Deadline: 01-Sep-2020
The Shock-proofing the Future of Work: Skills Innovation Challenge invites proposals that will explore and demonstrate ways in which skills innovation can promote resilience and new ways forward in the face of social and economic shocks like COVID-19.
Future Skills Centre is a pan-Canadian, forward-looking lab for advancing innovation in skills development. In the coming months, they are seeking partnerships that will help understand how skills needs will evolve in rebuilding the economy. They aim to support the incubation and testing of innovative solutions that take advantage of opportunities and confront the challenges ahead, as well as contributing to a more effective learning agenda that works for everyone.
Proposals should seek to examine new insights and models within or across three levels of the skills ecosystem:
- Innovation in support for individuals: Given rapid and often confusing changes in the labour market, individuals need diverse supports to navigate changing conditions and emerging opportunities in order to make informed decisions about their training and career paths. New approaches to training will be required in this new reality. As part of this process, they must ensure they reach communities and populations that have previously been excluded in a way that engages everyone in ongoing opportunities to access skills development.
- Innovation in support for organizations: The current crisis has led to unprecedented disruption in organizations — whether large or small business employers, government, educational institutions, or service delivery organizations. It has also precipitated unprecedented levels of innovation in approaches to work, policy development, and program delivery. Through innovation and agile responses to disruption there are new opportunities to extend flexibility, reach, efficiency, and effectiveness. Rapid deployment of technology and virtualization has created massive challenges but also chances to improve co-ordination, and sharing across organizations, and to to extend the reach of services. Organizations may need support as they re-engineer existing processes through the skills development and employment cycle.
- Systems change: The skills and employment ecosystem has long faced challenges due to fragmentation, duplication, and uneven results. How can they use systems-wide levers — policies and funding programs, industry associations, infrastructures — to grapple with challenges and opportunities or scale innovative solutions? How do they examine the role of skills in addressing disproportionate barriers that have led to underemployment of disadvantaged populations on a systems wide level?
In the face of this crisis, they are seeking opportunities for innovation in the above areas, through the following kinds of activities:
- Research: Conduct research to understand the new skills reality and generate responsive solutions.
- Networks: Foster networks and partnerships to engage communities in skills development opportunities, especially organizations and populations facing barriers, and ensure dissemination and uptake of promising practices.
- Pilots: Conceive, develop, test, and scale new models for individual or sectorbased skills development pilots that demonstrably break from current approaches.
They will prioritize proposals that target sectors, regions, and populations where disruption — positive and negative — will be most pressing and long-lasting.
Additionally, FSC is seeking partnerships that are intentional about breaking new ground and deliberate about testing innovative models. Investments to sustain existing, proven models—while absolutely needed—fall outside of the Centre’s.
Funding Information
As a general guide, early seed ideas could be as small as $25K, while large scale approaches with exceptional potential for impact could reach $2.5M, with potential for further scaling.
Eligibility Criteria
Applications may be submitted by a sole organization, or a partnership/consortium of organizations, including:
- Legally incorporated not-for-profit organizations, including not-for-profit social enterprises and registered charities;
- Publicly funded post-secondary institutions;
- Industry associations;
- Professional associations;
- Indigenous organizations that are a legal entity;
- Municipalities or district social services administration boards;
- For-profit organizations (provided the project is undertaken at cost, with no mark-ups or profit incorporated);
- Individual persons.
The following types of organizations are not eligible to apply:
- Provinces or territories; and
- Federal government bodies.
For applications with multiple partners, one organization must be identified as the lead applicant for the purpose of signing the funding agreement, receiving and managing the funds, ensuring co-ordination of project parties and activities, and communicating with the Centre regarding the status of the project on behalf of all partners. The lead organization must be a Canadian entity. All participating organizations must be eligible as set out above.
Applicants are only eligible to lead on one application but may participate in more than one application.
Selection Criteria
The following selection criteria will apply to all proposals received through this call:
- Relevance: Priority will be given to projects focused on populations and sectors most affected by the current crisis.
- Impact: Project has potential to strengthen the capacity of the skills ecosystem by advancing new knowledge, generating and testing new insights into skills development models, and/or creating new approaches to connections that improve access to skills solutions.
- Coherence: There is a logical connection between the proposed activities and the project’s objectives with a workplan and budget that is reasonable, appropriate, and aligned.
- Capacity: The lead organization (and partners if applicable) have the skills, experience, resources, and network required to execute the project.
- Evidence: There is a desire for continuous learning and iteration throughout the life of the project. Applicants’ plan for generating evidence is appropriate for their research question, stage of innovation, or network.
- Equity, diversity, and inclusion: Project incorporates the perspectives of end-users, particularly members of groups facing barriers, in the design and execution of the project.
For more information, visit https://fsc-ccf.ca/call-for-proposals/may-2020/