ARCHIVED – Needs and assets assessment and referral services
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New for 2024 Call for proposals
- Begin the transition to a Dedicated Needs and Assets Assessment and Referral Services (NAARS) Service Provider (DNS) model:
- Recipients already engaged in a centralized NAARS pilot project, those already the sole NAARS provider or those ready to become the sole NAARS provider in their designated zone can apply immediately to become a Dedicated NAARS Service Provider (DNS);
- Fiscal Year 1: All other recipients continue conducting using National Standardized Assessment Template, and join a Community of Practice to implement the DNS model;
- Communities of Practice will present their proposed approach to adopt a DNS model. Once ready and approved by IRCC, the DNS can start their operations in their designated zone at any given time during the funding cycle.
- Longer term, and looking toward the subsequent funding cycle: A DNS will be chosen for each designated zone in Canada
Further details are available on this page. Applicants are responsible for reading the funding guidelines in full.
Description
Newcomers to Canada often arrive with a limited understanding of cultural and linguistic norms which can impair or delay settlement and integration into Canadian society. It can be challenging for a newcomer to understand what services are available to support their journey and how to best access them.
Needs and Assets Assessment and Referral Services (NAARS) provide eligible clients with an assessment of their settlement needs and assets (knowledge, skills, abilities, life experiences, language skills, education, employment experience, etc.) to guide their settlement journey in Canada. NAARS requires the provision of a settlement plan which is accompanied by referrals to settlement, and community-based services. Eligible clients are to receive a follow-up 3 to 6 months after receiving their assessment to check-in and adjust referrals as applicable.
The Sector is engaged in an exercise to increase consistency and coherence nationally in the delivery of NAARS with the aim to use more centralized delivery models in future CFPs. The current CFP will pave the way for the implementation of these changes through the following measures:
- The deployment of a National Standardized Assessment Template (PDF, 415KB) for NAARS will help pave the way towards a Dedicated NAARS Service provider (DNS) model by facilitating better coordination in NAARS delivery for clients.
- In addition to using the new template, funded applicants will also join a Community of Practice (CoP) in their respective ’zone’ (zones will be determined by IRCC through consultations during the funding cycle). Starting in Fiscal Year 1, funded applicants will collaborate with the other members of their CoP to determine the best approach for providing a Dedicated NAARS Service provider (DNS) model in their designated ‘zones’. Certain funded applicants are exempt from joining the CoPs (See Eligible Activities).
- The DNS will be the sole mechanism for providing NAARS in each ‘zone’ in the next funding cycle.
- Under the current CFP, IRCC will also support communities that are ready now to implement the DNS model in their zone.
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 set of activities.
There are 2 IRCC expected immediate direct outcomes related to NAARS:
1. In-depth understanding of clients general and language needs and assets to facilitate settlement and language training pathways and outcome assessment
If NAARS is part of the proposal, clearly describe how it will specifically contribute to this outcome, for example: how timely and appropriate referrals to available services will be achieved through the identification of clients’ needs and assets; how a client’s settlement journey will be expedited through the appropriate use of a settlement plan; and, how the collection of newcomer needs and assets information will create a baseline for validating the demand for existing or new activities for both SPOs and IRCC.
2. Settlement sector improves capacity to provide coordinated and effective settlement support to newcomers, including equity deserving groups.
If your project is focused on service capacity building, you can specify your alignment with this outcome by describing how your project will improve coordination of service delivery, not only NAARS at the community level but also future coordination of settlement pathways for clients.
Each eligible NAARS activity is associated with one of the two above IRCC expected immediate outcomes. When a NAARS 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
Activities related to providing newcomer needs and assets assessments and creation of settlement plans with referrals
- Completing a comprehensive needs and assets assessment requires funded applicants to complete the following activities:
- A one-on-one or family needs and assets assessment that uses the National Standardized Assessment Template for NAARS (PDF, 403 KB) as the basis of the assessment. Successful funded applicants must use the new NAARS National Standardized Assessment Template provided by IRCC to inform the development of the funded applicant’s client assessment template for NAARS. The assessment aims to determine needs across a broad spectrum of settlement areas, such as official language learning, information & orientation, employment needs, and connecting eligible clients to social groups and networks in their chosen community.
