It was just a year ago at this time that The Mane Intent hosted an event here at the farm when the Hon. Maryam Monsef, Minister of Status of Women (SWC) and Member of Parliament for Peterborough-Kawartha announced the Kawartha Sexual Assault Centre’s (KSAC) successful application to receive a $464,983 contribution fund, over four years, from The Public Health Agency of Canada.
This investment is now supporting the development and delivery of a new community-based program called Building Internal Resilience Through Horses. The program is designed to promote resilience and life skills in young women aged 13 – 18 years living in the City and County of Peterborough and surrounding areas who are survivors of child maltreatment and/or young women exposed to intimate partner violence.
This funding is part of the Public Health Agency of Canada’s Innovation Strategy supporting the Health of Victims of Domestic Violence and Child Abuse through Community Programs. This innovative project is being led by the KSAC in partnership with The Mane Intent Inc. and researchers from Trent University’s Emotion and Health Research Laboratory. At the time of the announcement, KSAC was one of over 150 agencies from across Canada to apply for the funding and one of 16 organizations to successfully receive funding.
To date we’ve hosted 5 groups of young women in 2017 as part of Building Internal Resilience Through Horses. Four more groups are anticipated this year. It has been an amazing year of change and transformation for both participants and the program’s facilitators.
So it was an honour today to also be present to witness a similar announcement at KSAC hosted by Minister Monsef related to the Government of Canada’s It’s Time: Canada’s Strategy to Prevent and Address Gender-Based Violence. The strategy builds on current federal initiatives, coordinates existing programs and lays the foundation for greater action on GBV, and is based on three pillars:
- Prevention;
- Support for survivors and their families; and
- Promotion of responsive legal and justice systems.
The Hon. Maryam Monsef, Minister of Status of Women and Dawn Lavell-Harvard, Director of the First Peoples House of Learning at Trent University and national consultant on Indigenous women’s issues discuss Indigenous programming with Lisa Clarke of Kawartha Sexual Assault Centre.
SWC announced today a call for concepts for projects to address gender-based violence (GBV) in Canada. Watch a clip of the announcement here. This call for concepts supports the second pillar, namely to develop promising practices to support survivors and their families. Through the GBV Program, SWC will strengthen the GBV sector to address gaps in supports for two groups of survivors:
- Indigenous women and their communities, and
- Underserved populations, such as those who are more at risk of GBV and/or who are facing barriers to accessing services. These include, but are not limited to: children and youth, ethno-cultural women, LGBTQ2 communities and gender-non-binary people, non-status/refugee/immigrant women, seniors, women living in an official language minority community, women living in northern, rural and remote communities, and women living with a disability.
Should you decide to heed this call for concepts, the SWC invites you to refer to the GBV Program page for information on principles that should taken into account when developing the concept. The development of a concept is the first stage in this application process. SWC will review all concepts submitted. Those that meet the assessment criteria will be invited to develop and submit a full proposal, for which pre-operational funding (up to $30,000 will be available). All full proposals will be assessed, and approved projects will be eligible to receive up to $1,000,000 in project funding.
This is good news for all organizations with a focus on gender-based violence and in particular, for survivors and their families.
Jennifer Garland and Raven, a natural coach at The Mane Intent
About the Author: Jennifer Garland is the Owner/Program Director of The Mane Intent, offering Health and Wellness Workshops and Individual and Team Effectiveness Coaching. Jennifer’s intent is to bring horses and humans together to explore new possibilities, getting you out of your comfort zone and giving clarity of voice to your leader within. She has over 25 years of leadership experience in communications, cause-related marketing and change management. As a strategist, facilitator and effectiveness coach, Jennifer has provided counsel and support to senior leaders from all walks of life to build productive relationships, facilitate learning and to embrace change. She is a ‘socialpreneur’ who values the art of living life fully with intent.
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