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ARCHIVED – Service delivery improvement

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 Glossary of terms – CFP 2024

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New for 2024 Call for proposals

  • The Service Delivery Improvement (SDI) Stream is a new programming stream under the Settlement Program that invests strategically in projects that offer insights on program design and sector improvements, in order to build evidence to support future settlement programming. This CFP will feature a new SDI envelope to fund 5-year new, larger-scale pilot projects that will further test promising practices or concepts identified through previous SDI Expression Of Interest processes.

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

Description

Established in 2017, Service Delivery Improvement (SDI) funding is a dedicated stream within the Settlement Program that invests strategically in projects that test new, innovative approaches to service delivery and sector capacity building. Funded projects offer insights on program design and sector improvements and build evidence to support future settlement programming.

To date, there have been two SDI cohorts, funded under the 2017 and 2020 Expression of Interest (EOI) processes. These cohorts have provided insights and findings on small-scale innovative projects. A key finding from previous EOIs was that some tested projects required more detailed testing and development, often on a larger scale, but that there was no mechanism to do so. IRCC has developed this funding stream for pilot projects to help address this gap.

Through this Call for Proposals (CFP), Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) aims to fund new 5-year, larger-scale pilot projects that will test promising practices or concepts identified through previous SDI EOI processes. The SDI stream is open to all eligible applicants and the goal of these pilots is to build upon the important learning of previous SDI projects, generate outcomes that are evidence-based and validate the effectiveness and efficiency of the promising practices or concepts.

SDI is considered an indirect service due to its primary focus on research and data collection, measurement and evaluation. Although activities under SDI funding may offer services directly to newcomers, pilot projects must focus on building evidence, knowledge and capacity of the sector. While activities in the SDI stream are based on promising approaches from previous SDI intakes, there will be scope for applicants to propose unique projects, within these parameters.

The evidence generated through these pilots will contribute to IRCC’s ability to make informed policy decisions regarding the integration of innovative service delivery approaches into the future design of settlement services. As a result, ongoing funding through SDI for these pilots beyond the end date of the contribution agreement should not be anticipated.

This CFP stream features four (4) themes for SDI pilot projects:

  1. Improved Digital Messaging in the Settlement Sector;
  2. Supporting Newcomer Attraction and Retention Settlement in Small and Medium Population Centres;
  3. Connecting Privately-Sponsored Refugees to Settlement Services; and
  4. Defining the Role and Value of Community Brokers as a Neighbourhood Liaison.

Note: All applicants for funding need to clearly indicate in their proposal which theme they are applying for and in which region. Should you wish to apply for funding under multiple themes, a separate application in the Grants and Contributions System (GCS) is required for each theme.

IRCC will support initiatives by Francophone organizations. In order to be funded, IRCC will assess whether projects align with existing projects in the Francophone minority context to ensure complementarity and avoid duplication of services.

Scope of work

Individual requirements for each SDI theme are described below, including:

General information and requirements follow, including:

Note: Funded organizations should apply Gender Based Analysis Plus principles to the development, implementation and analysis of the project.

Expected outcomes

As described in the (Re)Settlement Program Logic Model, IRCC’s expected immediate outcomes are written to capture the overall results for all projects that deliver a particular set of activities.

There is one immediate IRCC outcome related to the SDI stream:

Settlement sector improves capacity to provide coordinated and effective settlement support to newcomers, including equity-deserving groups

If your project is focused on Theme 1: Improved Digital Messaging in the Settlement Sector

You must indicate how your project will aim to achieve and provide evidence on the following specific outcomes:

  • how newcomers’ access to settlement related information will be improved through digital messaging;
  • how digital messaging capacity of Settlement Service Provider Organizations (SPOs) will be improved;
  • how digital messaging will improve settlement outcomes; and
  • how digital messaging will be delivered efficiently.

If your project is focused on Theme 2: Supporting Newcomer Attraction and Retention in Small and Medium Population Centers

You must indicate how your project will aim to achieve and provide evidence on the following specific outcomes:

  • how small and medium population centres will have improved approaches to attraction and retention of newcomers;
  • how newcomers’ knowledge of the benefits of living in small and medium population centres will be improved;
  • how newcomers’ sense of belonging in small and medium population centres will be improved; and
  • how newcomer attraction and retention in small and medium population centres will be improved.

If your project is focused on Theme 3: Connecting Privately-Sponsored Refugees to Settlement Services

You must indicate how your project will aim to achieve and provide evidence on the following specific outcomes:

  • how refugee sponsors will improve awareness and understanding of the services available to Privately Sponsored Refugees (PSR) and Blended Visa-Officer Referred (BVOR) Program refugees through local SPOs;
  • how the PSR and BVOR Program refugees will increase their use of supports available through local service provider organizations; and
  • how the PSR and BVOR Program refugees will achieve better settlement and integration outcomes through improved communication and coordination between refugee sponsorship groups and settlement SPOs.

