Grants and Contributions

Through this 20-month project, DisAbled Women’s Network of Canada (DAWN Canada) will create communities of practice to increase collaborations between women with disabilities and build networks to support the development of leadership roles for women with disabilities within them and beyond. Communities of practice members will participate in training on advocacy and policy change, to support them in challenging and changing existing policies and practices that exclude them, and help to ensure they are no longer ignored in research or service provision. With the ultimate goal of increasing the number of women with disabilities in leadership roles nationally, project activities will include the recruitment and training of approximately 30 women with disabilities leaders from target sectors (feminist, Black, Indigenous, 2SLGBTQ+, and unions), the development of 6 to 10 communities of practice based on the interests, backgrounds and strengths of the participants, and awareness raising on the impacts of leadership by women with disabilities. An evaluation report will be developed to document the project’s progress, lessons learned, and to share outcomes.

Through this 18-month project, DisAbled Women’s Network of Canada (DAWN Canada) will scale a peer support model for women with disabilities (WWD) who are survivors of gender-based violence (GBV) to new local and national partners across Canada. The model addresses gaps in access to peer support for WWD survivors of GBV and focuses on ensuring representation from intersecting identities (such as Black, Indigenous, Racialized, Francophone, 2SLGBTQI, and Deaf women). Project activities will include developing curriculum, delivering training, and providing coaching and support to partners to implement peer support programs. A Community of Practice will also be created to facilitate knowledge transfer. An evaluation report will be developed to share information on the promising practice with others so they may replicate or expand upon it.

Through this 25-month project, DisAbled Women’s Network Canada (DAWN) will build its capacity to advance gender equality in Canada. It will strengthen DAWN’s ability to drive systemic change by ensuring the continuity and sustainability of its mandate while enhancing its financial management processes, increasing its membership, updating its core feminist disability guide, and deepening its expertise on key policy and human rights areas, specifically to address the needs of women, girls and gender-diverse people with disability. Key activities include conducting an organizational needs assessment and developing and implementing an action plan; conducting an audit of the financial reporting and budget management processes and identifying improvement to be implemented; developing and implementing a strategic recruitment plan; elaborating and disseminating DAWN’s core feminist disability guide; and updating its research on lived experiences and rights of women, girls and gender-diverse individuals with disabilities

With the supplement funding and extension provided in early 2026, DAWN will strengthen its capacity as a sector leader to advance systemic change and promote gender equality for disabled and Deaf women, girls, and gender diverse persons. Building on its existing research and partnerships, this additional support will enable DAWN to deepen its impact and enhance long-term sustainability to advance its mission to serve as a leading voice advocating for the rights, inclusion, and wellbeing of women, girls, and gender diverse people with disabilities across Canada.

Through this 36-month project, DisAbled Women’s Network (DAWN) Canada will conduct community-based research that will help improve GBV services for at-risk groups by developing an action-oriented analysis of the peer support continuum. This research project will address the programmatic challenges associated with developing and implementing peer support structures to address the complex, systemic nature of GBV. To do so, the project will include interviews with various actors across the peer support continuum in disability and GBV sectors, the creation of case studies, and a podcast series that explores the role of peer support and the various forms it can take in policy and programs. DAWN Canada will develop a dissemination strategy for the case studies and podcasts to share information on the research findings.

With the supplemental funds and extension provided in early 2026, DAWN Canada will relaunch the project in communities by developing and implementing an accessible, trauma-informed GBV community mapping framework; conducting environmental scans and service inventories; and hosting survivor-led consultation sessions to validate services, identify barriers, and assess where peer support fills systemic gaps. DAWN Canada will also complete a cross-community comparative analysis and summary, plain language resource guides, and host a national knowledge-sharing session. Through this work, DAWN Canada will further advance Gender Equality by strengthening disability-inclusive, survivor-led responses to gender-based violence and addressing systemic barriers within local service ecosystems.

This 29-month project will support a feminist response and recovery from the current impacts of COVID-19, through systemic change. DAWN Canada will achieve this by addressing discriminatory legislation, policies, and/or practices that prevent women and/or girls from fully participating in the social, political and economic spheres. This project will build relationships between equality seeking organizations and other stakeholders to collaborate across sectors to advance gender equality as well as convene and strengthen the feminist movement to collaboratively advance gender equality.

