March 31, 2024, marks the end of this very important two year project between IWSO and Women and Gender Equity (WAGE).

On March 8, 2022,  IWSO officially launched the WAGE funded, Leadership for Systemic Change project with a two-hour online event- Creating the Next Generation of Diverse Women Leaders. This event was based on the Government of Canada’s theme for International Women’s Day–“Women Inspiring Women.” At the event, IWSO highlighted the leadership experiences of racialized and immigrant women and their impact on communities/regions and future generations through videos and a keynote speech.  

The goal of the project is to address the systemic causes of immigrant and racialized women’s leadership underrepresentation, support their inclusion in leadership positions, and leverage their lived experiences and knowledge through leadership training , mentoring, networking and placement opportunities across various decision-making tables in Ottawa.

Most recently, Cohort #3 had its first workshop on January 3rd and every week since.  At the time of writing, we are striving to match participants to mentors and placement organizations before March 31st.  Once the matching is complete, IWSO will continue fostering the mentor-mentee relationship and placement beyond the project end date.

As of March 31st, 2024, the Leadership for Systemic Change Project will have helped 44 immigrant and racialized women. Most are located in Ottawa, however, we also have accepted applications from outside Ottawa as most activities of the project can be completed online.  

All participants will have taken part in the following workshops: 

• Leading community engagement
• Building ethical partnerships
• Canadian political system education
• Skills for advocacy
• Social Media for non-profits
• Communication
• Report writing  
• Public speaking
• Managing effective meetings
• Intersectionality, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
• Non-profit governance
• Importance of data collection and evaluation

This project was the first of its kind for IWSO and the experiences and lessons learned were extremely valuable for IWSO as a whole and all participants and mentors. 

This project was the fruit of a vision, by Executive Director, Mercy Lawluvi, that we anticipate will continue to unfold.