Towards Equitable Engagement: Lessons from an ICN Research Project

Born and raised outside of Sarnia, ON, Allison has spent years living around Canada and the world until coming back to Sarnia-Lambton to join the Rayjon team full-time as Executive Director in July 2024! Inspired by Rayjon’s work with our partner ASCALA, she completed her master’s thesis on statelessness in the Dominican Republic, achieving her MA in Migration and Diaspora Studies from Carleton University. She holds core values of connecting communities, innovative change and strengthening partnerships. In her free time she loves to stay active, whether it’s boxing or a walk in the sunshine, but also enjoys settling down with a good book.

Carolina is the deputy executive director of Oxfam Canada, where she leads on organizational strategy, operational planning and reporting, and risk management. Carolina also leads Oxfam Canada’s work on Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI), reconciliation and Indigenous rights, feminist principles, and the decolonization of international aid. Carolina has almost two decades of experience in various roles within the Canadian non-profit sector fighting poverty and inequality, as well as in public and private institutions in her home country, Colombia. She has led teams to design and secure funding for international development programs valued at CAD$220+ million in more than 20 countries. Carolina is passionate about advancing gender equality and the rights, empowerment and leadership of women and girls in all their diversity. She holds a masters’ certificate in project management from Carleton University’s Sprott School of Business, a master’s degree in conflict studies conferred jointly by Saint Paul University and the University of Ottawa, a postgraduate diploma in armed conflicts and peace from Universidad de los Andes and a bachelor’s degree in government and international relations from Universidad Externado de Colombia.

Cindy Paul is a Community Wisdom Manager supporting VIDEA’s Canada Service Corps programming since 2021 with a land based project in North Vermilion, AB. Cindy is a Metis Cree songwriter and recording artist, she facilitates art, music and film production, traditional health and community wellness workshops throughout Canada. She spends her free time enjoying her horses, puppies and guitars!

Kate Haworth (she/her) is a settler of british descent who lives in Tkaronto, Treaty 13 territory with her wife. Kate is the co-head of canadian programmes at VIDEA, a role she shares with her great friend and fellow libra, Chantelle Steen. Kate loves her job and is grateful every day for the amazing people and communities she gets to work alongside. She is committed to supporting the leadership and capacity of systemically-excluded youth, ensuring that those with lived experience of injustice are at the forefront of solutions, working towards structural progress, and accountability within our sector and communities.

Marie Brodeur Gélinas is an educational designer. A teacher by training, she applied her expertise in education around the world over a 20-year career in the international solidarity sector (CLUB 2/3, Oxfam-Québec and the Association québécoise des organismes de coopération internationale) through school workshops, engaging resources and mobilization campaigns aimed at the general public. Her recent work as a consultant has led to collaborations with the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) and the Canadian Partnership for Women and Children’s Health (CaWaCH), among others, in which she develops emancipatory educational materials and leads workshops that encourage participants’ agency. She is especially interested in participatory and decolonial approaches—two concepts that pair well together.

Sydney Piggott (she/her) is a social impact leader, researcher, and advocate for gender equity and social justice on a global scale. She is currently the Director of Strategic Partnerships & Initiatives at Mentor Canada, a national organization with a mission to accelerate world-class mentoring for youth. Before joining Mentor Canada, she led social impact at Shopify and held leadership positions at Elevate and YWCA Canada. She is also a member of the Reach Alliance Advisory Council and previously served on the Equal Futures Network Advisory Committee.

Sydney has been a subject matter expert in several international forums including the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, Women Deliver, Inter-Parliamentary Union Conference for Young Parliamentarians, and RightsCon. She brings an intersectional feminist lens to all her work informed by her proud Afro-Caribbean heritage.

Tina Sweeney is dedicated to reducing inequality by engaging Canadians, as Senior Outreach and Partnerships Officer at Cuso International for over a decade, she connects civil society groups to build a sustainable future rooted in ‘a shared humanity.’ Tina champions public engagement to unite Canadians, enabling collective understanding and action on complex global issues. She encourages Canadians to participate in creating a more inclusive and knowledgeable society, increasing global citizenship, and enabling local actions with global impact, while advancing Cuso International’s mission of Sharing skills for better futures.