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ARCHIVED – Indirect Services with a Community or Local Scope

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We have archived this page and will not be updating it.

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These include Local Immigration Partnerships (LIPs) and Zonal Immigration Partnerships (ZIPs).

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 Glossary of terms – CFP 2024

Check the glossary for definitions of terms used on this page (opens in a new tab)

New for 2024 Call for proposals

  • New eligible activities to support welcoming, inclusive and resilient communities, including promoting Indigenous-Newcomer connections, establishing cross-sectoral partnerships with local-level actors and partners in areas such as housing, health, mental health, and promoting Gender-Based Analysis Plus.
  • Rebranding of Strategic Plans to Community Plans, as a required core activity for all LIPs/ZIPs, with greater emphasis on monitoring and evaluation of community impact.
  • Streamlined LIPs/ZIPs performance and accountability by moving to a mandatory online reporting platform.

Further details are available on this page. Applicants are responsible for reading the funding guidelines in full.

Description

Indirect Services seek to complement direct services by promoting capacity building, coordination and standardization of services across the Settlement program to optimize client outcomes. Indirect services can be one of two types depending on the sphere of influence: Indirect Services with a local/community focus and Indirect services with a national/sector Focus.

Indirect Services with a local or community focus entail projects that can be applied at the local level or benefit community-level actors and settlement and non-settlement partners, or projects that can be applied at both the local and community levels, through building, maintaining and mobilizing local partnerships and community-level engagement. This includes increasing the community’s capacity to create more inclusive, equitable services for diverse newcomers and advance IRCC priorities in Gender Equality, Anti-Racism, and Truth & Reconciliation. Indirect services with a local/community focus targets applications for:

Francophone organizations wanting to apply to be a Réseaux en immigration francophone, should consult the Indirect Services section in the Francophone Integration Pathway stream.

Please refer to the funding guidelines Indirect Services with a national or sector focus for projects that can be applied on a national or regional scale and benefit the settlement sector in part or as a whole through effective capacity building, coordination and standardization across the sector. Indirect services with a national/sector focus targets applications for: Umbrella organizations, National/sector wide coordinating bodies (including a National LIP Secretariat function) and other specialized organizations.

Expected outcomes

IRCC expected immediate outcomes, as described in the (Re)Settlement Program Logic Model, are written to capture the overall results for all projects that deliver a particular line of service.

There is one IRCC expected immediate outcome, related to Indirect Services with a local or community focus:

Non-settlement partners improve capacity to provide support to diverse groups of newcomers across all sectors, in large, medium and small communities, including Francophone minority communities.

Each eligible indirect activity with a local or community focus listed below is associated with the above IRCC expected immediate outcomes. When an relevant activity is selected in the application, the applicable IRCC expected immediate outcome will automatically populate.

For more information on outcomes please refer to the Outcomes Guidance.

Eligible activities

1. Partner engagement and planning
  • Establish a LIP/ZIP Secretariat: Establish an administrative body to ensure the effective operation of the LIP/ZIP main council and working groups. Examples of LIP/ZIP secretariat key functions include: providing administrative support, liaison and external relations, communication, coordination, information management, event management, activity implementation, report writing and record keeping.
  • Establish and maintain an inclusive partnership council: Once it has been established, the council will develop a coordinated, comprehensive and strategic approach to immigration and integration tailored to the needs of the community it represents. Members of the partnership council should include key settlement and non-settlement partners who can contribute to the success of the community and engage in locally-driven strategic solutions to improve newcomer outcomes, including local civil society organizations, settlement service providers, municipal, regional, provincial/territorial government representatives, employers and business councils, Friendship centres, school boards, health centres, police services, libraries, social services, and newcomers themselves. It is strongly recommended to include representatives of Indigenous people on the LIPs/ZIPs councils and working groups in all local communities where Indigenous people reside and organizations have been established and are interested in engagement.
  • Establish a Community Plan (formerly Strategic Plan) identifying key local priorities: Develop a Community Plan for newcomer settlement and integration in the community reflecting strengths and challenges identified through LIP/ZIP understanding of newcomers’ needs and community assets and gaps. The plan should include key priorities for action that would strengthen the ability of the community to be more welcoming and inclusive of newcomers. The Community Plan should focus on developing a vision for the community supported by a targeted action plan, with measurable outcomes, monitoring and evaluation of the community impact. The evaluation should include an assessment of local partner uptake/adherence to the community plan.

    Note: Funding applicants should include activities that facilitate meaningful connections, build shared understanding and promote social cohesion between Indigenous Peoples, newcomers and Canadians (e.g. Indigenous participation on LIP main council or working groups (or both), workshops for LIP community partners to raise awareness of Indigenous-newcomer issues through blanket exercises, elder teaching, land stewardship, nature interpretation, etc.). These activities should be developed and delivered in a remunerated partnership with Indigenous organizations or Peoples where feasible if led by a settlement sector organization, and in partnership with a settlement sector organization if led by an Indigenous organization.