If your project is focused on Theme 4: Defining the Role and Value of Community Brokers as a Neighbourhood Liaison

You must indicate how your project will aim to achieve and provide evidence on the following specific outcomes:

  • how newcomers’ awareness and understanding of services available in the community will be improved;
  • how improved newcomer awareness and understanding of services available in the community will reduce social isolation;
  • how improved newcomer awareness and understanding of services available in the community will improve newcomer integration into Canadian society; and
  • how the role of a community broker will be understood in context to traditional settlement service activities.

Each eligible SDI stream activity is associated with the IRCC expected immediate outcome noted above. When a service delivery improvement stream 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

Regardless of the theme of your project, all SDI project activities should be identified in the application as Evidence and Innovation.

Evidence and Innovation

Theme 1: Improved Digital Messaging in the Settlement Sector
Project description and objectives

Accessing information about available settlement services and key public services is one of the biggest challenges faced by newcomers when they arrive in Canada. Limited access to reliable and accurate information may result in delayed or limited integration into the community.

Digital messaging can be an inexpensive and simple way to engage with and provide reliable, curated information to clients from national, regional and local perspectives. Previous SDI projects have identified that undertaking digital messaging efficiently requires a strong understanding of the complexity of this space, including identifying client platform preferences, data and privacy protection requirements, the relationship between traditional and digital communications, as well as cost management and changes in technology.

IRCC will support up to one pilot project per eligible region or one national pilot, or both (see Eligible Applicants for funding section) that:

  • will create and deliver copyright-free digital messaging content for newcomers; and,
  • support digital messaging capacity-building for other IRCC-funded settlement SPOs.
Eligible Theme 1 activities
1. Digital provision of settlement-related information
  • The funded organizations will promote settlement information through various digital messaging formats, by using new and existing content. These organizations will remain up-to-date on digital social media and other digital communication platforms. The pilot will also provide settlement information in a group chat environment, in multiple languages, with a moderator available to validate and provide content.
  • These pilots will provide usage analytics where possible on what information, and through which mediums, are accessed most frequently and are most useful for newcomers. Settlement information will be sourced from settlement organizations, IRCC-developed content, Needs and Assets Assessment and Referral Service (NAARS) providers, and created in-house by the funded organizations.
  • The funded organizations will establish an advisory table among IRCC-funded service providers, such as settlement Umbrella organizations, the National Local Immigration Partnership Secretariat, Local Immigration Partnerships (LIPs), Réseaux en immigration francophone (RIF), Zonal Immigration Partnerships (ZIPs) as well as newcomer users, to help identify messaging priorities and to identify existing content in the SPO network that may be used.
2. Digital messaging capacity building
  • The funded organization will also offer support to Settlement SPOs to build their digital messaging capacity and to implement their own digital messaging strategy successfully. These pilots will teach fundamentals of digital messaging to SPOs, to support their social media use and other digital communication options. The services offered will be flexible to suit the varied digital messaging needs of SPOs (who are at various levels of their own digital maturity), offering a suite of services to build their digital capacity, from centralized delivery to a digital advisory role.

While community-based messaging is the primary focus, the digital messaging content may be both national and regional.

Specific Criteria
  • Applicant organizations must demonstrate having 3+ years of recent experience designing, developing and operationalizing successful media platforms/campaigns in the not-for-profit sector. Applicants must provide letters confirming mutual interest for partnering from IRCC-funded service providers, particularly Umbrella organizations, LIPs, RIFs, or ZIPs, or all four, within their region for the establishment of an advisory table.

Theme 2: Supporting Newcomer Attraction and Retention in Small and Medium Population Centers
Project description and objectives

Small and medium population centres experience difficulty attracting newcomers due to lower visibility in the Canadian landscape and a lack of capacity and resources to support newcomer integration as compared to larger urban centres. This limits the ability of small and medium population centres to share in the economic and social benefits conferred by immigration.

Population centres

Defined by Statistics Canada as population centres of 1,000 to 99,999 people.

Under this SDI theme, IRCC aims to fund one pilot per eligible region (see Eligible applicants section).

The pilots will support the attraction and retention of newcomers to small and medium population centres by:

  • coordinating attraction and retention efforts by working with local and regional SPOs, LIPS/RIFs/ZIPs and small-centre coordinators
  • creating relevant content that supports connecting newcomers to interested communities, and
  • providing interested communities with assistance to develop welcoming spaces.

