2

Description/Reflection/
Action/Reflection

2-1 The project beginnings

CCLOW received initial funding from the National Literacy Secretariat (NLS) in January 1991. The tasks for the three months remaining in the fiscal year included hiring and providing a contract for the researcher, confirming an advisory committee, developing public information on phase one and phase two, and beginning outreach to programs. CCLOW indicated that I would be hired as researcher for phase two. It invited the current members of the advisory committee to continue. All but one agreed and one new member, Jenny Horsman, joined the group.

In February, I met in Toronto with six advisory committee members and two CCLOW staff. We talked about a wide variety of issues, including the development of publicity and outreach materials suitable for program use, ways of understanding the participatory/action research process, the role of advisory committee members, and the possibility of adding a second coordinating researcher. We raised questions about the final product, the relationship between feminist/woman-positive, and whether there was a feminist agenda for the research.

We looked at the possible implications of piecemeal funding. Would we, for example, be required to stop the long-term process at different points - either to produce something that would justify the next period of funding or to wait until the next cheque came in? Given the scale of this project, there could be funding delays because CCLOW had to re-apply each fiscal year, then wait for a cheque. As it happened, after each national workshop the coordinating researchers discussed with CCLOW what aspects of the work had to be completed immediately and what could wait until we had money in the bank.

We also wanted to clarify our audience for this second phase. We decided that both women literacy workers and women literacy students would benefit from the programs' woman-positive activities and from the national advocacy work that CCLOW would undertake following the project. We recognized that the paid time to discuss, reflect on, and document the activity would, in most cases, be a direct benefit for workers and an indirect benefit for students. In some programs, however, students might participate as contact women.