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·	Evaluation Tool Kit Series
·	Evaluation Forum Newsletter
·	From Theory To Practice

1.1 Background to Strategic Initiatives

The three streams of the Canada-Saskatchewan Strategic Initiatives (SI) Program are Work/Study (W/S), Labour Market Information (LMI), and Career Services (CS). The Strategic Initiatives Program is part of the federal government's social security reform which is designed to remove disincentives to employment and to encourage participation in the labour force. The intent of the pilots in each of the three areas is to provide programs and services that support the transition to work and build cooperative partnerships among industry, government, education and training institutes, and communities in order to meet labour force development needs.

In particular, the purpose of the W/S Program pilots is to reduce the labour market supply-and-demand gap and encourage labour force participation. The intent of W/S is to develop skills for work-force entry and contribute to sustainable employment by targeting employer-driven training, community-based training, and innovative institution-based training. Finally, the W/S Program provides support and encouragement to stakeholders in the labour market so they will accept more responsibility for providing training and skill development, preferably through partnerships.

The Labour Market Information Strategic Initiative Program aims to develop a province-wide, integrated approach for the development and pilot testing of new multimedia LMI products. The ultimate objective of LMI is to develop a comprehensive, automated network to collect, analyze, and use labour market information to better meet the needs of Saskatchewan people.

The Career Services Strategic Initiatives Program aims to formulate and give access to new approaches for providing career services to clients in order to increase client awareness of employment opportunities and the training, education, and experience these require.

In order to develop guidelines for selecting projects according to SI principles, Working Groups comprised of stakeholders from across Saskatchewan were established for each of the streams. These working groups, chaired jointly by the two orders of government, established the goals for the streams and actively participated in the process established for implementing the activities of the stream.

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Last Modified: 1999-06-16	Important Notices