As an expert resource, the funded applicant will build the capacity of these centres to attract and retain permanent residents at both the pre- and post-arrival stage; including newcomers from economic class and humanitarian immigration. This initiative will complement others underway that have been designed to build inclusive, welcoming communities. Examples of such initiatives include the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot, the Atlantic Immigration Program, and the Welcoming Francophone Communities Initiative. This initiative will provide a centralized organization dedicated to the promotion of the benefits of settling in small and medium-sized centers within the region, particularly on the socio-economic benefits, as established by public data sources. This should also include efforts to communicate to those communities about the benefits of immigration, thereby supporting a welcoming environment.

Eligible Theme 2 activities

Funded applicants will identify and work with local governments and other interested settlement partners in the small and medium population centres within their regions, who want to increase newcomer attraction and retention by:

  • designing a strategic plan for attracting and retaining newcomers in small and medium centres, including building partnerships to create coordinated newcomer attraction strategies;
  • creating content, underpinned by strong socio-economic evidence and analysis, for digital marketing and promotion products, for the purpose of promoting to newcomers the benefits and opportunities of life in smaller population centres. This copyright-free content will be provided to and for use by a variety of settlement partners and websites;
  • developing a regional website focused on the benefits of settling in small and medium-sized centers within the region;
  • strengthen welcoming community and welcoming workplace initiatives to improve newcomer retention, including online content products for use by a variety of settlement partners and websites;
  • conducting outreach to IRCC-funded SPOs in the large urban centres, to highlight the secondary migration options available for newcomers who may be seeking a smaller community; and
  • identifying and promoting available remote service delivery opportunities for settlement services in areas where physical IRCC-funded settlement SPOs are not present.
Specific Criteria
  • Applicants must either demonstrate having, or must submit the application as a joint venture with an organization which has 3+ years of experience in small and medium population centre marketing and communication strategies.
  • Applicants must provide letters confirming partnership interest from LIPs, RIFs, or ZIPs, or all three, within the project region to harness the convening expertise of these organizations.
  • Applicants must clearly demonstrate in their application that they have the capacity and expertise to analyze data and incorporate quantitative newcomer data, such as that found in the IMDB (Longitudinal Immigration Database) or the IRCC Newcomer Outcomes Survey, into the marketing campaigns, or demonstrate how they will secure this expertise.

Theme 3: Connecting Privately-Sponsored Refugees to Settlement Services
Project description and objectives

Settlement agencies and refugee sponsorship groups are natural allies in supporting refugees arriving in Canada through the Private Sponsorship of Refugees (PSR) Program and Blended Visa-Officer Referred (BVOR) Program. However, they sometimes face challenges related to limited communication and collaboration.

Improved communication and collaboration between refugee sponsorship groups and settlement organizations is needed to facilitate knowledge sharing and the coordination of sponsor and settlement worker activities. A coordinated approach should result in a more responsive settlement process that increases access to community services and improves outcomes for privately-sponsored refugees and BVOR refugees.

IRCC will support up to one pilot per eligible region or one national pilot, or both (see Eligible applicants section) to

  • build connections between SPOs/settlement workers and refugee sponsorship groups; and
  • facilitate a more collaborative relationship between these groups to improve the outcomes for refugees sponsored through the PSR and BVOR Programs.
Eligible Theme 3 activities

Each funded organization will act as a coordinator/connector between existing settlement SPOs and Sponsorship Agreement Holders and associated Constituent Groups; Group of 5 Sponsors; Community Sponsors; the resettlement service provider network; and other settlement service providers assisting privately-sponsored and BVOR Program sponsors to:

  • establish an advisory table to develop an approach for connecting privately-sponsored and BVOR Program refugees arriving in the region to the settlement system upon arrival in Canada;
  • curate and promote existing information resources, and develop new content where needed, so sponsorship groups gain awareness of services that are available to refugees through IRCC-funded service organizations and other community organizations to better support the settlement journey of privately-sponsored refugees. These informational resources and their promotion can be national in scale or regional in focus, including for Francophone minority organizations and smaller centres.
Specific Criteria
  • Applicants must demonstrate 3+ years of recent experience working within the PSR Program.
  • Applicants must demonstrate previous experience developing and coordinating relationships with multiple settlement partners.

Theme 4: Defining the Role and Value of Community Brokers as a Neighbourhood Liaison
Project description and objectives

Newcomers often encounter post-arrival challenges which are compounded by misinformation and a lack of awareness or understanding of services available in their community. This can lead to social isolation and can delay their integration into Canadian society.

In metropolitan areas with a high population of newcomers, providing targeted information supports to newcomers via a Community Broker (neighbourhood liaison) role can be an effective approach to addressing this lack of awareness and can limit the potential for misinformation, increase the uptake of settlement services, and support mainstream services/systems bridging. This intervention may be more effective if the support worker is a newcomer themselves and understands the typical needs of newcomers in the neighbourhood and the resources available to support them.