  • Develop and support annual action plans that respond to the key elements in the Community Plan:Present specific, measurable and time-bound activities to be implemented that support the local settlement and integration strategy developed by the LIP/ZIP.

2. Local or community capacity building
  • Community based research assessment: Conducting (or contracting out) activities to understand newcomers’ needs or community assets (or both), resources and gaps, to assess, identify and leverage existing community strengths, address challenges, and improve welcoming community characteristics (note: welcoming community characteristics may vary by community). This can include but is not limited to understanding demographics and trends in the community; existing services and supports for immigrants; and barriers to integration in a number of domains including employment, housing, education, health care, mapping of local housing resources. Efforts should be made to include the specific needs of newcomers who are lacking supports (e.g. those who have not accessed any settlement services).
  • Support knowledge sharing, training and tool development
    • LIPs/ZIPs should take a lead role in sharing promising practices, innovations and other success stories among LIPs/ZIPs and with other local partners in the settlement sector and non-settlement sector, sharing findings on newcomers’ needs and community gaps with partners in the community in order to foster welcoming communities.
    • LIPs/ZIPs can organize training and workshop activities for their local community partners. Examples of training activities include: cultural awareness raising, diversity training for employers, training on the Canadian justice system for newcomers, anti-bias training aimed at helping law enforcement better understand newcomers, convening community conversations related to social cohesion.
    • LIPs/ZIPs can organize training to enhance partner capacity and knowledge on Gender-based Analysis Plus, including approaches that demonstrate the importance of ensuring an intersectional approach to community planning and engagement (i.e. including but not limited to: Indigenous related considerations, advancing Gender Equality, accessibility considerations, etc.).
    • LIPS/ZIPs can support the development of tools that support the delivery of services to newcomers in their community. Examples of tools that have been developed include: partnership self-assessment tools, health indicator tools, assessment tools to evaluate gaps in Main Council representation.
    • LIPS/ZIPs can support the development of community capacity to deliver a tailored response to emerging needs by facilitating the alignment of local-level actors, fostering local coordination of direct settlement service providers, and participating on existing community tables with a view of promoting cross-sector partnerships in housing, health/mental health to develop community surge capacity to respond to large-scale humanitarian arrivals. For example, some LIPs have engaged in municipal working groups to raise awareness of local community settlement and non-settlement partners around the needs of refugees, undocumented migrants, temporary foreign workers, and large-scale humanitarian responses.

3. New eligible activities
  • Creating more favorable conditions for newcomers in communities by engaging a broad range of settlement and non-settlement partners around community-level collaboration and strategic planning tailored to newcomers’ needs.
  • Newcomer retention, particularly in small and rural centers, by increasing availability and accessibility of services to newcomers through improving cross-sector collaboration and planning among LIPs partners in small and rural centers.
  • Support specific IRCC commitments to Anti-Racism, Gender Equality, Truth and Reconciliation to address inequities for diverse populations that experience greater barriers to services (e.g. women; youth; 2SLGBTQI+; racialized newcomers, seniors; people with a disability) as well as to address specific needs (e.g. sexual and gender-based violence; mental health needs).
  • Programming that facilitates meaningful connections, builds a shared understanding, and promotes social cohesion between Indigenous Peoples, newcomers and Canadians.

Mode of delivery

Indirect Services with a local or community focus may be delivered:

Funding applicants will also need to consider who the client audience will be for each of the project activities being proposed (more than one audience may be selected per activity):

Eligible clients

Indirect Services with a local or community focus does not include funding for direct services to clients. However, the design of indirect activities should take into account those persons that IRCC direct settlement funding is intended to support.

Please refer to section 3.7 of the Settlement Program Terms and Conditions, for information on who is eligible to receive direct settlement services.

Eligible applicants for funding

Eligible applicants for funding for settlement services are:

Restrictions

  • For-profit organizations may be eligible for funding provided that the nature and the intent of the activity is non-commercial, not intended to generate profit, and supports IRCC program priorities and objectives.

If you are applying to create a new LIP

Organizational and community capacity

The applicant for funding demonstrates they have the capacity, experience, contextual knowledge and appropriate partners to carry out the project. Furthermore, the applicant demonstrates capacity to measure and report back to the Department on the performance, results and outcomes of their project activities.

Applicant demonstrates partnerships with Indigenous led and focused organizations to provide expertise on Truth and Reconciliation components and incorporate Indigenous perspectives.

Applicant demonstrates expertise in, or partnerships with organizations with expertise in supporting diverse populations, including newcomer women, seniors, youth, racialized newcomers, French-speaking newcomers, 2SLGBTQI+, and newcomers with disabilities.

How we assess applications for this service

Mandatory and asset criteria

Your application should describe how your project aligns with and supports the expected outcomes.

All applications

All applications will be assessed according to the CORE criteria

Applications will also be assessed against Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) criteria. More information about the CORE and EDI criteria.

Mandatory criteria

In addition to meeting the CORE and EDI criteria, applicants for this service must:

  • Demonstrate capacity to provide performance, results and outcomes to the Department (IRCC).

