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About The Program
What is CAPC?
At the 1990 United Nations World Summit for Children, the leaders of 71 countries made a commitment to invest in the well-being of vulnerable children. The Government of Canada responded with the Child Development Initiative (CDI). CAPC is the largest programme of this initiative.
CAPC provides long term funding to community coalitions to deliver programs that address the health and development of children (0-6 years) who are living in conditions of risk. It recognizes that communities have the ability to identify and respond to the needs of children and places a strong emphasis on partnerships and community capacity building.
CAPC History
- Initiating and Developing Project Proposals
- Important Factors in Proposal Development
- Consumer Development in Proposal Development
What do projects offer?
CAPC projects provide parents with the support and information they need to raise their children.
Programs include established models (e.g. family resources centres, parenting classes, parent / child groups, home visiting) and innovative programs (e.g. street level programs for substance abusing mothers.)
Who is served by CAPC?
CAPC targets children living in low income families; children living in teenage-parent families; children experiencing developmental delays, social, emotional or behavioral problems; and abused and neglected children.
Special consideration is given to Métis, Inuit and off-reserve First Nations children, and the children of recent immigrants and refugees, children in lone-parent families and children who live in remote and isolated communities.
Resource Allocations and Projects
The total budget for CAPC for 2001-2002 is $ 59.5 million annually; $ 52.9 million goes directly to communities. Each province / territory receives a base allocation of $ 500,000 per year to allow for at least one major project of significant intervention.The remaining funding is allocated on the basis of the number of children aged 0-6 in each province / territory.
There are 464 CAPC projects across Canada.
Guiding Principals
The common threads for all the CAPC projects are the Guiding Principles:
- Children First
- Equity and Accessibility
- Community Based
- Strengthening and Supporting Families
- Flexibility
- Partnerships
The Guiding Principles are frequently cited by projects as the key to success and some of the theoretical assumptions behind them are so widely shared that they seem self-evident to projects.
How is CAPC Managed?
CAPC is governed by administrative Protocols, signed at the Ministerial level, that identify funding priorities and set out the terms and conditions for managing projects in each province / territory.
CAPC is jointly managed by the federal government and provincial / territorial governments through provincially based Joint Management Committees (JMC). with representatives from provincial / territorial ministries and representatives as appropriate from community organizations. The JMC's determine how best to address provincial / territorial priorities and allocate CAPC funds. As a result, there are significant differences between the provinces and territories with respect to project size, sponsorship and geographic distribution of projects.
It helped us become more of a community. People look out more for each other. We can be there for others.--CAPC Parent
National Evaluation
CAPC projects and programs are evaluated at the national, regional and local levels to provide information on the development of programs and on their impact on the children and families participating in CAPC programs.
Recent CAPC Evaluation
How CAPC is demonstrating success:
- CAPC projects deliver 1,790 programs in more than 3,035 communities
- In a typical month, 53,872 children and 48,721 parents/caregivers participate in CAPC programs
- CAPC projects have demonstrated innovation and expertise in reaching women, children and families who are most at risk:
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- 42% of CAPC households have incomes of less than $ 15,000
- 35% of CAPC participants were lone parents
- 38% of CAPC parents had not finished high school
- CAPC projects have developed mutually beneficial partnerships with a wide variety of organizations. On average, CAPC projects have 13 partners. More than 85% of projects partner with health organizations, 60% with educational institutions, 59% with community associations, and 50% with early childhood or family resource centres. One half of CAPC projects partner with child protection services.
- Participants have been actively involved in program development, management, delivery and evaluation. Over half (53%) of projects involve participants on a governing body.
- Communities clearly support the activities of CAPC projects. Between April 1 and March 31, 2001, CAPC projects reported receiving $ 6,511,502 in funds and $3,111,947 in in-kind donations. In a typical month 8,781 volunteers donate over 64,500 hours of work to CAPC projects across the country.
- Many projects are recognized as local centres of expertise. During implementation, projects needed assistance from their partners for training and support. As projects matured, others in the community began to turn to CAPC projects for training and referral.
"The results clearly demonstrate that CAPC projects contribute to the well-being of parents, children and families by directly addressing at least four major determinants of health including, healthy child development; personal health practices and social skills; social support networks; and social environments."—The Final Report of the Atlantic CAPC Evaluation
Project Profiles
The following stories have been written to celebrate and promote the innovative, community-based accomplishments of CAPC projects. The views expressed in these stories are those of the authors and individuals working in CAPC projects, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Health Canada. All articles have been reviewed and approved by the projects profiled. The stories have been written by Alison Larabie, journalism student from Carleton University
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