Frequently Asked Questions

This CFC is open to all organizations which fall into the list of eligible applicants. For further information, please find below the link for the Gender-Based Violence Call for Concepts and related information, including the General Eligibility Requirements.

The application form can be accessed in PDF via FluidReview reference purposes, but please note that PDF applications will not be accepted. Only applications submitted online through FluidReview will be assessed.

To access a PDF version of the application form, please follow these steps:

• Log into your FluidReview account;
• In the menu bar at the top of the page, click on the "Resources" link (located over the red maple leaf); and,
• Click on the link for "Gender-Based Violence Program – Application for Concept form" (located under "Attachments"). This will create a PDF version of the application form which you can open and save.

Direct services/service delivery can be defined as services provided by, or that are the mandate of, other levels of government (provincial/territorial or municipal), such as health (care, screening, etc.) and social services (i.e. counselling). The objective of the Gender-Based Violence Program is to support the GBV sector to address gaps in supports for survivors. This will be achieved through the testing promising practices, and will result in the development of evidence-based blueprints which will be made available for other organizations to replicate and adapt to their local context. This focus on testing promising practices does not preclude a service from being a component of a promising practice per se, but the service could not be funded as a stand-alone initiative. To be an eligible cost, the direct service must only take place within the context of testing it as a promising practice.

The Gender-Based Violence (GBV) Program is a new funding program at Status of Women that takes action to address to the second pillar of "support for survivors and their families" under the Government of Canada's Strategy to Prevent and Address Gender-Based Violence. The Strategy builds on current federal initiatives, coordinates existing programs and lays the foundation for greater action on GBV.

The GBV Program is population-specific, and its objective is to support organizations working in the GBV sector in developing and implementing promising practices to address gaps in supports for Indigenous and underserved groups of survivors in Canada.

This call for concepts has been launched in order to provide support to organizations working in the GBV sector to develop, implement, and evaluate promising practices to address gaps in supports for two groups of survivors: Indigenous women and their communities, and underserved populations, such as those who are more at risk of GBV and/or who are facing barriers to accessing services. Results include the identification of support gaps for survivors of violence; identification and testing of promising practices; generation of evidence demonstrating efficiency and effectiveness of promising practices; and, the development and availability of blueprints for other organizations to replicate and adapt to their local context.

A CFC is the "idea" stage. It's a way for you to tell us what promising practice(s) you would like to test, as well as what specific population(s) you will be working with.

This call is different from a regular call for proposals, in that we are asking for less information in your initial application. Although you will need to tell us about yourself, your project objectives and how you will achieve results, we want only high-level information at this point.

A feature of this call is that successful applicant organizations will receive funding to support the development of a full proposal. Full proposals will need to be thorough, and demonstrate how organizations will develop, implement, test and evaluate of promising practices that strengthen the GBV sector to better address the needs of underserved populations.

At the CFC stage, we are looking for general information only. The online form is available for all organizations interested in applying, and must be completed in full to be considered for funding. The template includes the following information:

• Organizational information: information about your organization (i.e., name, location, incorporation information, etc.), eligibility, mandate and alignment with the CFC, outline of previous funding in the past three years and a copy of the organization's most recent Financial Statements;
• Concept information: Information about your proposed project (i.e., title, scope, priority population focus for the project, support gaps you intend to address), project description (i.e., objectives and expected results, activities, evaluation, and partners);
• Budget information: This includes a brief description of the amount of funding required to develop a full proposal (up to $30,000), how the funding will be used, how much time is required to develop a full proposal, as well as the estimated cost and timeline of full project implementation;
• Declaration and Undertaking: This section must be signed by an individual who has legal signing authority for the organization, and provides SWC with the assurance that the application submitted is accurate and complete.

Eligible recipients include legally constituted organizations that are:

• Not-for-profit Canadian organizations
• Indigenous governments (including band councils, tribal councils and self-government entities) and their agencies
• Provinces, territories, municipalities and their agencies
• Research organizations and institutes, centres of expertise
• Educational institutions (i.e. universities, colleges, CÉGEPs, secondary schools, school boards / school districts)
• Public health institutions, hospitals, healthcare service providers
• For-profit Canadian organizations, if the nature of the funded activity is not intended to generate a profit
• Labour groups and unions

Please note that federal government funding will be limited to matching funding equivalent to up to 50% of total project budget for the following eligible recipients:

• Provinces, territories, municipalities and their agencies
• Educational institutions (i.e. universities, colleges, CÉGEPs, secondary schools, school boards / school districts)
• Public health institutions, hospitals, healthcare service providers.

The priority populations include:

• Indigenous women and their communities;
• Underserved populations, such as those who are more at risk of GBV and/or who are facing barriers to accessing services. These include, but are not limited to: children and youth, ethno-cultural women, LGBTQ2 communities and gender-non-binary people, non-status/refugee/immigrant women, seniors, women living in an official language minority community, women living in northern, rural and remote communities, and women living with a disability.

