Community Engagement Facilitator Training

Diversity of women facilitating stronger organizations and communities.

In this 9-month facilitation training program, women participate in six full day workshops to build upon their own experience to learn skills for facilitating in a variety of contexts: planning facilitated sessions, respecting differences, working through conflict and facilitating inclusive decision making. Participants are 24 women leaders from community organizations who want to strengthen their skills for engaging their communities and their organizations.

This training program builds upon learning from our civic participation training and the implementation of the Equity and Inclusion Lens in which CAWI discovered that women, across diversity, often lack the skills to engage their communities while City staff lack the resources for reaching specific communities.

This training program answers these needs.  As women leaders develop facilitation skills, their organizations become stronger. At the same time, through this project, CAWI is able to link local organizations with City planners and decision makers.  In 2011, participants will facilitate focus groups in their respective communities to inform the Social Strategy of the City of Ottawa Recreation Master Plan.   In this way, women provide their expertise in engaging their specific communities and the city benefits from program planning that is informed by a diversity of communities.

This is possible thanks to in-kind and financial support from:

Community Foundation of Ottawa
Status of Women Canada
City of Ottawa
Public Services Alliance of Canada.