Stories of Change
Stories of Change highlight the real-life impact of SCIC’s work by sharing how individuals, communities, and organizations experience meaningful transformation through global citizenship initiatives. These stories bring complex change to life — showing shifts in knowledge, attitudes, behaviour, confidence, and leadership — and demonstrate how our programs and partnerships help make that change possible.
By connecting project activities to personal experiences, Stories of Change illustrate how our theory of change works in practice and why global cooperation matters.
Each story offers a window into the journeys of those driving progress across Saskatchewan and beyond.
Lucrécia Fuhrmann
This month, we are proud to highlight Lucrécia Fuhrmann, an international educator originally from Brazil whose work reflects the power of global learning in action. After completing her PhD in Education in December 2025, Lucrécia continues to bring a deeply thoughtful and interdisciplinary approach to teaching, shaped by both her academic journey and her commitment to global citizenship.
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Lucrécia has been an active member of SCIC’s Reading Circle since 2019, where educators and community members come together to explore global issues through literature and dialogue. In 2025, she took on a leadership role by facilitating a book reading series, creating space for meaningful conversations and sharing inquiry-based approaches to teaching. Her work focused on bridging disciplines, exploring how literature can be used as a powerful tool to support science education and foster critical thinking in the classroom.
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Through her engagement with SCIC’s Global Citizenship Education (GCE) resources and training, Lucrécia has further enriched her teaching practice by integrating global perspectives into her classroom. Her approach encourages students to think beyond borders, connect ideas across subjects, and see themselves as part of a larger, interconnected world.
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For Lucrécia, education is not only about knowledge, but about possibility. As she reflects, “When we work together across boundaries and communities, we help people build their lives, and our children truly believe their lives can be better.”
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Her work is a powerful reminder that when educators are supported with the right tools, networks, and opportunities, they can inspire the next generation to imagine and create a more just and sustainable world.
Munatas (Taz) Mohamed
In 2025, Taz participated in the Cooperation Canada Leaders’ Forum in Ottawa as a youth delegate representing SCIC. The Forum brought together senior leaders and emerging changemakers from across Canada to reflect on the future of international cooperation and how the sector can work more collaboratively and inclusively to respond to global challenges.
Before attending, Taz’s work was grounded in local, community-based spaces and her university, where she was actively engaged in social justice, advocacy, and youth representation. While she was already part of these conversations, stepping into a national leadership forum initially felt intimidating. Surrounded by experienced leaders, she questioned whether her voice would carry the same weight.
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The Forum became the experience that shifted this perspective. Through intergenerational dialogue and open conversations with sector leaders, Taz began to see that youth perspectives are not supplementary — they are essential. Engaging in national-level discussions helped her understand how grassroots advocacy and lived experience connect directly to policy, decision-making, and international cooperation.
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The most meaningful change came in how Taz understood her role within the sector. Rather than viewing leadership as something to work toward later, she now sees youth participation as something that should happen now. Since the Forum, she has remained engaged in youth-led and community-based initiatives, applying what she learned and encouraging other young people to see themselves as capable contributors to meaningful change.
Today, Taz moves forward with greater confidence, clarity, and a strengthened commitment to inclusive and representative approaches to international cooperation.
Syndel Thomas-Kozar
In July 2025, Syndel, a youth Indigenous advocate first joined SCIC by attending Generating Momentum, Saskatchewan’s youth summit for bold changemakers rooted in global justice, gender equality, and the Sustainable Development Goals. Before attending, her work was centered on local and national Indigenous youth wellness, identity-based policy, and gender equity. She had strong community relationships and experience advocating in Indigenous spaces, yet had not fully connected this work to international movements or viewed herself within the global landscape.
Generating Momentum became the opportunity that shifted this view, “The biggest change I experienced through Gen Mo was a shift in how I understood my work in relation to global citizenship and international cooperation”
Through interactive learning spaces, workshops on advocacy, and dialogue with peers and mentors, they began to recognize that her community-rooted work was not separate from broader global movements. Conversations about Indigenous rights, youth empowerment, and social equity helped her understand how these issues are embedded within the SDGs and are part of international cooperation efforts. The experience built new confidence, broadened her perspective, and deepened her sense of belonging in global spaces.
