Strengthen equity and inclusion in your organization and community. Our social enterprise uses engaging methods and diverse facilitators to help clients create transformative social change.
What sets us apart?
Diverse facilitators from the community
“We break down walls by being ourselves.”
Our facilitators are diverse women from Ottawa-Gatineau with lived experience of marginalization, who’ve been thoroughly trained in popular education methods. They combine personal and professional experience to amplify traditionally marginalized voices and guide dialogue about their own communities.
Experts in navigating challenging topics
“Participants come to a lightbulb moment.”
We create powerful experiences for authentic change. Our facilitators always work in teams of two or more and are supported by a community of care. This helps us create safer and braver spaces where difficult topics are discussed with respect. Our approach is grounded in the popular education model which starts with participants’ lived experiences and leads to transformative action.
Leaders in systemic change
“CAWI has credibility and a history.”
CAWI has been delivering tangible outcomes for communities, municipalities and organizations since 2004. We’ve built a trusted reputation through our compassionate and impactful work. By hiring our social enterprise, you’ll support change within your organization and far beyond it.
Explore our services
Training for teams and facilitators
We develop customized training to meet your organizational context and goals. You can choose between online or in-person sessions, depending on public health direction. Training can range from a 90–minute workshop to a multi-day course.
Community Dialogue
We act as facilitators, moderators and researchers to support your community dialogues and community-based research. These services are ideal for organizations who’ve developed their own content or who want to shape content with us. For example, we facilitated a series of focus groups on the City of Ottawa’s Community Safety and Wellbeing Plan, summarizing the results in a report to help develop the second phase of the plan.
We typically work on projects that align with our values.
Equity and inclusion lens application
We help organizations apply equity and inclusion in their everyday work. This service often complements our equity and inclusion lens training. It can include:
- Equity and inclusion assessments and research
- HR reviews and audits
- Advice such as how to develop an equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) committee
Who we work with
We look for a commitment from organizations and communities to contribute to greater social equity, inclusion and justice. Our services are designed to support authentic change, not as one-off exercises that ‘tick a box.’
Clients who benefit from our services include municipalities, community health centres, women’s organizations, academia, labour unions and non-profits. We also support individual learners such as facilitators, adult educators and EDI specialists.
Here are some of the organizations we’ve worked with:
“Even though I have a background in this area, it doesn’t mean that when doing my work, I will always remember to consider equity and inclusion. This tool helps me to be consistent.”
Program Manager, City of Ottawa
