Northern CommunitiesTransitioning to Resilience

From the North-South Partnership Newsletter (May 31, 2010)

The Mamow Ki-ken-da-ma-win (‘Searching Together’) partnership has received $1M of SSHRC-CURA funding over the next five years to bring together a team of professors and students from four universities (Ryerson University, University of Toronto, University of Western Ontario, and Lakehead University) to partner with Mamow Sha-way-gi-kay-win. In addition, the four participating universities will donate the equivalent amount in kind. The work of this team will build on the ‘searching together’ projects already completed in seven remote First Nations communities in northern Ontario.

The proposed framework is based on the social determinates of health with the addition of factors that recognize the northern context and First Nations cultural perspectives. This will offer a starting point to identify and evaluate short and long-term priorities and interventions, based on the strengths and challenges of each community. Capacity building initiatives will be brokered by the Partnership, and evaluated by those ‘searching together’ to promote meaningful and sustainable change, while making a contribution to public education.

Mamow Ki-ken-da-ma-win will rely on community involvement and direction at all phases of the project. It is hoped that the project will lead to new initiatives for community promotion of well-being, strategies to address needs around mental health and well-being, as well as approaches to service organization and delivery in a variety of different areas, such as housing, restorative justice, agriculture, and food security.

Visit http://northsouthpartnership.com for more information about this organization.