Shifting Cooperation Paradigms:
Adapting to a changing context
in the COVID pandemic

Cooperation Canada’s Online Development Series of bi-weekly panels, trainings, workshops and networking events on trending topics!

Series Overview 

Cooperation Canada is hosting bi-weekly, high-value virtual sessions, bringing innovative and challenging ideas to the international development sector in Canada.  Diverse stakeholders will prompt thought-provoking discussions on topics related to the major trends affecting the international cooperation sector in a COVID-19 era.  These sessions will help inform sector leaders about some of the issues they should consider as the pandemic crisis continues to impact the international cooperation sector. The series aims to: 

  • Inform Cooperation Canada member leaders (and others) of the key trends and issues facing the international cooperation sector given the pandemic crisis.  
  • Challenge Cooperation Canada members and others to proactively react and update their strategies and approaches considering the challenges facing the sector. 
  • Provide space for critical reflection and exchange through thought-provoking discussions by engaging leaders inside and outside the sector (moving beyond the ‘usual suspects’).

 

 

Price & Registration

Single Event Registrations

Personal Wellbeing and the International Development and Humanitarian Sector

Past Events

View past sessions

January 28: Personal Wellbeing and the International Development and Humanitarian Sector

From coping with first-hand experiences of disaster response, trauma and human suffering to personal stresses of overwork and burnout, international development practitioners, alongside front-line and social workers everywhere, face wide-ranging challenges to their personal wellbeing and mental health. In a sector that has struggled to provide for full duty of care for its employees and volunteers, approaches to personal and mental wellbeing are still poorly understood.  Knowledge, resources and capacity are limited when it comes to supporting development practitioners’ personal wellbeing.  The risks to personal wellbeing are further heightened in the context of lockdowns, changing workspaces, virtual communication and uncertainty produced by COVID-19.

On January 28th, Bell Let’s Talk Day, this webinar will focus on personal wellbeing as a critical component of team health and organizational success. Cooperation Canada is joined by members of the Wellbeing Project to discuss key issues of personal wellbeing for social sectors and international development practitioners, and to discuss resources and tools for practitioners.

Objectives:

  • Overview of wellbeing (what it means, what it is, why it’s important)
  • Practical ways to prioritize and support personal wellbeing in your workplace and within your organization

 

 

December 9: Change Leadership – Part 2: The People and Culture side of successful organizational change

In a COVID-era, operating contexts for CSOs are changing daily and leaders are grappling with important decisions to both manage risk and prepare for their next organizational opportunities.

Organizational change management is the systematic approach and application of knowledge, tools and resources to deal with change. It involves defining and adopting corporate strategies, structures, procedures and technologies to handle changes in external conditions and the business environment. Effective change management goes beyond project management and technical tasks undertaken to enact organizational changes. It also involves leading the “people side” of major change within an organization.

The primary goal of change management is to successfully implement new processes, products and business strategies while minimizing negative outcomes.

Part 2 of two sessions on change leadership will examine the people and culture components in managing significant organizational changes and common pitfalls to be avoided.

Moderator

Nicolas Moyer, President – CEO, Cooperation Canada

Panelists

Eric Gauthier, Directeur, Gestion du changement et Livraison RH, Ressources humaines et Communications, Desjardins

Desiree Paulsen, Organizational Development Practitioner, Tamarind Tree Associates

Benoît Hubert, President and Owner, PGF Consultants

 

 

November 25: Change Leadership – Part 1: Key steps and common pitfalls in managing organizational change

Click here for summary and highlights

In a COVID-era, operating contexts for CSOs are changing daily and leaders are grappling with important decisions to both manage risk and prepare for their next organizational opportunities.

Organizational change management is the systematic approach and application of knowledge, tools and resources to deal with change. It involves defining and adopting corporate strategies, structures, procedures and technologies to handle changes in external conditions and the business environment. Effective change management goes beyond project management and technical tasks undertaken to enact organizational changes. It also involves leading the “people side” of major change within an organization.

The primary goal of change management is to successfully implement new processes, products and business strategies while minimizing negative outcomes.

Part 1 of two sessions on change leadership will examine the key steps in managing significant organizational changes and common pitfalls to be avoided.

Moderator

Nicolas Moyer, President – CEO, Cooperation Canada

Panelists

Paloma Raggo, Assistant Professor of Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership, School of Public Policy and Administration, Carleton University

Wenjue Knutsen, Adjunct Associate Professor, Smith School of Business and School of Policy Studies at Queen’s University

 

 

November 12: Shifting Power; Direction and control as a key obstacle to localizing international assistance

Click here for summary and highlights

Moderator:  

Panelists:

 

October 28: Advancing the anti-racist agenda in international cooperation

Click here for summary and highlights

Moderator

  • Gloria Novovic, Policy Analyst & GAC Departmental Liaison, Cooperation Canada

Panelists

 

October 14: Shifting Power: localization and working with local partners, accelerating change in COVID-19 context

Click here for summary and highlights

 

 
 
Sept 30: Building Back Better: Defining the building blocks for a just global recovery from the pandemic

View the recording here.

