This report presents the results of the Canadian Women’s Foundation Economic Development Collaborative Fund.
The Collaborative Fund was a five-year $4.8 million program that provided financial and technical support to ten community programs1
across Canada that helped low-income women transition out of poverty and build a sustainable livelihood.
This report explains our approach, describes our research process, summarizes our findings, and analyzes the key lessons for practitioners, and the and implications for funders and policy-makers.
How to read this report
Part One: Background will be of interest to those who work in the field of women’s economic development, including practitioners, funders, and evaluators. Part One contains three chapters. The first is an introduction to the Collaborative Fund’s key strategies and lists the donor partners and grantees. The second describes our approach to women’s economic development. The third contains details about our research objectives, strategies, questions, and data collection methods.
Part Two: Research Findinds will be of interest to practitioners who wish to design and implement livelihood development projects, as well as funders and evaluators. Part Two contains four chapters. The first summarizes the key research findings. The second provides a profile of the women who attended the programs. The third describes the state of the women’s assets when they first entered the programs. The fourth chapter describes the state of the women`s assets two years later and discusses the changes they experienced during the programs.
