Safer Spaces
ACIC’s Safer Spaces program creates opportunities for dialogue and learning around anti-racism, feminism, decolonization, and power within international cooperation. Through workshops, retreats, webinars, and more, ACIC and its members reflect on their practice and learn practical ways to make their work more equitable and inclusive.
With expert facilitators, the program encourages collective learning and reflection. Participants in Safer Spaces events will be supported through challenging their assumptions of international cooperation. The events are designed to give participants a space to ask questions, learn, and grow.
We adapt our Safer Spaces program year-to-year based on global context and participant feedback. On this page, you can learn about our upcoming events and take a look back to see what ACIC members have accomplished together so far.
Highlights
Safer Spaces 2026: Three-part learning series
In 2026, led by ACIC member organization Wisdom2Action, the Safer Spaces program ran as a three-part learning series with in-person and virtual elements. Workshop: Understanding Solidarity through an Anti-Racist Lens (hybrid) Webinar: Power and Perspectives on Solidarity (virtual) Retreat: Reflection and Application (in-person) These three elements built on each other to create a journey of learning. Starting by building a foundation for trust and meaningful dialogue allowed participants to bring questions and their own lived experiences to the program. Ending with an in-person retreat strengthened the connections made from the first two sessions and created space for participants to take their insights and turn them into concrete personal, relational, and organizational action. The program also made space to center youth participants, their voices, and their experiences.
Safer Spaces Retreats
In 2023 and 2026, ACIC hosted in-person retreats as part of the Safer Spaces program. These multi-day events allowed participants to be present in a physical safe space with their peers as they worked through learning, unlearning, and setting goals for how to implement their takeaways in their personal and professional lives.
ACIC Anti-Racism Education Strategy
In 2022, ACIC staff and members brought together two years of learning from the Safer Spaces program to inform the ACIC Anti-Racism Education Strategy. This process was a dialogue between staff and members, including a workshop at the 2022 ACIC Symposium that focused on the strategy, the work done to date, and how the work can strengthen the learnings of ACIC’s membership through ongoing learning and community networks.
Training and Webinars
Training activities have been an integral part of the Safer Spaces program since its inception. Through webinars and online training events, the program has opened and maintained dialogue around anti-racism, feminism, and decolonization within the international cooperation sector in Atlantic Canada. Topics have included: Safer Spaces and Young Women’s Civic Participation Safer Spaces: Human Rights and Innovation