Maama Watali 2023 Year in Review

Happy New Year one and all! This past year has been eventful one for Maama Watali. We are grateful to our members, partners and funders for your ongoing support, and look forward to continuing our work together in 2024.

Program Updates
We undertook several key initiatives in 2023. At the local level, we continued working on developing Social Housing for Black Women Survivors and their families. In partnership with Fourth Avenue Baptist Church, we undertook a study to determine the feasibility of building a 14-unit 2-storey apartment for Black and racialized women survivors of violence. The proposed site is 109A Fourth Avenue, which currently belongs to Fourth Avenue Baptist Church. The feasibility study was conducted by CAHDCO, a non-profit real estate developer that is focussed on increasing Canada’s affordable housing. The study was completed in December 2023 and included assessment of the cost, zoning regulations and community support. This project is being funded by the Government of Canada’s Investment Readiness Program through Ottawa Community Foundation and the Canadian Women’s Foundation, as well as by the Network for the Advancement of Black Canadians. Next steps will include seeking capital funding to begin the retrofit of the existing space.

We also continued our Maama Support Circles, an initiative of Maama Watali aimed at developing peer-led support circles for women and youth who are survivors of violence or at risk of violence. Training sessions were successfully completed and a graduation for the Peer Mentors is planned for early in 2024. Maama Support Circles for women are funded by the Ontario Trillium Foundation and circles for youth are funded by the Canadian Red Cross.

On the international front, Maama Watali’s founder director Susan Namulindwa, and Senior Policy Analyst Anne Clarke attended Girls Run 2023 in the Rift Valley, Kenya. They had an opportunity to meet with girls, boys, teachers and parents to discuss period poverty and all forms of gender based violence. The brain-child of Susan Namulindwa, Girls Run Period is an annual marathon held in the Rift Valley aimed at raising awareness and funds to address period poverty and other forms of violence and discrimination against girls. The next Girls Run is planned for March 2024.

Staffing Updates
A major update in our staffing is the addition of Aisha Ahmed as our new Office Administrator. Welcome Aisha!

Stay updated on our work, or reach out to us through our social media and LinkedIn pages!