NEWS / RECENT
ConcertAction Femmes Estrie (CAFE), in collaboration with the Observatoire estrien du développement des communautés (OEDC), is launching a community of practice in equality and inclusion! This community of practice in intersectional gender-based analysis (GBA+) aims to sensitize and equip managers and practitioners in order to better work on inclusion-related issues.
Find out more about the community of practice
Sherbrooke, May 10, 2022 –This afternoon, ConcertAction Femmes Estrie (CAFE) was very proud to present the six projects that fall under a new sectoral development agreement on women and men’s equality in the Estrie region.
This major agreement, backed by a total investment of $300,000, was entered into in March between the Secrétariat à la condition féminine (SCF), the Ministère des Affaires municipales et de l’Habitation (MAMH), the Brome-Missisquoi MRC, the Coaticook MRC, the Granit MRC, the Haut-St-François MRC, the Haute-Yamaska MRC, the Memphrémagog MRC, the Des Sources MRC, the Val-Saint-François MRC, the Ville de Sherbrooke, and ConcertAction Femmes Estrie, and will run for a period of two years.
It will enable projects focused on training and coaching in intersectional gender-based analysis (GBA+), women’s economic autonomy, women’s safety, and progress toward greater parity in decision-making forums.
The groups carrying out projects under the agreement are the Centre d’intégration au marché de l’emploi (CIME), the Centre des femmes Le point d’ancrage, ConcertAction Femmes Estrie (CAFE), the Fédération des communautés culturelles de l’Estrie (FCCE), and Promotion des Estriennes pour initier une nouvelle équité sociale (PEPINES).
Left to right:
Elisa Sarica (Business Advisor, CIME)
Geneviève Collette (Executive Director, CIME)
Viviane Doré-Nadeau (Director, CAFE)
Laurence Charleston (Project Coordinator, CAFE)
Marie-Danielle Larocque (Community and Communications Manager, CAFE)
Arianne Gravel (Assistant Director, Centre des femmes Le point d’ancrage)
Mariame Cissé (Assistant Director and Head of the Women’s Committee, FCCE)
Mona Louis-Jean (Executive Director, PEPINES)
DESCRIPTION OF ESD PROJECTS IN 2022-2024
1) GBA+ TRAINING AND COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE
ConcertAction Femmes Estrie (CAFE) will be offering training in gender-based analysis (GBA) from an intersectional perspective (+) to MRCs across the Estrie region. The training will leverage awareness of the particularities of the approach and a community of practice to ensure the inclusion of all citizens in each phase of project development, from drawing up a portrait of a situation or an action plan to implementing an initiative and evaluating the results.
2) BUSINESSES EQUIPPED TO INTEGRATE AND RETAIN WOMEN IN EMPLOYMENT IN THE ESTRIE REGION
Thanks to the Des entreprises outillées; Elles ont toutes un profil d’emploi” (well-equipped businesses: all women have a job profile) campaign, the Centre d’intégration au marché de l’emploi (CIME) will be raising awareness and informing the population, the business community and the educational community about issues relating to today’s diverse female workforce, rights and responsibilities, inclusion practices, etc. The supported businesses will be better equipped to attract and retain female workers.
3) THE MRC’S OF ESTRIE, INTEGRATING IMMIGRANT WOMEN
The Fédération des communautés culturelles de l’Estrie (FCCE) wishes to forge strategic alliances with the reception and immigration officers of the MRCs to facilitate the integration and retention of immigrant women while taking into account their realities. The organization will promote the attractiveness of MRCs by striving toward positive integration in rural areas, which will boost the economic empowerment of immigrant women.
4) EXTENDING THE ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY STUDY PROJECT TO OTHER MRCs
(other than Coaticook and Les Sources)
ConcertAction Femmes Estrie (CAFE) wishes to diminish situations of violence against women by creating safer environments. A public consultation will be held in all the municipalities of the MRCs concerned in order to identify the public places that women fear visiting for safety reasons.
5) ROLLING OUT THE SAFE CUSTODY EXCHANGE PILOT PROJECT IN THE DES SOURCES MRC
The Centre des femmes Le point d’ancrage has observed that for women experiencing post-separation spousal violence, the times when custody is exchanged lead to heightened tension and conflict, and can even compromise personal safety.
To enable smoother, violence-free transitions, access supervision services are available in Sherbrooke. However, due to the distance, many families in the Des Sources MERC have no safe alternative. In collaboration with various community partners, the Centre des femmes Le point d’ancrage developed a two-part pilot project model. In addition to awareness-raising activities, the first component of the pilot project aims to train community partners to recognize the signs of post-separation domestic violence and to intervene appropriately with the parents concerned.
The second component is a first in rural Quebec, and involves implementing a mixed (face-to-face and virtual) model enabling more isolated areas to benefit from this priority service. This innovative pilot project will allow for knowledge sharing and transfer, and serve as an example throughout Quebec.
6) PARITY IN PLACES OF POWER
Promotion des estriennes pour initier une nouvelle équité sociale (PEPINES) wishes to increase the number of women in places of power and in decision-making spheres. With networking activities, the organization wants to bring greater visibility to women and to forge links between women and with people who are in places of power. The goal is to create a movement in the community that helps foster an equitable presence of women in these places.
Need to reach us regarding the 2022-2024 agreement?
Feel free to email Laurence Charleston at coordoprojets@concertactionfemmesestrie.org or contact her at our office by phone!