Stepping Stones: Certificate in Community Capacity Building for Remote and Rural Aboriginal Communities

What is the overall impact of the initiative and how is this measured?

Overall, the formative and summative evaluation process identified the following impacts:

• Increased knowledge and skills, including (but not limited to): knowledge about human rights, Aboriginal rights, community history and cultural traditions, computer skills, teamwork skills, writing skills, budgeting skills, public speaking, and research skills
• Changes in attitudes, self-awareness and beliefs, such as: learning to have a voice, recognizing positive qualities in oneself, gaining self-awareness, working to overcome shyness, having more motivation and drive, learning to accept input from others, and gaining confidence.
• Employment and further education. The program helped learners realize the steps they needed to take in their learning journey and also in their journey to sustainable employment. Learners also spoke of how the program was helping them clarify their vision with respect to starting a new community organization. Most learners plan to continue with further education.
• Changed conceptualizations of literacy and essential skills. Learners talked about expanding their view of literacy and essential skills to include being informed about human rights and Aboriginal rights, becoming more empowered through knowledge, helping with their children’s education, helping more people be qualified for the job postings within the community, and as a tool to instill change in the community.
• Impacts in the community. Learners and staff both felt that it was making an impact in the community or had the potential to. They felt that this was occurring both directly through the community projects, and indirectly through the growth and changes in the learners. Learners plan to continue community-based projects, which have galvanized community members to become involved. One community plans to form a non-profit society; two other communities plan to continue their work with assistance from the broader community and the Band Administration.
• Other personal impacts, which resulted from participation in the program but are harder to quantify and could not have been anticipated (e.g. more stable home life for child, greater acceptance into the community after being isolated, and more participation in Band decision-making).

Participation in Stepping Stones helped many of the learners to have a deeper sense of the direction they want to go in their lives so they can ultimately be more successful in finding sustainable employment or starting their own business. Band Managers credited the program with increasing the employability of the chronically unemployed, particularly those people who were previously viewed as unemployable. While several of the learners obtained employment during the program, most of the learners indicated that they were interested in pursuing further education (either upgrading / high school completion or post-secondary education program in the trades or social work, tourism, early childhood education, or general studies) after the program was completed and they emphasized that Stepping Stones helped them to have the confidence to take that next step. As of August 2012, two communities responded to requests for follow up with regard to learner status: 5 learners gained employment, 4 were actively seeking employment, 2 learners were planning on starting their own social enterprises, and 5 learners were confirmed to be participating in further training leading to employment (Road Builders program (2), mechanics program (1), entrepreneurial skills program (1), Hair Stylist training (1).

What challenges have you faced and how were these overcome?

• Some communities lack basic internet connectivity, making online training and communication difficult. It is important to ensure that participants have access to the connectivity and technical support required for online learning.
• Adequate space for learning centre
• Tutor-mentor orientation and training needed to be longer, and tutor-mentors require greater level of experience, skills and knowledge than previously thought. The program needs to be structured so the Tutor-Mentors living in the community have more responsibility for actual instruction. This will require increasing the Tutor-Mentors’ training and orientation to the program.

• Geography, remoteness of communities

What are 3 key lessons you learned from developing or delivering your initiative? What advice from those lessons would you share with others?

Program Strengths:

The following is a list of some of the program elements which are mentioned particularly often as strengths and/or were described as being critical to the successes seen in the program:

• The comprehensive First Nations-university collaborative model, which is a co-development and co-delivery approach based on respect, reciprocity and mutual benefits across partners, collaborating First Nations and the university
• The high level of emotional and practical support for the learners (e.g. lunches and child-minding support), which makes it possible for people to attend and be successful
• The quality and contributions of the people involved, including the SFU instructor, community-based tutor-mentors, community coordinators, Elders, and other learners
• The culturally relevant curriculum, which integrated Aboriginal ways of learning, knowing and culture and creates openings for individuals and communities to infuse it with their own cultures, values, principles and traditions
• The culturally appropriate co-delivery framework, which puts into practice a strong, culturally relevant and reciprocal framework of knowledge exchange and instruction that includes the SFU instructor, community-based tutor-mentors, community coordinators, Elders, family members and other learners
• The blended delivery program model, which allows people to access a university program in their own communities while learning together in a supported environment.

 

Areas for Improvement

The following are suggestions for improvement from the learner interviews, staff interviews, partners and collaborating agency interviews, learner feedback surveys, and staff reflections.

• Tutor-mentors – lengthen tutor-mentor training and orientation; tutor-mentors’ education qualifications and responsibilities be increased.
• Scheduling – consistent feedback to shorten weeks of program but increase number of hours per week in order to maintain learning momentum.
• Learners’ meals support – ensure that funds can cover costs of traveling long distances to purchase the food (mileage and staff time).
• Curriculum and Content – community projects could be focused on a theme rather than a pre-identified longer-term community goal;
• Graduation – ensure funding covers graduation costs, as First Nations honouring ceremonies are integral to both pedagogically and culturally relevant approaches.