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The most meaningful change came in how Syndel understood her role: community-based Indigenous advocacy is global change-making. With that realization, she began pursuing international opportunities, eventually being selected as a delegate for CSW70 at the United Nations which is an opportunity she attributes directly to the confidence, clarity, and network that emerged during GenMo. What began as a single gathering has now become an ongoing partnership with SCIC, grounded in shared values and mutual support. Today, Syndel feels empowered not only to advocate locally, but to shape conversations at national and global levels and carry forward the understanding that community-driven change contributes to international progress.
Jonah Toth
Jonah Toth is the founder and executive director of passion2action, a grassroots youth empowerment organization working to develop the next generation of community leaders in Saskatchewan. He serves on SCIC’s Youth Advisory Committee and has facilitated sessions at recent SCIC Generating Momentum (‘GenMo”) Youth Leadership camps.
An interdisciplinary thinker, Jonah completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Toronto with courses ranging from chemistry and calculus to political science and Indigenous studies. He went on to earn a masters in chemical engineering from McGill University to gain an engineer’s perspective on problem-solving.
While school took Jonah out of Saskatchewan, it only strengthened his commitment to community-building back home. As he reflects, “there is incredible potential in Saskatchewan to leverage the strength of our communities and take local action and create global impacts”.
As the founder of passion2action Youth Empowerment, Jonah has built a platform to develop leadership skills and foster active citizenship in young people throughout the province. In eight years, the youth-led non-profit has engaged over 28,000 young people in over 50 communities throughout Saskatchewan. He is driven to help young people realize their potential and take action on issues close to home and around the world.
Jonah serves as the Manager of Community Partnerships at the Saskatchewan Community Foundation, where he builds collaboration in the charitable sector, supports municipalities to strengthen their communities, and helps guide collective impact.
Melanie Wilkinson
Melanie Wilkinson’s educational experience has taken her from her first teaching job in rural Saskatchewan to NYC where she taught for 13 years in public high schools and then back to Saskatchewan, at first working with student teachers in the College of Education at the University of Saskatchewan and now teaching Grade 6 for the last 8 years in Saskatoon.
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She has been participating in SCIC educational programs since 2020.
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Melanie’s teaching approach is rooted in social justice to allow students to have a voice and become active citizens. Her emphasis on how the land shapes us made a natural connection to incorporate the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a throughline in her interdisciplinary teaching. She works with her students to look at how local action contributes to global change.
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Since literature is the natural bridge between understanding and empathy, Melanie was drawn immediately to the educator Reading Circles which SCIC has been offering for years. Through these Circles, Melanie became further inspired to motivate students to make the world a better place - locally, nationally, and internationally. It provided her with the knowledge, resources, and support to move forward with her goals. Melanie extended this passion by facilitating one of the Reading Circles in the past year with a novel she studies with her Grade 6 class.
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Although Melanie strove to provide students with opportunities to be critical thinkers, to inquire, and to be concerned about and bring awareness to injustices, she often found obstacles in finding resources to help support this goal. The SCIC Global Citizenship Modules were the piece of the missing puzzle for her. They enabled her to cover important topics that were engaging, informative, and practical to use in the classroom.
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Since Melanie’s time with SCIC, her classroom has transformed - the students learn, inquire, plan, and activate change. Her class became so engrossed with the homelessness crisis that they hosted the Saskatoon City Mayor to discuss the issues with their questions and solutions. This impact resulted in the students receiving the Public Schools of Saskatchewan Student Citizenship Award. The Social Justice Club Melanie created this year as requested by students has continued these movements. Actions have included meeting with City Councillors about the effects of Generative AI, making meals and carrying out blanket drives for the unhoused, starting a school wide green compost program, and presenting at Saskatoon’s Student Action for Sustainable Future showcase with her class. They are currently working on educating other classrooms about these issues. As one of her students likes to quote her by saying: “Ms. Wilkinson says we educate, not dictate. By doing this, others will take action to make the world better.”