Proposal development: Up to $30,000, for a period up to three months

Project implementation: Up to $1,000,000, for a period up to five years

The CFC opens on January 17, 2018. The deadline to apply is 12:00 p.m. (Pacific Time) on March 1, 2018. All required documents must be provided at the time of submission. Please note that incomplete or late concepts will not be considered.

This CFC will support the development of promising practices to support survivors and their families. Promising practices will address gaps in supports for two groups of survivors: Indigenous women and their communities, and underserved populations, such as those who are more at risk of gender-based violence and/or who are facing barriers to accessing services.

Gaps could include, but are not limited to: access to information about services, cultural appropriateness of programs and services, employment, health, housing, healing, language/interpretation, mobility/accessibility, and safety.

Examples of activities could include, but are not limited to:

• Involving and consulting specific populations of survivors to understand their lived experience;
• Coordinating with other organizations working with survivors of violence;
• Informing the development of promising practices using a trauma-informed, survivor-centric, strength-based (i.e., survivors as experts of their own experiences), lived experience focus; and,
• Undertaking rigorous research and performance measurement activities in order to effectively measure and assess the impact and results of the initiative (via third-party researchers, evaluators and/or validators).

The following activities will not be considered:

• Providing direct services/delivery of services.
• Training or the development of toolkits as stand-alone activities.

Eligible expenditures include: travel, salaries and benefits, honoraria and professional fees, materials and supplies, facilities (i.e., facility rentals for project activities, and costs related to office space), office equipment, publicity and promotion, "other" (e.g., expenses not included in other budget items), and administrative expenditures (up to 20% of the total of direct delivery expenditures).

Capital expenditures, such as land, buildings, vehicles and other major capital costs, with the exception of computer equipment such as desktops, portables, and small peripherals required to carry out the project.

Yes. Organizations may submit more than one concept if they are significantly different in scope. A separate application will need to be completed and submitted for each concept.

Yes. If two or more organizations wish to complete a concept together given similar vision or scope, SWC will accept the application. However, only one application should be submitted on behalf of the partnering organizations and only one of these organizations can receive proposal development funding.

As part of the review process, SWC will be looking for synergies between projects and organizations that are looking to test similar promising practices and/or populations.

No, projects do not have to be national in scope. They can be at the community, municipal, provincial/territorial or national level. You will be able to indicate the scope of your project in the application form.

SWC encourages organizations that take a collaborative, multi-stakeholder approach. Applicants are expected to create or build on partnerships that strengthen project outcomes through their reach, expertise, and financial or in-kind support. Therefore, applicants should be prepared to undertake partnership engagement activities in order to leverage in-kind and financial contributions that will contribute to the project's development, implementation and associated research.

Federal government funding will be limited to matching funding equivalent to up to 50% of total project budget for the following eligible recipients: provinces, territories, municipalities and their agencies; educational institutions (i.e. universities, colleges, CÉGEPs, secondary schools, school boards / school districts); and, public health institutions, hospitals, healthcare service providers.

There are three stages associated with this call for concepts.

• Organizations fill out and submit the concept application form online.
• Organizations whose concepts are approved will receive up to $30,000 to support the development of a full proposal.
• Organizations develop a full proposal. Organizations whose full proposals are approved will receive up to $1 million for project implementation.

Concepts will be assessed based on the following criteria:

• Eligibility of the organization
• Organization's mandate, as well as the organization's capacity and expertise related to the need to be addressed through this Call for Concepts
• Degree to which proposed activities and intended outcomes support program objectives and priorities
• Degree to which proposed evaluation activities have the potential to effectively measure and assess the impact and results of the initiative

Decisions are made through the assessment process, where reviewers assess all eligible concepts based on the assessment criteria listed above. Final decisions may also be made based on other factors, including the number of concepts received and the availability of funding to support a variety of initiatives.

There is approximately $20 million available for this funding call, over a five year period.

Applications are submitted electronically by visiting SWC's online application pagel. All applications are completed and submitted using a platform called Fluidreview. Users must create an account in order to view and submit the application.

If you experience technical problems accessing and/or submitting your application form, please contact Support Help services at CFC.CentreExpertiseSC-CentreofExpertiseGC.SWC@cfc-swc.gc.ca.

Yes: at the concept stage, you must submit your organization's most recent financial statements. You may not attach other documents at this stage.

The deadline to submit applications under this CFC is 12:00 p.m. (Pacific Time) on March 1st, 2018. All required documents must be provided at the time of submission. Please note that incomplete or late applications will not be considered.

Applicants will be informed as soon as possible to whether or not their concept has been approved to move on to the proposal development. Applicants will be notified by email.