What have participants, stakeholders and partners thought, felt and/or said about your initiative?

“This brought us out of our homes and brought us together and working together. And now that has gone out into the community with each student because we are all from a different household. And then it just gets bigger and bigger out there. And now it has encouraged other people out there to go and further their education, or to go get jobs, or to go look for a program like this out there. It has helped this community a lot. And people are walking around with their heads held up high now,” – Stepping Stones Learner

“The traditional way of life for Indigenous (people) has been lost in many communities’ lives and Stepping Stones has helped restore a collective identity process that sees the land as an asset, the self as an integral part of the community and the community as a whole,” – Tutor-Mentor of the Stepping Stones project.

“What the students got out of Stepping Stones was the opportunity to look at their lives and to make changes on a personal level and then in their community. They received and learned ES to help them in their journey, such as computer use, connecting with the community, and the land, along with increased cultural awareness. They were given an opportunity to SEE the world they live in and how it impacts their lives today, and a choice of what to do next,” – Community Tutor-Mentor

Which Essential Skills are covered by the initiative? Reading Text Document Use Numeracy Writing Oral Communications Working with Others Thinking Skills Computer Use Continuous Learning

How are the Essential Skills integrated into your initiative?

All nine of the ES were seamlessly woven into course topic areas and related activities. An emphasis was placed on the ES needed: 1) to successfully complete a community project using a step-by-step community development process; and 2) to empower participants to affect positive change in their community. Learners acquired and applied the ES associated with performing tasks such as research, goal setting, project planning and implementation, building community engagement, event organizing, interviewing community members, giving community presentations, proposal writing and budget preparation.

How do you assess participant Essential Skills?

• Learners’ progress related to skill attainment assessed through a wide-range of daily group and individual assignments by the SFU instructor;
• Learners’ skills assessed through implementation and evaluation of small community project;
• Learners’ progress further assessed based on stories of change related to participating in Stepping Stones (e.g., attending and speaking at a Band Council meeting for the first time)

What are the components of the initiative? Work-integrated learning (i.e., internships, co-ops, work placements, etc.) Cultural, language, and tradition awareness and/or training Other

How do you support participant success in the program? Transportation allowance Child care support Individualized tutoring Food allowance and/or on-site meals

How was Indigenous culture integrated into the program content or delivery?

The Stepping Stones Community Capacity Building curriculum is based on the principles of:

• Indigenous Learning: emphasizing holistic, experiential learning and learning from Elders; and,
• Popular Education: emphasizing reciprocal and community learning.

Cultural relevancy is an essential component of the program and, accordingly, the curriculum integrates applicable topics as well as indigenous ways of learning. The curriculum is flexible and creates space for individuals and communities to infuse their own cultures, values, principles and traditions. Students learn about their land, their community, their families and themselves through course activities such as community interviews, reflective exercises and asset mapping.

Lessons include “Valuing Current Historical Realities” where participants learn about their history as a people and as a community and make connections to their present and their future. Elders teach traditional cultural protocols practiced during community events and ceremonies and support participants in understanding the community-building purpose behind the procedures involved in hosting these events and participating in these ceremonies. Many activities in the program use the Medicine Wheel. In the Soowahlie program, learners used the Medicine Wheel to reflect on where they were at in their lives spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and physically.

What do you think are the most important competencies and attributes for staff involved in this initiative to have?

Instructor qualifications for the program were: Minimum Masters’ degree; experience working with Aboriginal communities and strong understanding of First Nations history and cultures; experience and training in adult education approaches; experience teaching online; community capacity building and/or community project work experience an asset.

Tutor-mentors qualifications were: experience working with Aboriginal communities and strong understanding of First Nations history and cultures and, preferably, a strong connection to the community; experience and training in delivering adult education, tutoring, LES training; experience and training in facilitating educational group discussions; community capacity building and/or community project work experience an asset.

Who are your partners, and what is their involvement in the initiative?

Partner name	Role	Responsibilities
Simon Fraser University (SFU) 7th Floor Media (internal)	Online Development	Develop all aspects of Stepping Stones learning platform and website
Lower Stl’atl’imx Tribal Council	Advisory Committee; community liaison	Advisory Committee; community liaison
Stó:Lö Aboriginal Skills and Employment Training	Advisory Committee; community liaison	Advisory Committee; community liaison
Decoda Literacy Solutions	Advisory Committee	Literacy and Essential Skills program advisory
BC Campus	Advisory Committee	Online, open source program development advisory; open source server host for website
N’Quatqua First Nation	Collaborating First Nation	Work with SFU to co-develop and co-deliver program
Samahquam First Nation	Collaborating First Nation	Work with SFU to co-develop and co-deliver program
Sts’ailes First Nation	Collaborating First Nation	Work with SFU to co-develop and co-deliver program
Soowahlie First Nation	Collaborating First Nation	Work with SFU to co-develop and co-deliver program