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Cultivating community change around seasonal farm work

Penticton & Area Women’s Centre (PAWC) has embarked on a new project to help farmers, communities and seasonal workers get together

 

Penticton & Area Women’s Centre (PAWC) has embarked on a new project in hope to help farmers, communities and seasonal workers get together and work on resolving on-going problems linked to seasonal farm work.

For those unfamiliar with PAWC work, they are a non-profit society committed to achieving social and cultural equality in the South Okanagan Similkameen through the alleviation of poverty, violence and discrimination. PAWC assists both women and men through client and community based programs making sure that everyone has access to resources they need. These include Poverty Law and Disability Advocacy, support and referral services as well as education and raising public awareness on many issues that affect us all.

One of those burning issues is a discord around seasonal farm work. The front page article in last week’s Oliver Chronicle (August 22) is one of many we read each year related to transient farm workers. It proves that communities are well aware of the problems and a need for the more structured and permanent solution which would work for all.

From all the work and research previously done, we found a strong inter-dependency between communities, farmers and seasonal workers. The project, From Discord To Action is aimed to facilitating a one-day action planning forum where the communities, farmers and seasonal workers come together and create a feasible plan that will have a positive economic impact on farmers as well as bring a positive change to each community in the area.

PAWC has added Lilly Zekanovic as the project co-ordinator and all the questions and suggestions related to seasonal farm work issues should be addressed to her. The first stage of the project is a survey among the farmers, seasonal workers and various community members throughout South Okanagan Similkameen in preparation of action planning forum which will be held in late November.

The project From Discord To Action has been funded in part by Vancouver Foundation and BC Gaming and our many community partners.

For more information or to become a partner in this project, please contact

Lilly Zekanovic

Project Coordinator

From Discord To Action

Penticton & Area Women’s Centre

 

Telephone: 250-493-6822 ext. 106 / Toll free: 1-800-493-6822 / email  farmwork.pawc@gmail.com