In this special edition of the CanWaCH newsletter, we look back at 2023, reflecting on the moments we came together, the resources we developed and shared and some of the milestones marked by the CanWaCH membership.
Thank you for your support, collaboration and engagement over the past year. From all of us at CanWaCH, we would like to wish you and yours a very happy holiday season!
From our series of CanWaCH Dialogues held earlier in the year to our recent stakeholder discussion co-hosted with Global Affairs Canada, the year featured a range of in-person and virtual events which brought members and partners together to share, learn, collaborate and connect.
Check out some of the takeaways and resources from the inaugural Global Health Impact Summit, the 2023 editions of the CanWaCH Academy and the Equal Futures Network Gender Equality Summit and our three–part Gender Equality Week webinar series.
International days and sector moments throughout the year served as occasions for members and partners to reflect on pertinent issues, engage with stakeholders and communities, share resources and recognize achievements in the global health and the international cooperation sector.
International development week, Black History Month and sexual and reproductive health awareness week kicked off the year and featured a parliamentary reception, a youth roundtable with the Minister of International Development and a range of events hosted by the Anti-Racist Cooperation (ARC) Hub.
Ahead of the one year anniversary of the Supreme Court of the United States ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade in June, CanWaCH joined Future Planning Initiative partners in Ottawa to rise up for sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). There, the Government of Canada announced a sharpening of its focus on the most neglected areas of SRHR.
Women Deliver 2023 was hosted in July in Kigali, Rwanda and saw CanWaCH host a ministerial roundtable, visit projects, hear and learn from gender equality advocates and host a networking reception that connected members and sector partners in attendance.
Gender Equality Week 2023 in September provided an opportunity to reconfirm our commitment to advancing gender equality and to raise awareness of the work that still needs to be done.
Over the last two weeks, the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence was marked by a global campaign, #NoExcuse, and served as an annual reminder to refocus our efforts and demonstrate our commitments to preventing and responding to sexual and gender-based violence in all sectors.
Throughout the year, members and partners have worked together to provide support to disasters and emergencies, advocating for the removal of barriers to provide crucial humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan, responding to the devastation in Türkiye and Syria, the humanitarian crisis in Sudan, and the attack on LGBTQI+ rights in Uganda and around the world.
International cooperation organizations, including several CanWaCH members, are providing updates on the humanitarian emergency in Gaza. On the two-month anniversary of the crisis, CARE Canada shared a statement on the wide-scale damage to critical infrastructure such as water networks and sanitation facilities, the mass displacement faced by Palestinians and the lack of medical care at the onset of winter.
We’re thrilled to have welcomed fourteen new members to the CanWaCH membership in 2023! This sees the CanWaCH membership close out the year at 106 members. Get to meet all the new members in our April, June and November newsletters. See a complete list of all our members by visiting this webpage.
We’re excited to have developed several new resources this year. They include our flagship Global Health Impact Report, 11 Journeys Towards Advancing the Health and Rights of Women, Adolescent Girls and Children, findings from the second iteration of the Canadian Collaborative for Global Health, a French Data Analytics portal and technical guidance notes on Ethics in MEAL for Health Rights Programming and using HMIS data in MEAL for health and rights programming.
The year also saw us introduce a new way to manage and add your data to the Project Explorer with the newly updated Project Explorer User Portal. Learn more about the resource and find a guide to create your account in the summer edition of the Data for Impact bulletin.
The past year, CanWaCH published a range of stories from voices in global health, considering efforts to address gender barriers in immunization efforts, barriers faced by LGBTQI+ refugees and asylum-seekers and the importance of decriminalizing abortion.
CanWaCH was delighted to receive a commendation in the eighth edition of the Global Health Annual Review alongside local and global initiatives aimed at enhancing global health! Check out the issue here.
Looking for a holiday podcast? CanWaCH CEO Julia Anderson joined David Coletto and Robert Greenhill to discuss the results of our public opinion survey aiming to understand what Canadians think about international assistance. Tune in here!
We’re looking forward to everything to come in 2024, including our flagship event, the Healthy World Conference! Join us from May 14 to 15, 2024 on the traditional territory of the Kanien’kehà:ka Nation, also known as Montreal, Quebec. The conference will aim to strengthen the capacity of the Canadian global health sector through climate-conscious, gender transformative action.
Have an opportunity that you would like to share with us? Please contact us at [email protected].
Subscribe to our monthly newsletter here!
