Voice Found

Published purpose

Through this 41-month project, Voice Found, in partnership with The Canadian Centre to End Human Trafficking (The Centre), will develop and put in place a promising practice building upon Voice Found's existing training. It will be enhanced and piloted to add and assess the addition of an ethical peer support training program for survivors of human trafficking. The Ethical Peer Support project aims to address anti-human trafficking peer supporters' current lack of access to training and resources using trauma-informed practice. To do so, Voice Found will complete a literature review, an environmental scan, and develop a theory of change and evaluative framework. The project will be piloted on a pan-Canadian scale in locations with high interest in peer-support work but limited resources in addition to virtual training using both synchronous and asynchronous learning. An external evaluator will work with the Canadian Centre to End Human Trafficking and Voice Found to measure and assess the program impact. Outcomes of the evaluation and a model of ethical peer-support training will be widely disseminated so that other organizations and survivor leaders may replicate or expand upon it. This information will also be shared with Women and Gender Equality Canada GBV Knowledge Centre. This supplemental funding will enhance Voice Found’s peer support program for survivors of human trafficking by improving digital learning infrastructure, expanding and leadership training, refining evaluation tools, and translating materials to support national and bilingual delivery to strengthen program accessibility, sustainability, and impact across Canada. With the supplemental funds and extension provided in early 2026, Voice Found will examine organizational integration and internalization of GBV peer support roles, conduct participatory interpretation and validation across diverse service contexts, complete an Indigenous content needs assessment (including ethics review if required), and develop and disseminate national readiness and safety guidance tools. Through this work, the project extension will further advance gender equality by strengthening safe, sustainable, and ethical integration of peer support within GBV services across Canada.