e: info@slcanada.org

Services and Offerings

Sustainable Livelihoods Canada works in a variety of areas, including: training on the Sustainable Livelihoods framework; evaluations using the SL approach; research; knowledge sharing; and building social and economic engagement. Please read on for more information about each of our expertise areas.

Sustainable Livelihoods Education

Sustainable Livelihoods Training

This training offers a comprehensive introduction to the Sustainable Livelihoods (SL) framework. We explore the history of SL in Canada, the concepts that inform the framework, and how the framework can be used at the individual, program, and organizational level to impact positive change. We customize the training based on each organization’s goals related to adopting the SL framework and share SL-informed tools to support implementation.

    • Format: SL Training sessions are delivered over a half-day, one day or two days depending on organizational goals and budget.
    • Who is this training for? Anyone who is interested about Sustainable Livelihoods at any level of your organization

Sustainable Livelihoods-Informed Motivational Interviewing Training

This training introduces participants to the SL framework and its tools, as well as Motivational Interviewing (MI), a collaborative, goal-oriented style of communication with particular attention to the language of change. The training helps community service organizations to offer more effective interventions to their program participants, and supports improved social and economic security outcomes for people marginalized by policies and systems in Canada. Participants are encouraged to bring their own real-life experiences to the training.

    • Format: MI-SL Training sessions are delivered over seven to ten half-day sessions, usually with one to two sessions per week.
    • Who is this training for? Frontline practitioners and their managers

Sustainable Livelihoods Coaching

Following the SL-MI training, we also offer individual and group coaching Taken together, SL and MI form a powerful coaching approach for participant engagement, in which frontline staff can have empowering 1:1 conversations with people living on low incomes. This coaching results in greater resilience, self-directed action, and progress towards more stability and prosperity in their lives. Agencies can strengthen their social and economic inclusion strategies by addressing the immediate needs and priorities of participants, offering participant-centred support, assisting with system navigation, and breaking down silos which can create barriers to participation.

    • Format: Small-group or 1:1 coaching sessions
    • Who is this support for: Frontline practitioners who have competed the MI-SL training

Organizational Implementation

SLC also works with organizations as they adopt SL as a guiding framework. Change management is an in-depth process where we support the operationalization and implementation of a new approach to work. We coach staff at all levels to work to embed the SL concepts in strategic thinking and program design, and guide a mindset shift that appreciates the assets your organization has and is building.

    • Format: Small-group and/or 1:1 coaching sessions
    • Who is this support for: leadership and management teams that are implementing SL approaches in their organization

Evaluation Using the SL Framework

In-House Evaluation Expertise

We specialize in developmental and special program evaluations. From statistical analysis to project management, and from rigorous writers to bilingual support, the SLC team of experienced evaluators and community development facilitators can develop and deliver useful, actionable evaluation products. Our associates are highly experienced in developing strong, collaborative approaches to evaluation and systems change, and are committed to social justice and transformational evaluation.

Building Evaluation Capacity

SLC helps organizations build their own expertise in creating effective, innovative approaches to learning and evaluation. With deep experience evaluating multi-site, national, and community organization projects, we work with staff and funders to identify key evaluation questions, complete research activities, and pilot solutions.

Evaluation Coaching

Is your organization new to evaluation or to SL? We offer executive coaching and staff training to build the capacity to implement these evaluations. By ensuring that staff truly understand the SL model, we can design meaningful evaluations that tell multi-faceted stories.

Research

Community-Engaged Research

Our community-engaged research has a long history of mobilizing, training and mentoring peer researchers from the communities in which we do our research and evaluation. This produces high quality, authentic qualitative and quantitative data, and centres the skills and knowledge of service providers and people living on low incomes.

Knowledge Sharing

Reporting and Knowledge Mobilization

SLC helps organizations produce useful and easy-to-read reports. We pursue rigorous statistical processes and meaningful qualitative data collection, and our findings are presented in accessible, effective, graphic communication formats. We work closely with our partners and clients to create knowledge sharing strategies that ensure that our evaluations have real-world impact.

Communities of Practice

We are highly experienced in designing and convening communities of practice for organizations to support their use of SL in program delivery and evaluations. From coaching circles to multi-agency roundtables, we bring together new and experienced SL users to network, troubleshoot utilization barriers, and build effective practice.

Building Social and Economic Engagement

Building Social and Economic Inclusion Strategies

We understand the context of Canadian social and economic exclusion, and have been working for years to improve the landscape. Our team members have frontline experience delivering poverty reduction initiatives, including employment, financial capability, social entrepreneurship, self-employment, Indigenous people’s development, women’s programming, settlement, housing, and harm reduction.

Building Policy and Advocacy Agendas

We identify how policies affect people at the individual, organizational, and community level, and work with partners, clients and other stakeholders to advocate for changes to policies that create or perpetuate barriers for people living on low incomes.