At the end of the project, the organization will have contributed to addressing systemic barriers by advancing inclusive policies and practices and increasing networks and collaboration to accelerate systemic change to support women’s equality.

This project will use a cross-disability, feminist and intersectional framework to center women with disabilities in a feminist recovery. This will be done by convening a broad cross section of stakeholders to identify, prioritize and respond in a unified voice to key policy and service delivery gaps that result in the exclusion of women with disabilities from Canada’s socio-economic life. The project will focus on economic inclusion in Ontario and Quebec, and Gender-Based Violence in the Atlantic and Prairie regions.

As a result of this project, it is expected that women with disabilities will set the stage to map the future development of federal and provincial policy and program responses related to a feminist social and economic recovery, and that women with disabilities will be centered in the design of Canada’s National Action Plan on Gender Based Violence. This project will set the stage for the next decade of broad-based cross-sectoral collaboration to respond to the systemic exclusion of women living in Canada with disabilities.

The objectives of the Program are to; support the development and utilization of effective approaches to address social issues and challenges;.develop, exchange and apply knowledge, tools and resources that address social needs of individuals, families and communities; foster partnerships and networks to address existing and emerging social issues; recognize and support the ability of not-for-profit organizations to identify and address social development priorities; and, recognize and promote community engagement initiatives (e.g. volunteerism, corporate social responsibility, innovation, partnerships, coalitions) that mobilize community assets and develop capacities and resources for action..

The objectives of the Program are to: -support the development and utilization of effective approaches to address social issues and challenges;.- develop, exchange and apply knowledge, tools and resources that address social needs of individuals, families and communities - foster partnerships and networks to address existing and emerging social issues;.- recognize and support the ability of not-for-profit organizations to identify and address social development priorities; and,.- recognize and promote community engagement initiatives (e.g. volunteerism, corporate social responsibility, innovation, partnerships, coalitions) that mobilize community assets and develop capacities and resources for action..

This 60-month project will develop and evaluate the effectiveness of a peer support model as a promising practice for women with disabilities and deaf women who have experienced violence. Subject matter experts will be engaged to ensure a comprehensive model that addresses the complexity and unique needs of the underserved communities of women with disabilities, including Indigenous, racialized, LGBTQ, and transgendered, in both rural and urban areas.

This 48-month project will address organizational capacity needs to allow the organization to continue promoting social and systemic change towards gender equality. Organizational capacity will be enhanced through the following activities: strategic and succession planning; partnership development, collaboration and networking; development of an advocacy strategy; implementation of result based management; organizational financial health and sustainability plan. The DisAbled Women’s Network (DAWN) Canada’s main objectives are to strengthen organizational capacity by improving governance, human resources, administrative practices and broadening its funding base. This will allow the organization to work more effectively with its network and partners in the women’s sector to address issues that affect women and girls with disabilities, as well as Deaf women and girls.

Supplemental funding in the amount of $150,000 will be used in the additional phase of the project to develop tools and mechanisms to operationalize implement plans developed in initial phase of the project. This will contribute to strengthen the work management and increase the impact of the organization’s activities. Management functions will be consolidated, and strategic and operational functions will be harmonized to allow for better implementation of the strategic plan. The organization will develop new partnerships and collaborations to expand its position as an expert and leader in the intersectional feminist cross-disability, right-based approach and diversify its funding sources. It will also adjust its advocacy approach and strategy taking into account new emerging priorities.

This 48-month project will address organizational capacity needs to allow the organization to continue promoting social and systemic change towards gender equality. Organizational capacity will be enhanced through the following activities: strategic and succession planning; partnership development, collaboration and networking; development of an advocacy strategy; implementation of result based management; organizational financial health and sustainability plan. The DisAbled Women’s Network (DAWN) Canada’s main objectives are to strengthen organizational capacity by improving governance, human resources, administrative practices and broadening its funding base. This will allow the organization to work more effectively with its network and partners in the women’s sector to address issues that affect women and girls with disabilities, as well as Deaf women and girls.