- The assessment emphasizes a strengths-based approach to assessing a newcomers’ settlement needs by focusing on the clients’ pre-existing assets (skills, life experiences, abilities) to make meaningful referrals that will allow them to add immediate value and successfully integrate into their new community.
- Development of a personalized settlement plan in which the client is personally involved in creating that identifies referrals to services and opportunities in their community or virtually that the client could access to aid them in their settlement journey. Formal follow-up and reassessment of needs (3-6 months after receiving their assessment and settlement plan) to ensure continuity of support, to determine whether their settlement needs have changed, and to adjust settlement plans, as needed.
Service capacity improvement
Activities Related to Transitioning to a DNS Model
Settlement services are complex and increasingly challenging as immigration targets continue to rise and as Canada is called upon to address humanitarian crises across the globe. A more coordinated approach to support effective and efficient client access to services is needed to meet these growing demands. Applicants are to indicate in their proposal how they will provide a comprehensive NAARS using the National Standardized Assessment Template for NAARS (PDF, 403 KB) as the basis of their organization’s assessment template, and that they will join a Community of Practice (CoP) to support the transition to a DNS model by the subsequent funding cycle.
Funded applicants are expected to deliver NAARS while completing additional activities to facilitate the full transition to a DNS model as part of the next funding cycle.
Applicants funded to provide NAARS as part of CFP 2024 will be expected to accomplish the following objectives to support this transition
- All funded applicants are expected to provide a one-on-one, family, or group-based comprehensive NAARS, including a settlement plan, while supporting the transition to a DNS in their ‘zone’. Funded applicants will support the transition to a DNS model by being active members of a CoP in their ‘zone’. Once a DNS is established in a ‘zone’ (noting the state of readiness to a DNS will vary), the DNS will offer a one-on-one NAARS for all eligible clients receiving NAARS. An exception will be made for funded applicants:
- Already engaged in a centralized NAARS pilot project, those organizations that are already the sole NAARS provider in their respective zones, or any SPO that successfully demonstrates readiness to be a DNS can apply immediately to become the DNS.
- Providing NAARS as a part of the Settlement Workers in Schools (SWIS) Initiative – L’initiative des travailleurs et des travailleuses d’établissement dans les écoles (TEE).
- Providing a NAARS tailored to clients requiring specialized disability supports.
- Providing NAARS as a part of Resettlement programming. For instance, the Resettlement Assistance Program (RAP) NAARS, will continue to provide NAARS through the period of the RAP (4-6 weeks after arrival), after which the client will be referred to Settlement Services to receive a full NAARS.
- Providing NAARS as a part of Pre-Arrival programming.
- Starting in Fiscal Year 1, all NAARS funded applicants must establish a CoP for the provision of NAARS which includes all NAARS funded applicants within their zone
- Funded applicants must work with local exempted partners of the DNS model in their zone to avoid service duplication. They are required to sign information sharing agreements with members of the CoP to ensure portability of settlement plans.
- Beginning in Fiscal Year 2, the CoP must include both IRCC-funded, and non-IRCC-funded organizations, as well as other relevant partners within the zone, and must ensure that service providers are made aware of the shift toward a Dedicated NAARS Service provider model.
- By fiscal year 3, funded applicants within a zone will collaborate in a CoP to determine a platform, or method for delivering NAARS that fits the unique needs of their community for the subsequent funding cycle.
- The referral platform must be unbiased and cannot advantage any service provider in particular. The referrals must be provided in an equitable and fair manner.
