Grants and Contributions:

Nurturing Hope: A Peer Support Path for Trafficking Survivors

GV230316

$983,970.00

Oct 30, 2023 - Mar 31, 2027

Through this 41-month project, Voice Found, in partnership with The Canadian Centre to End Human Trafficking (The Centre), will develop and put in place a promising practice building upon Voice Found's existing training. It will be enhanced and piloted to add and assess the addition of an ethical peer support training program for survivors of human trafficking. The Ethical Peer Support project aims to address anti-human trafficking peer supporters' current lack of access to training and resources using trauma-informed practice. To do so, Voice Found will complete a literature review, an environmental scan, and develop a theory of change and evaluative framework. The project will be piloted on a pan-Canadian scale in locations with high interest in peer-support work but limited resources in addition to virtual training using both synchronous and asynchronous learning. An external evaluator will work with the Canadian Centre to End Human Trafficking and Voice Found to measure and assess the program impact. Outcomes of the evaluation and a model of ethical peer-support training will be widely disseminated so that other organizations and survivor leaders may replicate or expand upon it. This information will also be shared with Women and Gender Equality Canada GBV Knowledge Centre. This supplemental funding will enhance Voice Found’s peer support program for survivors of human trafficking by improving digital learning infrastructure, expanding and leadership training, refining evaluation tools, and translating materials to support national and bilingual delivery to strengthen program accessibility, sustainability, and impact across Canada. With the supplemental funds and extension provided in early 2026, Voice Found will examine organizational integration and internalization of GBV peer support roles, conduct participatory interpretation and validation across diverse service contexts, complete an Indigenous content needs assessment (including ethics review if required), and develop and disseminate national readiness and safety guidance tools. Through this work, the project extension will further advance gender equality by strengthening safe, sustainable, and ethical integration of peer support within GBV services across Canada.

Women and Gender Equality Canada

Promising practices are incorporated by the GBV sector into new or enhanced supports for target populations.

Ottawa, Ontario, CA K1N 7B7

001-2023-2024-Q3-00046

Contribution

Grants and Contributions

Not-for-profit organization or charity

Increase of agreement value, Change of end date

Apr 22, 2026

Voice Found

Gender-Based Violence Program

The purpose of the GBV Program is to strengthen the GBV sector to address gaps in supports for two groups of survivors: 1) Indigenous women and their communities, and 2) underserved populations (including women living with a disability, non-status/refugee /immigrant women, LGBTQ2S, gender non-conforming people and ethno-cultural women) in Canada. The Program provides grant and contribution funding to Canadian organizations to improve supports to help create long-term, comprehensive solutions at the national, regional, and local levels.