access to livelihood support mechanisms in post-pandemic recovery.

This project will bring together Wabanaki women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ peoples with lived experience to learn alongside the Native Women’s Association of Canada and the Wabanaki Two-Spirit Alliance.

This will be achieved by undertaking organizational learning to address key information gaps, and to create knowledge-based resources that aim to increase understanding of Indigenous gender and sexual diversity and prevent sexualized forms of violence against Indigenous women and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people; expanding organizational networks through the formation of an Opokaa’sin-centred relationality network that will work towards advancing a Blackfoot vision of gender justice; collaborating on initiatives to drive change, including the development of Blackfoot gender relationality agreements and wise practices for government policies and community projects; and developing advocacy strategies in service of honouring, promoting, and supporting Blackfoot gender diversity and inclusion.