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Melanie continues to be a lifelong learner and her time with SCIC has provided this opportunity so her students gain the confidence to lead change.
Lloyd Laliberte
Lloyd has spent 21 years working in education in Saskatchewan and is currently a faculty member with the Saskatchewan Urban Native Teacher Education Program (SUNTEP) at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon. He currently teaches several curriculum classes, including a 3rd-year Social Studies methods class.
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He is deeply committed to Social Studies, Canadian history, Citizenship Education, and Indigenous issues. In 2012, he completed his Master’s degree with a focus on Social and Ecological Justice, specializing in Aboriginal education. Throughout his career, Lloyd has contributed to several key initiatives, including the Saskatchewan Ministry’s Citizenship Education working committee, the Aboriginal Resource Social Studies working committee, and work with Pearson as a Social Studies design reviewer.
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For the past few years, Lloyd has been engaged with SCIC’s Global Citizenship Education (GCE) resources and training, ensuring that his third-year education students are introduced to both the organization and the wide range of educational resources it offers. He encourages future teachers to think globally and to recognize the deep interconnectedness of our world.
Lloyd often reminds his students that Canada’s demographics are continually evolving.
He emphasizes that educational leaders and institutions must take an active role in understanding global politics, social justice issues, and sustainability, preparing themselves to teach and lead in an increasingly interconnected world.
Hannah Tait
Hannah first became involved with the Saskatchewan Council for International Cooperation (SCIC) through on campus events at the Univeristy of Regina as early as 2020. She has attended multiple years of Generating Momentum, the SCIC Awards Gala and additional programming over the past five years. After the Youth Advisory Council was re-established following the COVID-19 pandemic, she joined as a member.
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SCIC has provided Hannah with meaningful personal and professional development opportunities as a young changemaker in Saskatchewan. Through initiatives such as Generating Momentum, guest speaker events, the Awards Gala, and the Youth Advisory Council, she has developed a strong network of likeminded individuals who contribute to a supportive and empowering community. The community fostered through SCIC has helped make complex global challenges feel more understandable and actionable.
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Her involvement with SCIC over the past several years has been highly influential in her growth as an activist, entrepreneur, community volunteer, youth leader, and public sector professional. Through these experiences, Hannah developed a stronger understanding of how to identify and define global challenges and solutions, which continues to shape her approach to community impact and leadership. SCIC staff, facilitators, and guest speakers have also demonstrated equitable and community-centred approaches to local and global impact through their leadership and mentorship.
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Hannah is a multi-faceted community leader with experience in social enterprises, community development, entrepreneurship, strategy, governance, market research, and youth advocacy. Her advocacy work has taken place in Australia, Peru, Thailand, and across Canada, with a focus on digital ethics, gender equity, education, agriculture, and innovation. She is particularly passionate about responsible technology and innovation to address food insecurity, which informs her thesis research in the Master of Public Policy program through the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Saskatchewan.
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Hannah currently serves as Provincial Chair of the Saskatchewan Young Professionals and Entrepreneurs board, where she works to empower and engage young professionals across the province. She continues to apply the knowledge, leadership skills, and global perspectives gained through SCIC to take action, lead responsibly, and create meaningful impact within her community and beyond.
Carter Jessop
The 2025 Generating Momentum Youth Summit was Carter Jessop’s first experience engaging with the Saskatchewan Council for International Cooperation (SCIC), and it became a major turning point in how he understood leadership, advocacy, and community impact. The Summit brought together youth from across Saskatchewan who were passionate about creating meaningful change in their communities, and it challenged Carter to think more deeply about how local action connects to broader global issues.
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Before attending, much of Carter’s work was focused on volunteering, student leadership, and community organizing within Regina. While he cared deeply about justice, multiculturalism, and inclusion, he often viewed leadership as something that required complete confidence and experience before stepping fully into it. Being surrounded by passionate young leaders and facilitators at Generating Momentum shifted that perspective. The experience showed him that leadership is not about having all the answers — it is about being willing to learn, listen, and take action with purpose.
