University of Guelph

Purpose

This 29-month project will support a feminist response and recovery from the current impacts of COVID-19 through systemic change. The Live Work Well Research Centre at University of Guelph will achieve this by building a pan-Canadian feminist disability coalition: to support diverse women and girls with disabilities to become powerful advocates for women’s rights; and by bringing together diverse civil society organizations and advocates across Canada to foster broad leadership, participation and advocacy. The main project activities will be: establishing a Canadian Feminist Disability Coalition (CFDC), an advisory group, and regional hubs in British Columbia, Ontario, Québec, and Nova Scotia; leading regional and national gatherings; facilitating the participation of women and girls with disabilities at the Global Women with Disabilities Forum (GWDF) meeting in Ontario in Spring 2023; and developing a sustainable model for the CFDC to support its ongoing change work. At the end of the project, the Live Work Well Research Centre at the University of Guelph will have contributed to addressing systemic barriers by increasing networks and collaboration to accelerate systemic change, and supporting positive distribution of authority, influence, and decision-making power to support diverse women’s and girls’ equality. The project will leverage and contribute to on-going work of the Engendering Disability-Inclusive Development (EDID) partnership, which works to ensure disability rights and justice in the lives of diverse girls and women with disabilities in four countries (Haiti, South Africa, Vietnam, and Canada) and transnationally. The two projects will complement each other. EDID is primarily a research partnership project, while the CFDC will build systemic change. The Live Work Well Research Centre at University of Guelph, with their main project partner the DisAbled Women’s Network of Canada (DAWN Canada), will work to build the leadership capacity of diverse women and girls with disabilities in Canada through the promotion of inclusive practices among women’s organizations and other relevant civil society organizations (CSOs), and by providing opportunities and support to women and girls with disabilities to strengthen their leadership and advocacy skills through participation in regional, national, and international policy forums (e.g., United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; Global Women with Disabilities Forum meeting).