Apply for funding under the Foreign Credential Recognition Program - Innovation and skilled newcomer employment: How to complete your application

Part 3A: Basic concept information

For Part 3A, provide the following information in the order listed below:

• A brief project title
• The start and end date of your project. Note: Funded projects cannot be longer than 30 months in duration.
• The location of the project activities
• The specific occupations and/or industry sectors that your project targets
• The amount of funding requested. Note: The requested funding from ESDC must not exceed $800,000. If your project spans more than one fiscal year (defined as April 1 to March 31), breakdown your budget by fiscal year.

Part 3B: Concept objective and expected results

Your answer to this part must be 1000 words or less. Content over this limit will not be reviewed.

For Part 3B, include the following information, in the order listed below. An overview of key terms can be found in the Overview section of the current guide.

• Objective: Describe the objective of your project concept. The objective should be clear, achievable and measurable and identify who will benefit from the proposed project. It should state what you intend to accomplish. Identify if it will focus on systemic changes or employment supports to individuals. Examples of project objectives include:
  • Increase the number of highly skilled newcomers integrating into the Canadian labour market in their profession or field of study.
  • Reduced duration of the foreign credentialing process, in other words, an accelerated pace with which highly skilled newcomers can obtain their credentials/licence through streamlining and harmonizing foreign credential recognition assessment methods and licensing processes (such as, steps required or access to simpler tools).
• Innovation: Describe how your project concept is an innovative approach to the integration of highly skilled newcomers into the Canadian labour market.
• Collaboration: Describe how your project concept will use a collaborative approach to improve the integration of highly skilled newcomers into the Canadian labour market. Describe your approach to secure and engage partners and their expected role in the project, if applicable. Formal partnerships with other organizations are not mandatory but strongly encouraged.
• Results: Describe the expected results of your project and briefly explain how you intend to achieve them. The expected results must be specific, concrete, include a strategy to measure the success of project activities, and describe how the efficacy of the potential project will be evaluated. They should be broken down into outputs and outcomes.
  • Outputs are direct products or services that answer the question “What will the project produce?” (for example, a report). It is important to set measurable results, qualitative or quantitative, so that you can track the success of your project.
  • Outcomes are the short-term and intermediate changes that answer questions such as “How do we know the project is successful?” (for example, newcomers finding employment) and “How will the activities lead to improvements for the participants?” (for example, reducing credentialing steps resulting in more clients being processed).

Examples of eligible activities

• Development, validation and implementation of foreign credential recognition tools and processes to enable regulatory authorities and stakeholders in non-regulated occupations to assess and recognize the international credentials, work experience, competencies and knowledge of highly skilled newcomers in a consistent, fair, transparent and timely fashion.
• Development and implementation of pan-Canadian certification or licensure pathways.
• Collaboration among stakeholders to develop alternative career pathways and job-matching supports for highly skilled newcomers whose qualifications do not meet Canadian standards or who were unsuccessful in obtaining their Canadian certification or licensure.

Ineligible activities

• Existing, ongoing activities of your organization
• Capacity-building activities (for example, personal training/development not related to the project)
• Projects that focus only on research or communications
• Capital projects for your organization (for example, renovate, maintain, purchase or build real property)

Part 3C: Sector needs

Your answer to this part must be 1000 words or less. Content over this limit will not be reviewed.

For Part 3C, describe the need for the proposed concept.  This section should include the following information:

• Identify the gaps in processes and/or services that prevent highly skilled newcomers from obtaining certification in their field of expertise or integrating into the labour market. This can be supported by data/evidence, if available.
• Describe how your project concept will fill those gaps and help improve the rate of highly skilled newcomers integrating into the Canadian labour market in their field of expertise.

Part 3D: Budget

Your answer to this part must be 500 words or less. Content over this limit will not be reviewed.

For Part 3D, provide an overview of how your organization intends to use the funds. Describe how you intend to secure financial and/or in-kind contributions from sources other than ESDC, if applicable. Note: Securing financial and or in-kind contributions from sources other than ESDC is not mandatory, but strongly encouraged. Break down the amount requested from ESDC into the following cost categories:

• High-level cost categories directly related to the administration of the project. For example:
  • staff wages
  • project costs (such as advertising, hospitality, materials)
  • capital assets (such as computers)
  • participant costs (such as wage subsidies, childcare)
• Other costs (please specify)

Examples of eligible costs

Eligible costs are those that are necessary to support the project. Costs must be reasonable and support the scope of work. Eligible costs could include:

• Overhead costs, including costs related to central administrative functions of the recipient organization that are drawn upon to directly support project activities (for example shared postage, telephones, information technology maintenance and head office support)
• Materials and supplies
• Wages and mandatory employment-related costs
• Hospitality and travel costs
• Printing and communication costs
• Professional fees (for example, consultants, research, information technology, technical expertise, facilitation)
• Participant costs (for example, targeted wage subsidies)
• Costs of the purchase of equipment, computers, and furniture

Ineligible costs

• General operating costs that are not directly related to the project (for example, regular telephone and heating, rent, utilities, property taxes, insurance, equipment for staff, audits, etc.)
• Contingency costs
• Purchase of land or building, including new constructions, repairs or renovations
• Costs for programs and services that fall within the responsibility of other levels of government

Notice to applicants

The information collected in your application will be used to assess its merits. As part of the assessment process, the information may be shared with external consultants, review committee members within ESDC, officials in other departments, federal, provincial and/or territorial governments or Members of Parliament.

It may also be used and/or disclosed for policy analysis, research, and/or evaluation purposes. In order to conduct these activities, various sources of information under the custody and control of ESDC may be linked. However, these additional uses and/or disclosures of information will not impact your project.

In the event that the application contains personal information, it will be administered in accordance with the Privacy Act and the provisions governing the protection of personal information that are set out in the Department of Employment and Social Development Act. The application is also subject to the Access to Information Act (“ATIA”). The ATIA provides every person with a right of access to information under the control of the department, subject to a limited set of exemptions. Instructions for obtaining access to this information are outlined in the government publication entitled Information about programs and information holdings, which may also be accessed online at any Service Canada Centre.

You should not assume any commitment on the part of the Government of Canada until funding has been approved and a funding agreement has been signed by a representative of ESDC. ESDC will notify you in writing of the outcome of the review of your application. Project activities cannot begin before your project is approved and a funding agreement has been signed by both you and ESDC. Any activities that occur prior to the signing of the funding agreement by ESDC cannot be reimbursed.

Funding is limited and subject to budget considerations of the Foreign Credential Recognition Program, ESDC, and allocation of funds by Parliament. Decisions are final and there is no appeal process.