NWT RESEARCH DATABASE

Regions: Inuvialuit Settlement Region, Gwich'in Settlement Area, Sahtu Settlement Area, Dehcho Region, North Slave Region, South Slave Region

Tags: social sciences, socio-economics, employment

Objective(s): To continue developing a comprehensive listing of social economy organizations in Northern Canada and to determine the research needs of these organizations.

Project Description: The research objectives are to continue developing a comprehensive listing of social economy organizations in Northern Canada; to undertake a survey of these organizations to determine the characteristics of these organizations including locations, activities, size, employment, membership and structure; to determine the research needs of these organizations through a needs survey that will accompany the inventory survey. The NWT Social Economy Research Network of Northern Canada (SERNNoCa) coordinator is hoping to have a student assisting with the surveys. An initial list of organizations has been developed and many have provided input on their organization. As a follow-up to this initial survey a shorter questionnaire has been developed and will be used in a follow-up survey to obtain information for groups identified and where information is not available. The groups that are part of this inventory include voluntary and non-profit organizations, cooperatives and related organizations in the Northwest Territories. This project is part a larger study involving the Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Nunavik and Labrador. This project involves developing and maintaining a database of social economy organizations that currently operate within the Northwest Territories. As part of the survey, the reseachers will look at addressing the research related needs of organizations and through this hope to establish partnerships and collaborations with NWT organizations. A local summer student will be hired to assist with the collection of data. This will provide an opportunity for local training and mentoring in research methods. As part of the project, the researcher also anticipates hosting training workshops for additional community support and involvement. This is the second research project in this 5 year program and through this initiative there is anticipated to be additional interest and community involvement in future project. The data will be entered into a database and then verified and validated. Once all the data has been collected and entered it will be analyzed and a draft report prepared. The draft report will be provided online for comments and additional input. The results of this study will be communicated widely to individuals and communities in the NWT. The SERNNoCa will provide information through various written media including regular newsletters, website postings with discussion session and an intranet site for participating members. The website will provide a discussion site to enable feedback and input throughout the project. Where possible public information sessions will be held to keep individuals informed and allow for further input into the research. The results of the study will also be shared with other social economy research nodes and the National Hub that are also involved in this research across Canada. It will be presented at conferences, seminars and published in various journals including the Northern Review and Arctic. Presentations are planned this year for Inuvik. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from July 8, 2010 to December 31, 2010.