- All NAARS funded applicants, Dedicated NAARS service providers, the Francophone NAARS service provides, non-IRCC funded settlement service providers, the LIP or RIF, or both (if one exists within the ‘zone’), SWIS-TEE providers, as well as local partners from sectors such as settlement, health, education, social and community services, and representatives of the private sector must sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), approved by IRCC. The MOU must describe how the previously mentioned actors will cooperate to create an unbiased, equitable, and fair NAARS delivery platform for the eventual DNS transition before the next funding cycle. The method for delivering NAARS must incorporate the following:
- A software, portal, or other digital/IT platform and associated database for the provision of a Dedicated NAARS system;
- Outreach activities related to disseminating the transition to a Dedicated NAARS model to all settlement service provider organizations in the funded applicant’s designated zone;
- A hybrid service delivery model for NAARS, capable of providing both in-person and remote services, and a protocol to deliver NAARS remotely and with portability, as required, to facilitate access to services for eligible clients;
- The common referral pathway for all clients to Case Management service provider organizations is through a NAARS assessment. DNSs must work with all funded applicants that offer Case Management services to newcomers in their ‘zone’, and must be able to provide clients facing persistent multiple barriers to integration with referrals to these Case Management service provider organizations for further eligibility assessment for Case Management (RAP SPOs may also refer clients to case management SPOs based on the completion of the NAARS for GARS assessment).
The new DNS model will ensure that French-speaking clients or clients whose first official language is French receive NAARS by a Francophone funded applicant
- Independent Francophone DNSs may be established based on community sizes or needs.
- Established Non-Francophone DNS service providers must work collaboratively with a Francophone NAARS funding applicant within their community, or Province or Territory (or both), who will act as the Francophone service provider for all French-speaking clients receiving NAARS in a manner that is pre-established and agreed upon in a MOU within the CoP.
- NAARS Francophone organizations may decide to join the CoP in their zone or create their own CoP. They must, however, work collaboratively with all service delivery partners to ensure proper collaboration and consensus.
Activities of dedicated NAARS service providers
Funded applicants who have been selected or expressed interest to be the DNS in their ‘zone’ will receive funding for the following activities. It is important to note that only some funded applicants may be eligible to receive funding for the following activities in CFP 2024. (Applicants must indicate in their proposal how they already meet the DNS criteria):
- The provision of a one-on-one or family needs and assets assessment either for all eligible clients within a designated zone.
- The maintenance and associated operating costs of running a database of all services within the community, as well as costs associated with maintaining a platform to provide NAARS to eligible clients.
- Continued outreach and leadership within the CoP.
Activities NOT to be included as NAARS
- Intake mechanisms (phone calls, front desk conversations, informal meetings, emails, etc.) aimed at providing a newcomer access to a single settlement service offered within the same organization.
- Language Assessments (LA) and referrals fall under Language services.
- The provision of support services to facilitate access to NAARS.
- The provision of NAARS as a part of the Resettlement Assistance Program, e.g. NAARS for GARS and RAP-NAARS
Mode of delivery
NAARS may be delivered:
- In-Person
- Remotely (online/digital) – staff led
- Remotely (online/digital) – self-directed
- Remotely via email/text/phone
Funded applicants will also need to consider who the client audience will be for each of the project activities being proposed in their online application form (more than one audience may be selected per activity):
- For Direct Services: Group, Individual, or Family
- For Indirect Services: Individual Organizations, Local Non-Settlement Service Delivery Partner(s), Entire Sector, or Community or Service Area
Eligible clients
As per section 3.7 of the Settlement Program Terms and Conditions, only the following persons are eligible to receive settlement services:
- Permanent residents of Canada;
- Protected persons as defined in Section 95 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA);
- Individuals who have been selected, inside or outside Canada, to become permanent residents (pending verifications) and who have been informed, by a letter from IRCC;
- Convention refugees and protected persons outside Canada who have been selected for resettlement in Canada by IRCC; and
- Temporary foreign workers who hold or received approval of a work permit under section 112 or received initial approval for permanent residence under section 113 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations.
- Temporary residents and foreign nationals who have been selected by employers under the Atlantic Immigration Program (and their dependents) are deemed eligible persons for needs and assets assessment and referrals and information and orientation program components [3.3 b) and c)].
