Date/Length: January 2024 to June 2024.
Project Partners: Implemented by DoARC, in partnership with UCAS & ADPA and Saskatchewan African Canadian Heritage Museum (SACHM)
Funding Agency: Sask Culture, Sask Lotteries
Objectives
The "Sharing Our Voices – Supporting Social Justice Through Community Engagement" project, led by Daughters of Africa Resources Centre SK Inc. (DoARC) is a comprehensive initiative aimed at addressing power dynamics, privilege, racism and discrimination of all types, at both individual and systemic levels. The workshops also married strategies for combating racism alongside new African cultural awareness workshop components, featuring three regions of the African continent. The goals were to create knowledge, awareness and activism to combat racism and discrimination, and to increase community engagement and foster new cultural understandings between African-descent cultures and the mainstream community, and indeed, between different African-descent cultures themselves.
Over six months from January to June 2024, a series of three interactive workshops were implemented, each lasting four hours. They were conducted in-person and by Zoom throughout Saskatchewan with participants primarily from Regina, Saskatoon and Edmonton.
- Workshop #1 (March 2, 2024) Title: "Voices of Empowerment and Inclusion: Women, Rights, and Celebrating Culture".
- Workshop #2 (March 23rd) "Shattered Stereotypes: Human Rights, Racism, Discrimination and Intersectionality”.
- Workshop # 3 (May 4th) Title: Leading the Way: Empowering Anti-Racism Advocates and Exploring Religious Discrimination May 4th, 2023.
Outcomes achieved
One of the major successes of the project was its ability to foster meaningful dialogue on racism and inclusion. From our thoughtful Land Acknowledgement to the many engaging workshop speakers, DoARC and its partners, kept the principles of Reconciliation, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion as the cornerstones of our workshops. The workshops were designed to create a safe and open environment where participants could engage in honest conversations about their experiences with racism, unconscious bias, and microaggressions. This approach was essential in facilitating understanding and making progress in the fight against racism.
Testimonials
“Learning about allyship has helped me understand how I can become an ally.”
“The workshop presentations were easy to follow along and liked learning about Africa.”
“Good learning opportunity would encourage more workshops in the future.”
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