The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are being felt in Canada and abroad with over 18 million cases reported worldwide. The crisis has yet to peak in the Global South. Yet the knock-on effects of the pandemic are becoming increasingly clear in the world’s most vulnerable countries with women carrying the biggest burdens, public health systems under massive pressures, economies shattered, trade relations interrupted, food insecurity on the horizon and human rights in peril as nativist policies take root and authoritarian states clamp down on civil society. And when effective treatments or COVID vaccines eventually become available, there will arise the question of having systems for their rapid and widespread distribution globally. And yet despite the challenges, the pandemic crisis has also expanded perspectives on what is possible – with governments grounding planes in a matter of weeks, countries like Canada rolling out a universal basic income by another name and a renewed recognition of the role of states and social policies to support those at risk of falling behind. Despite all the human loss, disruption and cost of the pandemic, an opportunity also exists for Canada and the world to emerge stronger and more resilient from the crisis. This session, co-hosted by CCIC and CIGI, will examine the key policy responses needed for sustainable, equitable, transformative and ambitious recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. It will seek to define some of what a Global post-COVID “Marshall Plan” might include and what Canada’s role could be in supporting such a plan.
 
Panelists: ● Jennifer Welsh (McGill) ● Goldy Hyder (Business Council of Canada) ● Rohinton Medhora (Centre for International Governance Innovation – CIGI) ● Nicolas Moyer (Canadian Council for International Cooperation – CCIC)
Moderated by Dr. Bessma Momani (Centre for International Governance Innovation – CIGI)
 
 

 

 

 

September 9: Learning from Controversy: Effective approaches to international philanthropy and development

View the recording here.

Social justice movements have long called for change on issues relating to power, privilege, racism and colonialism. Like most segments of society, Canada’s international development sector and related stakeholders – NGOs, philanthropists, governments, investors, and other partners – have much work to do in these areas. Fortunately, our ability to improve on current practices will have a direct positive impact both on those we aspire to serve and on our own sector, in that we all benefit by living in more just and equitable societies. While recent news coverage related to WE Charity has brought some of these questions into greater public visibility, they have been talked about within parts of the NGO community for some time. It is perhaps less clear for those outside the sector what the required changes and discussions might look like in practice. For example, what basic questions should donors be asking of organizations that they are considering supporting…and of themselves? Donors, organizations, and impoverished populations or communities all have needs; how should they be balanced or prioritized? What values are most critical in order to carry out this work ethically and with integrity? What are reasonable time frames within which organizations and donors should expect to see results…and what kind of results can be expected to be achieved? A webinar with diverse voices from within and around Canada’s international development sector will dive deep into these questions. Panelists include: • Mide Akerewusi, Founder of AgentsC, a Toronto-based international philanthropy agency • Marika Anthony-Shaw, Founder and CEO, Plus1 • Mark Brender, National Director, Partners In Health Canada • Samantha Nutt, Founder, War Child • Dorothy Nyambi, CEO, MEDA Introduction from Nicolas Moyer, CEO of Canadian Council for International Cooperation (CCIC)
 
 

 

 

 

August 20: Liability, Duty of Care and Senior Leaders Responsibilities Training
This half-day workshop covers duty of care responsibilities through the use of a case study, and is jointly presented by CARE Canada’s Safety and Security Lead, Melanie Murphy and Paul Willetts, a founding partner of Vey Willets LLP in Ottawa, who will explain the legal responsibilities of senior leaders in full. It has been adapted to include Duty of Care implications of the COVID-19 pandemic. This training is catered to Boards of Directors, Presidents/CEOs/EDs and the members of their respective senior leadership teams, as well as safety and security and senior HR staff.
 
 

 

 

 

August 18: Lessons learned regarding how the Government of Canada and its partners support women’s rights organizations

View the recording here at 1:01:45.

CCIC and the Women’s Rights Policy Group invite you to join us on August 18 to discuss lessons learned regarding how the Government of Canada and its partners support women’s rights organizations. Drawing on experiences of Canadian civil society partners with the Women’s Voice and Leadership (WVL), this event will include an engaging discussion on how feminist approaches can enable civil society organizations, partners and Global Affairs Canada to best are adjusting to new realities and working to ensure effective support for women’s leadership rights organizations and feminist movements around the world.
 

 

 

 

August 12: Youth Day Networking Event

View the recording here.

As part of CCIC’s new Online Development Series and in celebration of International Youth Day, our first session will be a Youth Networking Event. This particular session will be focused on youth career paths in difficult times and solution-finding through tips and tricks from sector professionals from a noteworthy variety of backgrounds and experiences. CCIC will be joined by Ms. Clare da Silva, International Legal and Policy Consultant, Mr. Jos Nolle, former Executive Director of SENECA International, and Mr. Martin Callsen, Project Officer at Colleges and Institutes Canada. Gaining valuable skills through sound advice for a rewarding start in the international development and humanitarian assistance sectors starts here

Contact

Sponsorship:  Rachelle Daley  [email protected]

 

Media: Kat Guerin  [email protected]