WEBINAR | The Winnipeg Boldness Project: Community Wisdom & Systems Change

This webinar focused on the experience of The Winnipeg Boldness Project, a research and development project working alongside the North End community to create improved outcomes for children in the Point Douglas neighbourhood of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Winnipeg Boldness project director, Diane Roussin, discussed the Child-Centred Model—a theory of change informed by community wisdom—and how the project is employing multi-sectoral collaborative efforts to contribute to systems change and reconciliation.

Watch the Webinar Recording

Take Your Learning Further

Learn more about the Winnipeg Boldness Project, including their theory of change - the child centred model, and a detailed report outlining their knowledge gathering process and accountability framework
Learn more and register for Human-Centred Design for Community Change, coming to Winnipeg & Guelph this October.
Watch a recording of Planning an Evaluation of Systems Change, a webinar featuring Mark Cabaj and Meg Hargreaves

Diane and the Winnipeg Boldness team also were kind enough to provide answers for any questions submitted during the webinar that were not addressed. You can find the answers below:

Could you talk more about the role of storytelling in your work?

We talked a bit about engaging with diverse groups in the webinar and finding different ways to engage with people that are inclusive and accessible. Though we’re not an Indigenous organization, we are Indigenous led and informed, and often employ Indigenous methodologies in our work, such as storytelling and ceremony. We have also utilized alternative research methods such as community action research and participatory research, such as photovoice activities and arts-based research tools.

We often find ourselves going into a conversation with a bunch of questions planned and an idea of how we want to facilitate the session, but when it comes to groups like our Traditional Knowledge Keepers Guide Group or our Parent Guide Group, there are times where you just have to sit back and listen, rather than trying to ask questions. When we're speaking to Elders in the community, we try to remember that the conversation will lead us wherever it needs to and they’re going to talk about the things they feel need to be said. It’s our job to just be quiet and listen very carefully, and then figure out how to take the learnings from that conversation and fit them into our work, in a good way.

Could you talk more about the process used to narrow down your projects from 40 or 50 to only 5?

The process to narrow our overall list of 40 - 50 community ideas down to our initial 5 prototypes was multifaceted and took into account a number of factors including speaking to community leaders and our guide groups, an environmental scan of existing programs and resources, polling community residents to see which prototypes were of highest priority to them, and evaluating whether any of the prototypes had any obvious potential leverage points to build on already existing momentum and opportunity.

Have you worked in any close ways with the local or provincial settler governments around services that come from them (that may not serve folks in your neighbourhoods in useful or culturally safe ways). In Yukon, we are only one settler government among 14 First Nation governments - but definitely do the most service provision at this point in the self-governance process. We are trying to understand how this institution and the folks who work in public service do so in that informed way you were speaking about. There is willingness on the ground level, but not necessarily in the bones of this old and colonial organization. Do you work with these entities in your area? What do you find is a useful way of embedding your ways of knowing and doing there, or do you at all?

We’ve made it a priority from the start of the project to involve local government in very meaningful and reciprocal ways. The Province of Manitoba is one of our main funders, and they also maintain a seat at our Funders Table and Stewardship Group (our version of a board). We have engaged with the City of Winnipeg and the federal government as well throughout the development of specific prototypes, including inviting representatives to attend design sessions, etc. It’s essential to have stakeholders at all systemic levels involved in finding solutions for complex issues because at the end of the day these ideas or solutions will benefit everyone in our ecosystem, and you don’t want to be convincing people that your idea is the best idea, you want them to be engaged and invested at every step of the process.