Management response and action plan

Evaluation:

Women’s Program Evaluation

Period Covered:

2016-2017 to 2021-2022

Program Summary:

The Women’s Program supports time-limited projects that address systemic barriers to women’s equality in Canadian society. The objective of the Women's Program is to achieve the full participation of women in the economic, social and democratic life of Canada through systemic change. Funding is provided to eligible organizations in support of projects at the local, regional and national levels that address the following three priority areas: a) improving women's and girls' economic security and prosperity, b) encouraging women and girls in leadership and decision-making roles, and c) ending violence against women and girls.

Based on the Program’s context^{Note de bas de page 1} , the Women’s Program should continue to adapt its approach to ensure alignment with emerging priorities.

Recommendation 1 

 Support initiatives that will strengthen and enhance the long-term stability of the women’s sector to address persistent barriers that impede women’s economic security and leadership opportunities.

Statement of Agreement /Disagreement: Management agrees with the proposed recommendation.

Management Response

WAGE actions to support the women’s sector and ensure continuous improvement in program design and implementation:

Beyond the period covered by the evaluation, WAGE has continued to provide tailored support to strengthen the women’s sector and advance women’s equality, with consideration for the unique needs of diverse communities.

• In 2023-24, WAGE held a call for proposal entitled “the Women’s Capacity Fund.” Funding from this call is helping women’s organizations and Indigenous women’s organizations across Canada build their knowledge and skills, and enhance their sustainability, better positioning them to reach their goals form women’s equality in the future.
• In 2024-25, WAGE began implementing a 2024 Fall Economic Statement commitment to strengthen the adaptability, sustainability, and maturity of national women’s organizations focused on justice, leadership, sexual and reproductive health, and gender-based violence.

WAGE has also continued to improve program design as well as application requirements and processes to enhance program accessibility. The Department will continue to strive to better understand the priorities and longer-term needs of the women’s sector, while identifying and removing barriers to access for diverse communities, including Indigenous and underrepresented women and girls.

• In 2023-24, WAGE developed and implemented a Northern Outreach Strategy to address challenges in obtaining applications from Northern organizations under recent calls for proposal, and to reduce barriers in accessing WAGE funding. As of October 2025, the Strategy has resulted in nearly $7 million in funding to 16 northern organizations.
• In response to feedback from stakeholders – including Indigenous stakeholders – starting in 2022-2023, WAGE improved its application process by reducing and shortening application forms and reporting tools, performing a plain-language review of all documents, and developing “how to” videos to support applicants.

Actions to be completed:

1.1 Align program implementation with current and emerging priorities in a way that strengthens individual women’s organizations and the women’s sector.

1.1.1 Conduct evidence-based analyses to inform the design of funding opportunities.

• WAGE will continue to analyze stakeholder contexts, the public policy environment, and the results of previous calls and of completed projects to identify trends, gaps, and innovative opportunities, and will integrate key findings from these analyses into the design of new initiatives as applicable.

1.1.2 Reflect new logic model and outcomes across program materials.

• WAGE will leverage its new logic models in designing intake materials and updating reporting tools to clearly demonstrate how short-, medium-, and long-term outcomes contribute to women’s full participation in economic, social, and democratic life and result in sustained action that strengthens the women’s sector.

Recommendation 2 

Support initiatives that will strengthen and enhance the long-term stability of the women’s sector to address persistent barriers that impede women’s economic security and leadership opportunities.

Statement of Agreement /Disagreement: Management agrees with the proposed recommendation.

Management Response

Actions to be completed:

2.1 Support funding applicants’ understanding of WAGE’s role and approach in preventing and addressing GBV, and how this is reflected in GBV funding opportunities.

2.1.1 Strategically coordinate GBV-related funding initiatives and clarify activities and expected results

• WAGE will explore options to coordinate and sequence GBV-related funding opportunities to enhance their complementarity and maximize their impact
• WAGE will seek opportunities to further articulate the type and nature of eligible activities supported by GBV-related initiatives, clarifying each initiative’s respective objective, intended outcome, and how it leads to sustained impacts for the GBV sector

2.2 Develop reference materials to ensure internal stakeholders are knowledgeable about each GBV-related funding opportunity

2.2.1 Create new policy resources

• WAGE will prepare guidance to ensure internal stakeholders have a common understanding of different GBV-related funding opportunities, in order to strengthen the coherence of communications with stakeholders, enhance internal efficiency, and ultimately help to improve access to GBV funding.

Recommendation 3

Implement improved data collection and analysis strategies to better measure the impact of the Women’s Program’s initiatives

Statement of Agreement /Disagreement: Management agrees with the proposed recommendation.

Management Response

Proactive efforts to enhance practices beyond the period covered by the evaluation

Establish robust data collection mechanisms that capture both quantitative and qualitative outcomes.

• The Department reviews and revises its project reporting templates to address gaps and emerging needs. Keeping the reporting templates evergreen allows the documents to remain nimble enough to adapt the structure and content of project reporting templates to meet emerging information and data needs.
• To date, there have been several revisions, and these include:
  • 2022-23 / 2023-24: These revisions made data extraction from final project reports easier and clarify template instructions and expectations to improve the quality of the data provided by respondents
  • 2025-26: The addition of questions that capture information related to how projects improved the quality of life of project participants
• Additionally, WAGE has established an Impact Task Team. The objective of this task team is to develop processes to better collect qualitative data and develop customizable products that can convey relevant outcome and results data to various audiences.

Collaborate with internal stakeholders to collect disaggregated data from funded projects that considers identity factors at the beneficiary level, such as gender, Indigenous identity, disability status, and ethnicity.

• WAGE has begun to integrate questions into relevant project reporting templates to capture dissagregated information. For example, the 2022-23 / 2023-24 project reporting template enhancement process included adding questions to the project reporting templates that asked funding recipients to not only provide the number of people reached, but also to break this number down to provide aggregate counts based on their gender and relevant identity factors. These data allow WAGE to better estimate the identity characteristics of funded project beneficiaries.
• In 2025-26, the reporting templates are being reviewed and updated to better align templates to new Calls for Proposals.

Actions to be completed:

3.1 Develop clear outcomes and related indicators

• Since 2023-24, WAGE has been renewing its performance measurement framework to better reflect the Department’s evolution since 2019. This work includes the adoption of a new Program Inventory (PI), which includes the Advancing Equality for Women Program (AEWP); Program Inventory Profiles (PIPs) for each of the new programs; the updating of the Core Responsibility, and the renewal of WAGE's Departmental Results Framework (DRF).
• The introduction of the AEWP will allow WAGE to organize all Women’s Equality (WE) activities under one program. With the adoption of an associated PIP and a dedicated WE result in the Department’s DRF, WAGE will be better positioned to demonstrate evidence of its impact on advancing equality for women in Canada.
• In addition, WAGE has better aligned the PIPs and the renewed DRF with elements of the federal Quality of Life Framework. This will better monitor WAGE’s supported project’s contributions to the societal progress to achieving the department’s core responsibility - Gender Equality.
• WAGE has implemented its new PI, along with its associated PIPs, and has submitted its new Departmental Result Framework to TBS for green light approval. WAGE is integrating the new DRF in the 2026-27 Departmental Plan.