Economic Development resources

Beyond Survival: Helping Women Transition out of Poverty

This report presents the results of the Canadian Women’s Foundation Economic Development Collaborative Fund. The Collaborative Fund was a five-year $4.8 million program that provided financial and technical support to ten community programs across Canada that helped low-income women transition out of poverty and build a sustainable livelihood. This report explains our approach, describes our research process, summarizes our findings, and analyzes the key lessons for practitioners, and the and implications for funders and policy-makers.

Practitioner resources
All files are PDF

Methodology report
Sustainable livelihoods backgrounder
The stages of transformation to sustainable livelihoods
The sustainable livelihoods framework
Map of expected outcomes
Learning and evaluation framework
Baseline data - All participants
Workshop outlines
Charting participant progress
Generic grantee work plan
Instructions and questions - Interview 1
Baseline data - Portrait participants
Instructions and questions - Interview 2

Economic Development Environmental Scan, November 2007

This report, prepared for our Economic Development Planning Committee, summarizes trends that affect women’s economic development and presents statistics related to poverty and income, the labour market, government policies and demographics.

From Poverty to Empowerment

This report, prepared for Canadian Women's Foundation and Canadian Women's Community Economic Development Council, explores the roles, needs, strengths, challenges and achievements of Community Economic Development programs and services for women in Canada.
Download highlights (PDF)
Inventory (Microsoft Access Database File)

Women in Transition out of Poverty: An asset-based approach to building sustainable livelihoods

A practical learning guide for community economic development practitioners.

Women in Transition Out of Poverty: A guide to effective practice in promoting sustainable livelihoods through enterprise development.

A practitioner’s guide to effective practice in achieving sustainable livelihoods through enterprise development.

A Consortium of Firsts

An overview of the Women and Economic Development Consortium, a unique grant-making partnership led by the Canadian Women's Foundation, which resulted in the investment of over $2 million nationally to increase the participation of women in the economy.

Lessons Learned About Collaborative Grant-making

Our experience bringing together a group of donor partners to make collaborative grants through the Women and Economic Development Consortium.