Dear CanWaCH members and colleagues,
A few weeks ago, CanWaCH, in partnership with the Canadian Society for International Health, hosted our 2017-2018 Annual General Meeting during the Canadian Conference on Global Health. At the business meeting, we were excited to welcome ChrisDendys (RESULTS Canada), Eva Slawecki (Canadian Society for International Health) and Jocelyn Mackie (Grand Challenges Canada) as new members of our esteemed Board of Directors. Read their bios here. We also bid a fond farewell to David Morley (UNICEF) who has been our board chair for the past 2 years. David’s contributions have been instrumental in growing the organization and we were pleased to hear at the AGM that he remains very committed to the vision of CanWaCH and is just a phone call away!
We were also grateful to see friends, old and new, come together to share information and knowledge at three breakout sessions hosted by our working groups on gender equality and health in fragile contexts, data and metrics, and public engagement. Read what our staff heard as main takeaways from those sessions here.
2017-2018 was a very busy year! Read more about what we, as a collective, have accomplished in our Annual Report. I am looking forward to what we will accomplish over the coming years – onwards! On behalf of everyone at CanWaCH, we would like to wish you and yours a very happy holiday season. See you in 2019!
Julia Anderson
Acting Executive Director
The Canadian Partnership for Women and Children’s Health (CanWaCH) is proud to present its second annual CanWaCH Awards for Canadian Excellence in Global Women and Children’s Health. We recently sat down with CanWaCH’s 2018 Youth Advocacy Award Recipient, Brianna Cheng, to discuss Canadian leadership in global health. Nominate someone for a CanWaCH award today!
On November 20th, 2018 at the Canadian Conference for Global Health held in Toronto, Canada, nearly 45 passionate ‘detectives’ came together to grapple with some of the largest global health data problems alongside data experts. Each expert represented three of the six Canadian Collaboratives for Global Health (the CanWaCH “Collaborative”) and spoke on their own Lab data challenges.
This year, between June and September, we surveyed our members to find out about their capacity and interest in sharing knowledge on gender equality and health. Here’s what we found: CanWaCH members have significant gender equality capacity and they are keen to share knowledge and strengthen this capacity.
On November 25th, as part of the global 16 days of activism against gender-based violence campaign, CanWaCH published “Violence Against Women: 6 ways women’s human rights are violated around the world”. This blog is part of CanWaCH’s Gender Equality Matters blog series which tackles a range of pressing issues related to gender equality and global health.
CanWaCH is excited to be on the ground in New Delhi, India for the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (PMNCH) Partners’ Forum. Our Director of Global Health Impact, Jessica Ferne, will discuss data and accountability when scaling up support through the Canada NGOs consortium on the panel Leaving no one behind: Current evidence, gaps and innovations.
We are also thrilled to be a partner on the SheDecides India Open House which is being hosted at the Official Residence of Canada’s High Commissioner to India and will feature opening remarks by Kamal Khera, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Development. In addition to recognizing Canada as a global leader and founding Champion of SheDecides, SheDecides India and CREA will be recognized as an example of a trailblazer, driving transformational change at all levels so that all women and girls are in a position to decide for themselves about their bodies. Check back here for Partners’ Forum updates from our team in India.
On November 5th, Women Deliver Mobilization Canada unveiled the results of their Action Area Consultation on gender-based violence (GBV). The Mobilization launched a campaign to raise awareness about the legacies Canadians want to see on GBV coming out of Canada hosting of Women Deliver in June 2019. The more that mobilizers speak out, the more likely decision-makers will feel compelled to act to make these legacies a reality! Learn more about how you can get involved here.
Did you know that Canadian leadership and innovation has made a BIG impact in Haiti? This leadership is one of Canada’s best-kept secrets! The Lead On Canada campaign will seek to change that by travelling to Haiti in January to shine a light on the work of Canadian organizations and their partners for a “Spotlight on Haiti” online series! From January 14th to the 28th, the Lead On Canada Facebook hub will feature blogs, photos, videos, trivia and statistics provided by our members and partners working on health in Haiti.
WickFest, the hockey tournament founded by Canadian Olympian Hayley Wickenheiser, is about more than hockey. It’s also about empowering and inspiring players to be self-assured individuals, both on the ice and off. This year, CanWaCH and Nutrition International partnered with WickFest to highlight how the inability to access healthcare and good nutrition prevents millions of girls from not only playing sports but from going to school, planning for a career and leading happy, healthy, prosperous lives. See highlights from our Emerging Leaders Workshop, the Discussion Panel on Gender Equality with Madame Sophie Grégoire Trudeau and opening remarks from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and CanWaCH’s Julia Anderson.
The Canadian Society for International Health (CSIH) recently released the inaugural Canadian Women in Global Health list to increase the visibility, representation, and leadership of Canadian women working in the sector. CanWaCH would like to congratulate our Executive Director, Helen Scott, along with our Board Members Sian FitzGerald, Jocelyn Mackie, and Eva Slawecki. We would also like to extend our congratulations to all of our CanWaCH members who were recognized.
SRHR Key Performance Indicators, Global Affairs Canada
Global Maternal Health: Let’s Talk about Obstetric Fistula, La Fondation Mères du Monde en Santé (MMS)
#10YearsofImpact: The Shanti Uganda Birth House, Shanti Uganda
Canadian Women in Global Health, Canadian Society for International Health
ChildVoice, Christian Children Fund of Canada
COP24: A million lives could be saved by 2050 through climate action, UN health agency reveals, UN News
In Ethiopia, a multipronged approach to tackle avoidable blindness, Devex
World malaria report 2018, World Health Organization
The Water Carriers, CBC Radio
The Reality of Aid 2018: The Changing Faces of Development Aid and Cooperation, Ibon International
Canada on the Global Stage: Where to Next?, The Canadian International Development Platform (CIDP)
January 24th, UBC Centre for International Child Health and BC Children’s Hospital Global Health Conference 2019
February 3rd to 9th, International Development Week
February 6th, International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation
March 8th, International Women’s Day
April 7th, 23rd IUHPE World Conference on Health Promotion
April 7th, World Health Day
April 11th, 2019 Expanding Horizons for the Early Years National Institute on Infant Mental Health
June 3rd, Women Deliver 2019
June 10th, McGill Summer Institute in Infectious Diseases and Global Health
June 14th, North American Refugee Health Conference
BORN Ontario, Epidemiologist, Ottawa
WaterAid Canada, Office Coordinator, Ottawa
Canadian Feed The Children, Program Officer, Business Development & Program Support, Toronto
CARE Canada, Financial Analyst, Ottawa
University of Toronto, Queen Elizabeth Advanced Scholars, Canada
Canadian Red Cross, Public Health Delegate, Home-Based Office
World Vision Canada, Program Manager, Humanitarian and Emergency Affairs, Mississauga
IDRC, Program Assistants, Canada
Aga Khan Foundation Canada, International Youth Fellowship
Cuso International, Midwife Advisor – Clinical Practice, Ethiopia
Cuso International, Gender Specialist, Philippines
Grand Challenges Canada, The OPTions Initiative – Request for Proposals
Save the Children Canada, Gender Equality Advisor, Toronto