Asset criteria

Proposals demonstrating the following may be prioritized for funding. Applicants for this service should include a description of the following experience or capacity, as applicable:

  • the anticipated contribution of the initiative to IRCC commitments (e.g. to advance substantive gender equality; address racism; integrate Truth and Reconciliation in Settlement Programming; address inequities for diverse populations, e.g. women, youth, seniors, 2SLGBTQI+).
  • cross-sector partnerships, including with Indigenous Peoples and communities, organizations that provide a capacity-building and professional development role within the settlement sector (e.g. Umbrella Organizations), organizations with expertise working with specific populations (e.g. racialized populations) or on specific issues (e.g. advancing substantive gender equality and women’s empowerment).
  • GBA Plus in the design, implementation and evaluation of the project(s).Please refer back to the overview of funding guidelines for more information on GBA Plus.

Examples of quality projects

Local Immigration Partnerships and Zonal Immigration Partnerships formulate a mandate that addresses community-level gaps and needs, while also enhancing welcoming communities. As such, what is considered a quality project will vary depending on the needs identified of a respective community. Some examples of quality projects include, but are not limited to:

  • The indirect service provider organization establishes a main council with key local community partners to collaborate in the development of a Community Plan and a shared vision for newcomer settlement and integration. The Community Plan includes a community profile and identifies local priority areas and research needs to measure social integration and community impact. As part of the evaluation and performance component, the Community Plan includes measurable welcoming community indicators (e.g. number of training sessions/ partnerships / main council memberships) and a logic model theory of change. The Community Plan is a living document, to be assessed and updated regularly as newcomer and community needs and partnerships evolve.
  • The indirect service provider organization leads in the development and facilitation of a diversity and inclusion training series for employers. The training series targets employers and local business interested in hiring newcomers in order to equip employers with tools and resources to minimize unconscious bias in the hiring process, and promote equity and accessibility in the workplace.
  • The indirect service provider organization secures partnerships with newcomer and Indigenous youth on main councils, in order to discuss best practices to relationship building and cultural understanding. The youth members also contribute to the development of relationship building and conflict resolution materials targeted for newcomer youth and Indigenous youth.
  • The indirect service provider organization establishes main council membership from a variety of intersectional community partners to develop a social media campaign series to highlight educational stories of welcoming communities including anti-racism efforts, diversity, and inclusion.
  • The indirect service provider organization works to encourage connections in underserved areas, typically located in small and rural towns. Connections are established through Zonal Immigration Partnerships in order to collaborate and develop creative solutions that will work to enhance service coordination and newcomer retention, in underserved communities.

References for applicants

  1. Toolkit for measuring Welcoming Communities

    The Pathways to Prosperity (P2P) initiative has developed Measuring Welcoming Communities toolkit to support the groundwork in understanding a community and planning how to shape it to become more welcoming. In total there are 19 characteristics involved in the measurement process, creating a complete profile of what a community is and can offer.

    In addition to the main text describing what a welcoming community is, its characteristics and their indicators, the toolkit includes:

    • A presentation deck to facilitate conversations within a community;
    • Tool 1 – a set of questions that can be used to conduct an environmental scan and identify crucial features of a community that may influence approaches to assessing and working toward a more welcoming community;
    • Tool 2 – a checklist to rank order the importance of the 19 characteristics for a given community and determine which are a priority for measurement; and
    • Tool 3 – a checklist to select which indicators will be used to assess selected characteristics and what comparisons will be made using these indicators.
  2. The National LIP Secretariat Website

    Officially formed in 2020, the National LIP Secretariat was established to function as a backbone support for the LIP and ZIP network. Its purpose is to support the work of National LIP Network members through information sharing, facilitated collaboration, the provision of professional development opportunities and collective representation across the country.

    The National LIP Secretariat launched a public facing website for LIPs, ZIPs and members of the community to access tools, information and resources. The website also includes information for new LIPs, ZIPs and their staff, upcoming events and other helpful resources.

  3. Welcoming America and Welcoming International

    Welcoming America is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that leads a movement of inclusive communities becoming more prosperous by ensuring everyone belongs. Welcoming America works to help communities develop the roadmap needed to create welcoming policies and share new approaches to inclusion. Launched in 2017, Certified Welcoming is an innovative program that assess local governments on their efforts to include and welcome immigrants and refugees in all areas of civic, social and economic life. To earn a designation of Certified Welcoming, local governments must meet the Welcoming Standard – a comprehensive roadmap for building truly welcoming communities.

    A component of Welcoming America, is Welcoming International, which is a coalition of initiatives that works to advance inclusion in localities worldwide. It supports and connects civil society and government institutions that are advancing inclusion at the local level, around the world, and provides members with technical assistance, tools and connections to a global network of practitioners. To support efforts to create more inclusive communities, the Welcoming International website includes a resource library comprised of a variety of tools and materials to support organizations advance inclusion at the local level.

  4. Other resources

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