Under this SDI theme, IRCC aims to fund up to three community broker/neighbourhood liaison pilots that specialize in:

  • connecting newcomers to their community by promoting settlement services,
  • making referrals to local resources and assisting access to NAARS for eligible clients, and
  • providing guidance to newcomers in their community.

The function of a community broker is to actively engage in a neighbourhood liaison role, to connect with newcomers and introduce them to available opportunities and supports within their community. The community broker/neighbourhood liaison role should not replace the specialized work performed by direct service settlement workers, nor the convener role of LIPs.

This will be tested in select census metropolitan areas with populations of at least 750,000 people, to determine if a community broker/neighbourhood liaison role expedites the integration of newcomers in an effective and efficient manner, while also identifying the key elements of the role more generally. The pilot should examine the utility of both funded and volunteer positions.

Eligible Theme 4 activities

The pilots will identify:

  • the role and services to be provided by a community broker engaged in neighbourhood liaison;
  • how the community broker/neighbourhood liaison role interacts with the traditional front-line SPO staff;
  • challenges and best practices of delivering a community broker/neighbourhood liaison program,
  • staffing considerations and program development needs;
  • appropriate performance measurement strategies;
  • whether or not the community broker/neighbourhood liaison role facilitates faster integration of newcomers.
Specific Criteria
  • Applicants must be an organization working in a census metropolitan area with a population of at least 750,000 people.
  • Applicants must demonstrate 3+ years of recent experience in providing neighbourhood-level outreach services to newcomers.
  • Applicants must demonstrate experience in community programming development, using an iterative design approach.

General information and requirements

The following sections apply to all applications submitted under the SDI funding stream.

Project outputs and deliverables

Required outputs and deliverables

In addition to the standard financial and activity-based reports required from all contribution agreement holders, the following deliverables are mandatory for projects funded under the SDI stream:

Note 1: The mid-project evaluation at year 3.5 will inform the design of future programming at IRCC. Project activities can continue beyond this date, with a focus on winding down all activities by the end of the funding agreement in year 5.

Note 2: Additional reporting may be required over the course of the project to respond to emerging situations.

Note 3: Additional details regarding project evaluation and final report requirements may be provided over the course of the project.

Mandatory Performance Measurement Framework

All funded applicants must submit a performance measurement framework (PMF), as a guide and reference that identifies performance measurement expectations at the onset of the pilot. PMFs must be submitted to IRCC no later than four months after the signing of the contribution agreement, for review and approval. At minimum, the PMF should identify:

Note 1: All funded applicants must be able to generate a comparative baseline, or benchmark, prior to the submission of the initial PMF. IRCC will not provide comparative baseline data. Comparative baseline data can be drawn from a variety of quantitative and qualitative data sources that reveal the problem or challenge that exists under present conditions. The comparative baseline helps define the initial condition that is to be adjusted through an intervention and is necessary for evaluation of the intervention.

Note 2: It is not sufficient to demonstrate that the intervention improved outcomes for the participant. Targets need to reflect improved outcomes compared against those described in the comparative baseline.

Note 3: It is understood that a PMF may require modifications throughout the project timeframe.

Mandatory Independent Third-Party Evaluator

The use of an independent third-party evaluator is mandatory. In-house evaluations are not permitted. Evaluators will be required to review the proposed methodology, comparative baseline data and PMF for viability. In addition, the evaluator must complete a project evaluation that includes a cost-benefit analysis.

Mode of delivery

SDI may be delivered:

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):

Eligible clients

The following persons are eligible to receive settlement services:

Eligible applicants for funding

In order to fulfill IRCC’s objective of promoting the successful integration of permanent residents into Canada, contribution agreements may be signed with the following eligible applicants for funding for settlement services:

Eligible Regions

For the purpose of applying for funding under this Call for Proposals, IRCC Regions are defined as: British Columbia/Yukon [BCY] (British Columbia, Yukon), Prairies and Northern Territories [PNT] (Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Northwest Territories and Nunavut), Ontario Region [ON] (Ontario), Eastern Region [EST] (Quebec*, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island).

*Under the Canada-Quebec Accord, Quebec is responsible for the delivery of resettlement and settlement services in this province.

Note 1: National pilot definition: Projects that operate in two or more regions listed above.

Note 2: In addition, further eligibility criteria to apply to a specific theme are noted in the individual SDI theme sections above.

Funding instruments

Funding under this process will be provided through a contribution agreement.

Organizational and community capacity

Specific organizational requirements to be met are described within each theme under ‘specific criteria’. Applicants for funding should describe how they meet these criteria in this section.

How we assess applications for this program/stream

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, SDI stream applicants must meet the eligibility criteria to apply to a specific theme. The criteria are noted in the individual SDI theme sections above.

Asset criteria

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

  • 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).
  • Integration of 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.

References for applicants

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