Sandi, thank you for the suggestion re funding. I took a look to see what is
applicable to Canada. Here's what I found:

"The Dove Self-Esteem Fund has developed the Real Beauty Self-Esteem
Resource Centre, which includes a number of information and learning tools
for girls, parents, teachers and mentors alike. The Fund also makes
available to teachers and Educators BodyTalk: The Real Beauty School
Program, an educational program designed to help young people deal with
their feelings about physical appearance. Late in 2006, we will conduct Real
Beauty Workshops for Girls in communities across Canada."

It seems an appropriate time to post the editorial that will appear in
WISE's Spring newsletter:

Editorial – Funding Environment Blocks Change

The funding environment in Canada works counter to any real, permanent
change being made to the status quo. At best, it supports bandaid solutions,
leaving the causes of societal ills untouched.

Our funding environment is political through and through, largely because
the Canadian government makes it that way. Regardless of whether a funder is
a private foundation or a government agency, who and what gets funded
ultimately reduces to what government allows to get funded. This control has
its greatest affect on groups that are the most marginalized.

The first requirement of a grant applicant by any funder is that it be a
registered non-profit society or charity. For government funders, the
applicant group must have at least registered non-profit status. [Status of
Women Canada is the sole exception.] For charitable foundations, due to
restrictions (aka 'guidelines') imposed by the Canada Revenue Agency, the
applicant must be another registered charity.

The problem is this. Groups like WISE – comprised of women who are
systematically disempowered due to societal inequities – CAN not be formally
organized. Not WILL not. CAN not.

To realize any real, meaningful change, such groups must have full autonomy
to create and pursue their own vision in their own way. This can mean
depending on non-traditional, informal ways of being, organizing and working.

Consider a woman in poverty. The greater her depth of poverty, the greater
her isolation, also the less control she has over her own life and the lives
of those dependent upon her. The loss of autonomous control for these women,
most of whom are heads of households, has devastating effects on their
self-esteem, and their ability to maintain hope and energy to advocate for
themselves, their families and their communities.

When women in poverty do find a way to come together – an obstacle-stewn
process in itself – they must be empowered to set their group’s parameters
in their own way: its structure and purpose, and how each member stands in
relation to it. These parameters must be fluid, since people in poverty can
never be sure of their next meal, the security of their housing, their
transportation, their health, and ad infinitum. The group's parameters must
also be parallel, so that each woman has control over her role within the
group and can contribute equally to decision-making.

Registered non-profit and charitable organizations are required to have a
board of directors. This imposes a top-down structure. This is someone else
taking responsibility for, and directing the activities of some one or more
persons below. This is not a structure where all members are equal and in
control of what the group does and where it is going.

Then there's charity. WISE abhors the idea of becoming a charity, but for
the sake of funding we did think about it. Briefly. The exercise literally
made us feel ill. PEOPLE IN POVERTY DO NOT WANT TO BE OBJECTS OF CHARITY.
Like everyone else, we want to be able to do for ourselves. Becoming a
charity would defeat the point of WISE’s existence. Yes, we want and need
funding, but that funding is to help us defeat poverty. We do not support
its perpetuation by enabling an infrastructure of bandaid solutions.


Ocean

---------------------------------------------------
Chrystal Ocean, Coordinator
Wellbeing through Inclusion Socially & Economically
http://www.wise-bc.org/

BOOK INFO - Policies of Exclusion, Poverty & Health: Stories from the Front
http://www.wise-bc.org/CVProject/book.html

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