Backgrounder: Social Development Partnerships Program

Backgrounder

Since 1998, the Social Development Partnerships Program (SDPP) has been making strategic investments to support government priorities related to children and families, people with disabilities, the voluntary sector, official language minority communities and other vulnerable populations by playing a unique role in furthering broad social goals.

It provides an opportunity to work in partnership with social not-for-profit organizations to help improve the life outcomes of these target groups. Activities funded by the program are expected to lead to the development and sharing of knowledge of existing and emerging social issues; the creation of collaboration, partnerships, alliances and networks; and the development of approaches to respond to existing and emerging social issues.

Over the long term, program support for these activities will help the not-for-profit sector and partners be more effective in addressing existing and emerging social issues, and will help target populations have access to information, programs and services tailored to their unique needs.

Through the Disability stream of the SDPP $11 million in annual funding is provided to organizations to support projects intended to improve the participation and social inclusion of persons with disabilities in all aspects of Canadian society. Over 500 projects have been funded since 2002.

Since 2019, more national disability organizations are receiving national operating funding than in the 20-year history of the SDPP-D. The Government of Canada is supporting over one-third more organizations to increase their capacity to serve persons with disabilities.

In April 2019, the Government of Canada launched a targeted call for proposals under the disability component of the Social Development Partnerships Program (SDPP-D) to fund projects aimed at building community knowledge and expertise to support ongoing participation in the implementation of the Accessible Canada Act.

In May 2019, the Government of Canada opened two calls for proposals (CFP) under the disability component of the Social Development Partnerships Program (SDPP-D):

  • Financial Security to support projects that identify and test innovative approaches to improving the financial situation of working-age Canadians with disabilities living in or near poverty; and
  • Youth Leadership to build a stronger foundation for leadership of youth with disabilities or youth with lived experience.

In August 2019, the Government of Canada launched a targeted call for proposals under the disability component of the Social Development Partnerships Program (SDPP-D) to fund projects to help provide the perspective of Indigenous persons with disabilities as part of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) reporting process;

The funding will allow organizations to build awareness of the UNCRPD related monitoring and reporting processes and engage their stakeholders on key issues related to Canada’s implementation of the UNCRPD, to better understand and be equipped to respond to the intersectional barriers faced by Indigenous persons with disabilities.

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