PFF Community Leadership Program
Do you have an innovative idea on how to create positive social change in a community? Do you have a project or entrepreneurial initiative that would benefit a community in Canada or overseas? Do you have 8 to 12 months to devote to implementing your idea? Are you a full-time student at the University of Ottawa in good academic standing?
Eligibility
To be eligible for this program, applicants must:
- Be between 18 and 29 years of age at the time the project is started;
- Be a full-time undergraduate or master's student in any faculty;
- Be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident and eligible to obtain any necessary visas;
- Be in good academic standing; and
- Have an innovative idea (a student-led initiative) on how to create positive social change in a community by addressing a community-based priority and demonstrate they would be able to integrate into this community to lead the project
Application Process
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Consult the frequently asked questions (FAQs) document (PDF)
FAQs last updated on: 08.01.2012
If you still have questions or need guidance, email the Centre for Global and Community Engagement. You can submit your questions until 4 p.m. on January 10, 2013. FAQs will be updated as answers are provided to new questions. We would be pleased to discuss your idea with you. Please email us to schedule a meeting.
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Download and complete the:
- PFF Community Leadership Program application form (DOCX) and the
- Project Budget Template (XLSX)
- Expert Assessment Form (DOCX)
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Email the above documents to the Centre for Global and Community Engagement.
Key dates
- Information sessions
- Wednesday, October 3rd, 2012, from noon to 1 p.m., Room 303, Tabaret Hall
- Tuesday November 27th 2012, from noon to 1 p.m., Room 303, Tabaret Hall
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Working Session for students wishing to submit a project proposal
- Thursday January 10, 2013 from noon to 1 p.m. Room 303, Tabaret Hall
- December 3, 2012
Online application process opens.
- January 10, 2013, at 4 p.m..
Last day to submit questions not covered in FAQs.
- February 8, 2013 at 4 p.m.
Online application process closes.
Selection criteria
The applicant:
- demonstrates leadership skills, initiative and drive to bring the project to fruition
- demonstrates the ability to integrate in the project community
- has the training and/or experience to implement the project and deal with its topic
- clearly understands the specific context in which the initiative will be implemented, and has analyzed the project's potential impact on the community
- has experience in community engagement (an asset)
- has reference letters supporting the project and his or her ability to implement it.
The project or initiative:
- is student-led, is designed to create sustainable positive social change, responds to community needs and yields tangible benefits to a community before it concludes
- is viable, has clear goal(s) and projected results, a well-defined scope, clear and thorough logistical details, as well as a realistic budget and timeline
- is supported by local organization(s) (profit or nonprofit) or community leaders; also shows how the partner is involved in the project.
Note: Special consideration is given to innovative or entrepreneurial projects of social significance that represent a novel or improved idea for the community.
2012 PFF Awards
The Centre awarded two fellowships in 2012. Both are 12 months in length and will be implemented in cooperation with a local partner organization. One involves an international project and the other a project in Canada.
Currently working toward her master's degree in the School of International Development and Global Studies, Maude Derome plans to organize a network of local and environmentally friendly food suppliers for childcare centres in the Outaouais region of Quebec.
Maude Derome will launch her project Petites bouchées de campagne in collaboration with her main partner, Équiterre (the largest social justice and environmental group in Quebec), as well as with support from the Outaouais Regional Solidarity Market (a solidarity cooperative offering products from local producers) and the Association des centres de la petite enfance de l'Outaouais (the Outaouais region's association of childcare centres).
Her initiative will make it easier to supply childcare centres with agro-ecological foods through networking with local farms, while making children, parents and childcare workers more aware of the links that exist between farming, improving children's health and protecting the environment. With this network of food suppliers, the project aims to strengthen the regional economy, increase community awareness of sustainable agricultural practices and improve the health of our youngest citizens by providing them with wholesome meals.
Erin Aylward, an MA candidate in the School of International Development and Global Studies, Erin Aylward will be working with Engineers Without Borders Canada (EWB) to make extension services more accessible to female farmers in Ghana.
By working closely with Ghanaian agricultural colleges, EWB seeks to improve farmers' access to agricultural information, expertise and technology. To ensure women can equally access these services, Erin's work will bring EWB volunteers and their partners at the agricultural colleges together in a peer action learning model that Erin has adapted from her mentor organization, Gender at Work.
With her project, Erin will contribute to making an agricultural extension services sector that is accessible, innovative and sustainable; she will promote baseline research, participatory workshops and capacity building with agriculture students, lecturers, EWB volunteers and local gender experts. With an improved access to agricultural extension services, women—who represent 49.4% of Ghana's farmers—can be more productive, increase their profits, and provide for their families.
2011
Nisha Toomey
Nisha Toomey, an MA student in the Faculty of Education at the University of Ottawa, was selected to develop culturally appropriate training materials for the staff at the Youth Connect guest house in Mae Sot, Thailand.
By working with migrant learning centres and with local Thai businesses and government authorities, Youth Connect has crafted a unique and successful approach that addresses the needs of Thai and Burmese youth living in Mae Sot.
Nisha's project will not only benefit youth hired to work at the guest house, but also contribute to the long-term sustainability of Youth Connect's guest house, as some of the components of the project also include transforming the guest house into a community hub and linking it to a network of other socially responsible, like-minded guest houses in Thailand.
Nisha has been volunteering as an executive board member of the Canadian Friends of Burma for six years. Nisha will be leaving for Thailand in November 2011.
Magda Bacykowska
Magda Baczkowska, who's pursuing a master's in education degree with a concentration in educational counseling at the University of Ottawa, will design and implement an art-and-play-based counseling program targeting refugee children and youth groups living in Ottawa, Canada.
Partnering with the Counseling Program at the Ottawa Community Immigrant Services Organization (OCISO) and with Ms. Chitra Sekhar, a certified child and play therapist, Magda's initiative will address the psycho-social risks posed to children's and youth's mental health by pre-migration, migration and post-migration struggles.
Magda will start her project in November 2011.
Faculty of Education grad student receives fellowship for community leadership
The PFF Community Leadership Program benefits uOttawa undergraduate and master's students as well as recent graduates from the University who have an innovative idea on how to create positive social change in a community by addressing a community-based priority.
Successful candidates will implement their idea the year after graduation or will need to take eight to 12 months off their studies. The project idea could be something as small as helping a community set up a sports program in a school or as big as changing a country's health policy, as long as the project can be accomplished and yield benefits to the community within the proposed time and budget, and includes strong sustainability elements.
The students must demonstrate the drive and leadership needed to take on an innovative and dynamic role in the field with the chosen Community Partner (in Canada or overseas) for 8 to 12 consecutive months. The maximum award is C$20,000 for an 8-month project or C$30,000 for a 12-month project. A maximum of two awards will be given in 2013.
For applications that would involve international travel, the project should not involve a country for which Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada (DFAIT) has issued a travel advisory to avoid non-essential travel.
Contact Us
Centre for Global and Community Engagement
Tabaret Hall (Map)
550 Cumberland, Room 304
Ottawa ON Canada
K1N 6N5
Tel: 613-562-5945
Toll-free: 1-877-868-8292
Fax: 613-562-5285
servingothers@uOttawa.ca