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What impacted Carter most was seeing how youth voices were genuinely valued. Through workshops and dialogue, he gained greater confidence in his ability to contribute meaningfully to conversations surrounding social justice, multiculturalism, and sustainable change. The summit also helped reinforce the importance of multicultural leadership and inclusive community-building, values that would continue shaping his work in the years that followed.
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Since attending the summit, Carter has continued expanding his leadership through community initiatives, multicultural advocacy, youth mentorship, and public speaking opportunities. In 2025, his contributions to multiculturalism and youth leadership were recognized through the Multicultural Youth Leadership Award from the Multicultural Council of Saskatchewan. He has also continued contributing to youth engagement and advocacy through his involvement on youth advisory initiatives and councils focused on empowering young people and strengthening community voices.
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Today, Carter moves forward with greater confidence in his leadership and a strengthened commitment to building inclusive spaces where young people feel empowered to use their voices and create positive change in their communities.
Krista Caspick-Roblin
Krista Caspick-Roblin was first introduced to SCIC when she applied to attend SCIC’s annual youth camp, Generating Momentum. As so many people have in recent years, Krista had just come through a season of loss and change, and was grappling with how to move forward, find a sense of self again, and gather motivation to make a difference.
“Participating in the GenMo program through the Saskatchewan Council for International Cooperation became a catalyst for the last year of my life. I originally applied because a friend sent me the opportunity and told me she thought I would be a great fit for it. At the time, I did not realize how much that single decision would impact me.
During GenMo, we were asked a simple question: “Who here has contacted their MP?” That moment stayed with me. After losing my mom, going through COVID, and becoming a new parent all within a short period of time, I had lost a big part of myself. I had stopped seeing my own voice as something important. GenMo reminded me that my voice still mattered, and that I was capable of creating change in my community and beyond.
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Since then, I have traveled internationally to speak about policies that deeply matter to me, including advocacy connected to AED awareness inspired by my mother’s story. I have traveled to Parliament Hill, stood in vigil alongside others advocating for change, and built strong relationships and networks with people who are passionate about justice and community care.
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I also completed my first year at the University of Regina studying Indigenous Environmental Sciences while continuing to reconnect and grow within my Métis roots.
Today, I work with VIDEA, an organization focused on global justice, gender equality, youth leadership, and international cooperation.
Looking back, GenMo did more than teach me leadership skills. It helped me remember who I was.”
Saskatoon Open Door Society
Administrative Support Unit and Settlement and Community Support Unit, Saskatoon Open Door Society (SODS)
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Saskatoon Open Door Society has grown from a grassroots initiative into one of Saskatchewan’s leading settlement organizations, supporting newcomers, refugees, and immigrants as they build their lives in Saskatoon. Through programs focused on employment, housing, youth, family services, entrepreneurship, and community engagement, SODS helps newcomers connect, integrate, and fully participate in the community, including building relationships with Indigenous communities.
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As a valued member organization, SODS recently shared a story of change reflecting on their experience with our programs and the impact this support has had on their work. Guided by values of empowerment, inclusion, respect, equity, and holistic support, SODS continues to play an important role in creating a welcoming and inclusive community for newcomers in Saskatchewan.
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In October, 2025, four staff members from the Saskatoon Open Door Society (SODS), representing the Administrative Support Unit (ASU) and Settlement and Community Support (SCS) unit, participated in SCIC's two-day Inclusive Program and Service Design Workshop, facilitated by Karen Craggs-Milne. The workshop was hosted at Saskatchewan Polytechnic's main campus in Saskatoon, and the opportunity was shared with the member organization team by SCIC’s Membership Network and Engagement coordinator.
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The participating team from SODS shared that staff were motivated to attend the workshop because of Karen’s recognized expertise and lived experience, as well as the strong alignment between the workshop’s focus and SODS vision of building a diverse and inclusive community, where newcomers can fully participate in economic, social, intellectual, and cultural life.
“The workshop created space for honest reflection, meaningful dialogue, and learning that directly connects to the realities faced by the communities we serve.”
