MONTREAL, February 10, 2022 – The Ministère des Relations internationales et de la Francophonie of the Government of Quebec has announced grants worth more than $4.7 million over three years under the “support for one-time projects” component of its Nouveau Québec sans frontières (New Quebec without Borders, NQSF) program (see announcement in French). Development and Peace ― Caritas Canada has received a project grant of $675,000, making it one of the two top-funded international cooperation organizations among the 11 supported by this program.
Emphasizing sustainable development and human rights, the NQSF projects will contribute to the fight against poverty and social exclusion in the Global South while allowing Quebecers to support and interact with grassroots workers in participating communities.
As a long-time partner of the program, Development and Peace is delighted to participate in its new iteration. Our NQSF activities will constitute a new project, Voices Without Borders in Defence of Lives and Lands, which will run for 27 months until March 31, 2024.
Project activities will include the training of young leaders and community correspondents in Honduras; documentary production and audiovisual techniques workshops in Colombia; the accompaniment of vulnerable communities advocating for their human and environmental rights in both countries; and the creation of solidarity links between Quebecers and the targeted communities.
In Honduras, people’s rights to food, water and a healthy environment are often violated by large mining and hydroelectric projects that tend to be imposed without proper consent. Communities are often victims of land-grabbing by the business elite, and the civil and political rights of human rights and environmental defenders are routinely violated. Our partner, Fundación Equipo de Reflexión, Investigación y Comunicación – Radio Progreso (ERIC-RP) runs a community radio service that is often the only one to address these issues.
Under the current project, ERIC-RP will train youth leaders and manage and support a network of community correspondents in the remotest areas of Honduras. In several Honduran departments, these activities will benefit approximately 430 people directly and will indirectly reach some 500,000 others through community radio.
Your solidarity and support give us strength in our struggle, make us feel less alone and encourage us to continue working for justice for the poorest people. ― ERIC-RP, Honduras
In Colombia, communities need a new culture of peace to replace the language and attitudes engendered by decades of armed conflict. Under this project, our partner, the Asociación Campesina de Antioquia (ACA), will therefore train young people to make participatory documentary films to help their communities recover from trauma by articulating their dreams of peace. ACA will ensure the active participation of peasant women to allow communal reflection on gender-based violence and gender equality. In addition to serving 1,400 people directly in the Department of Antioquia, the project expects to touch 10,000 people indirectly.
Thank you for building solidarity networks that strengthen community processes; that build bridges that allow us to get to know one another; and that transform North-South relations. ― ACA, Colombia
Under the “global citizenship education” component of the project, we will also sensitize and mobilize Quebecers, including the youth, through our ongoing People and Planet First campaign; by producing and disseminating a documentary film on the project; and by creating opportunities for exchange, learning and networking between ERIC-RP, ACA and the people of Quebec, so that they may explore and advance shared concerns.
Development and Peace thanks the Ministère des Relations internationales et de la Francophonie for its financial support for this project, which aims to build societies based on peace, reconciliation and social and environmental justice.
About Development and Peace
Development and Peace ― Caritas Canada is the official international development organization of the Catholic Church in Canada. It works in partnership with local organizations in over 30 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin American and the Middle East to create greater justice in the world and to act in solidarity with the most vulnerable people.
For more information, contact:
Minaz Kerawala
Communications and Public Relations Advisor
Development and Peace ― Caritas Canada
514 257-8710 ext. 328 | mkerawala@devp.org