- Temporary residents (and their dependents) who have received confirmation of a complete Application for Permanent Residence under the Atlantic Immigration Program are deemed eligible to receive support services that enable clients to access services, needs and assets assessment and referrals, information and orientation and community connections program components [3.3 a), b), c) and f)].
- Temporary residents who have received confirmation of a complete Application for Permanent Residence under the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot (and their dependents) are deemed eligible to receive support services that enable clients to access services, needs and assets assessment and referrals, information and orientation, and community connections program components [3.3 a), b), c) and f)], as authorized by Ministerial Instructions [14.1 IRPA] for the duration of the pilot.
Additional Information
- Eligible persons include both the principal applicant and eligible dependants (spouse and children).
Restrictions
- Canadian citizens and non-permanent residents are not eligible persons. However, the Settlement Program provides opportunities for citizens and other residents of Canada to participate as volunteers in the provision of settlement services to eligible clients.
Eligible applicants for funding
Eligible applicants for funding for settlement services are:
- municipal governments;
- not for profit organizations including non-governmental organizations, non-profit corporations, community groups, umbrella organizations, regulatory bodies and apprenticeship authorities;
- businesses, including those that provide indirect services (e.g., employers hiring newcomers, private language schools, conference organizers, web or production firms for tool development); and
- educational institutions (including school boards, districts and divisions).
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.
- Eligible applicants for NAARS base funding: must deliver NAARS and commit to becoming a member of a CoP within their zone to explore the best approach to transition to a DNS model for next funding cycle. Organizations must also use the National Standardized Assessment Template for NAARS to improve their own templates.
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
- Client-centered;
- Outcomes-driven;
- Responsive to needs; and
- Effective use of resources
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:
- Describe how they will support the transition to a DNS as indicated in the Activities Related to Transitioning to a DNS Model section.
Asset criteria
Proposals demonstrating the following in their applications may be prioritized for funding. Applicants for this service should include a description of the following experience or capacity, as applicable:
- Current participation in coordinated, standardized or centralized projects for NAARS delivery.
- 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 section of the Funding Guidelines for more information on GBA Plus.
Examples of quality projects
- The funded applicant offers a comprehensive NAARS to eligible newcomers. A comprehensive NAARS provides eligible clients with an assessment of their settlement needs and assets (knowledge, skills, abilities, life experiences, language skills, education and employment experience) to guide their settlement journey in Canada. NAARS always includes the provision of a settlement plan, which includes referrals to settlement and community-based services in the eligible client’s chosen area of residence. Eligible clients are to receive a follow-up 3 to 6 months after receiving their assessment to check-in and adjust referrals, as applicable. A comprehensive NAARS entails a human-centered conversation between a settlement worker and a newcomer. A comprehensive NAARS is not a simple intake to internal services.
- The funded applicant uses the National Standardized Assessment Template for NAARS to guide their NAARS delivery with clients. The funded applicant ensures, at a minimum, that they follow the mandatory questions in the Standardized Assessment Template for NAARS, and they appropriately report on these questions in iCARE.
- All funded applicants are members of a CoP, which aims to establish the DNS in their dedicated zone through local partnerships with various actors such as NAARS providers, IRCC-funded settlement service providers, non-IRCC funded settlement service providers, the LIP or RIF, or both (if one exists within the ‘zone’), Francophone service providers, resettlement service providers, SWIS-TEE providers, as well as local partners from such sectors as settlement, health, education, social and community services, and representatives of the private sector. The CoP may be expanded upon depending upon the amount of infrastructure and services available to eligible clients within the ‘zone’. This approach ensures a bottom-up approach in the development of a new service delivery model for NAARS.
- Partnership with a Francophone service provider in the community to ensure that Francophones are served in a ‘by and for’ approach where Francophone clients receive NAARS from a Francophone service provider.
- Funded applicants acting as a DNS as of Fiscal Year 1, create DNS platforms for providing NAARS, which will be linked to iCARE, and settlement plans with referrals will be provided. The referral platform/method will be unbiased with a view to create an equal field for all service providers in the community.
References for applicants
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