Réseau-Femmes du Sud-Ouest de l'Ontario (RFSOO)

Published purpose

Through this 36-month project, Réseau Femmes du Sud-Ouest de l'Ontario will develop and implement an approach to educate and raise awareness among young girls who have witnessed parental domestic violence, in order to strengthen the GBV sector. This project will address gaps in the availability of prevention and intervention resources for high-risk youth, particularly local, French-language resources adapted to official language minority communities in southwestern Ontario. To achieve this, the project will include interactive workshop modules carefully developed with experts and implemented within participating francophone schools, for young girls aged 13 to 18, and with the participation of young boys as allies. An external evaluation will measure and assess the impact of this promising practice. Réseau-Femmes du Sud-Ouest de l'Ontario will organize a public event and develop a final report to share the results of the promising practice with the community, local organizations and other stakeholders, so that they may replicate it or expand upon it. The supplemental funding will be used to organize a series of workshops designed for young men aged 16 and over, from the target cities of Windsor, London and Sarnia, to actively engage them in preventing gender-based violence. These interactive workshops will be adapted to the cultural and linguistic realities of minority Francophone communities, with the aim of enabling participants to recognize the dynamics of violence, develop respectful communication, strengthen their ability to establish healthy relationships and adopt behaviours based on positive and benevolent masculinity. With the supplemental funds and extension provided in early 2026, Réseau-Femmes du sud-ouest de l’Ontario will develop new resources to help Francophone men and boys combat gender-based violence: (1) the development and implementation of a new, more advanced cycle of workshops for Francophone men aged 16 and over, (2) the organization of open mixed discussions bringing together all people aged 18 and over around issues of communication, equity and violence prevention, and (3) the ongoing evaluation of the project, including data collection and analysis, and dissemination of the results. Through this, they will further advance Gender Equality.