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The workshop was strongly connected with the work of the SCS unit, particularly its Annual Diversity in Leadership Summit, which aims to create a space for organizations and community partners to come together as allies in advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion. It supports visible, inclusive leadership and strengthens cross-sector relationships across Saskatoon, highlighting the importance of inclusive and visible leadership within our community.
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In reflecting on the workshop, the staff members who participated communicated feeling an appreciation for the direct, real-life experiences shared by Karen across the two days. Some resonated through personal experience, and others through the experience of their clients at Saskatoon Open Door Society. “Hearing lived experiences alongside research, data, and statistics created eye-opening moments that challenged perspectives and encouraged deeper conversations.” The workshop fostered empowering discussions among attendees and provided participants with renewed perspectives and practical insights they can apply in their ongoing work supporting newcomers and fostering inclusive communities.
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“Our team left feeling both challenged and inspired, with a stronger understanding of how inclusive program and service design can create more welcoming and equitable communities.”
Truly Alive Family Foundation
Nuru Nyoni, Operations Manager at Truly Alive Youth and Family Foundation Inc (TAYFFI)
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TAYFFI plays a key role in supporting programs that serve Black and other equity-deserving communities across Saskatchewan. TAYFFI is a Black-led organization focused on delivering culturally relevant, barrier-free services; from mental health support and youth mentorship to family programming, career development, and community leadership. The organization also advocates for systemic change and works toward a more inclusive and civically engaged society.
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In this role, Nuru participated in a Results-Based Management (RBM) 201 training in Winnipeg. The decision to take part was driven by both organizational and personal goals. As she explains, the motivation came from “the need for our organization to strengthen the capacity to effectively plan, implement, monitor and evaluate programs and projects, as well as enhance my own understanding.”
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The training marked a turning point in how she approaches program design and evaluation. Rather than focusing primarily on activities, she began to emphasize measurable outcomes.
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“Through this training, I have developed a stronger focus on outcomes rather than just activities when planning programs,” she notes. She also gained practical skills in building logic models and performance measurement frameworks, which have strengthened how programs are designed and assessed.
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In addition, her perspective on data and evaluation evolved significantly. She now places greater importance on monitoring and data collection to demonstrate impact and accountability. This shift has improved her ability to produce results-based reports that align with funder expectations. The experience also opened doors for collaboration, as networking with other community organizations broadened her approach to partnerships.
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This change has been particularly meaningful in her work. By focusing on outcomes, she is better equipped to design programs that create measurable, lasting impact rather than simply delivering services. This not only improves program quality but also strengthens credibility with funders and stakeholders. Reflecting on the experience, she highlights a key lesson: “the importance of intentional program design, ensuring that every activity is clearly linked to a desired outcome.”
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She also emphasized that consistent data collection and evaluation are essential for continuous improvement and long-term sustainability.
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Overall, she found the training highly valuable and relevant, praising the facilitators and practical tools provided. At the same time, she identified opportunities to strengthen the experience further, such as incorporating more hands-on exercises using participants’ real programs, offering follow-up support sessions, and creating additional space for peer learning and knowledge sharing.
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With these enhancements, she believes the program could have an even greater impact in helping organizations apply results-based management in practical and sustainable ways.
RaiseHer Co.
As co-founders of RaiseHER Co., collaboration has always been at the heart of how we work. We are relationship-builders by nature, and our work is rooted in the belief that women, girls, gender-diverse people, and youth do not need to be “fixed.” They need spaces, systems, and communities that recognize their leadership and remove the barriers that have kept them from fully stepping into it.
Our involvement with the Saskatchewan Council for International Cooperation over the past year helped us deepen that belief in a very practical way.
In July 2025, SCIC invited us to facilitate at the 2025 Generating Momentum youth leadership forum. Our session, Next Gen Disruptors: Be Loud, Be Bold, Be the Story, was built to help young changemakers understand inclusive leadership, grassroots advocacy, and the power they already hold to create change in the spaces around them. We talked about disrupting harmful norms, using personal stories as tools for advocacy and action, and identifying the issues they could realistically influence in their own schools, workplaces, communities, and relationships. We did not want to simply tell youth they are leaders. We wanted to design a space where they could feel it, practice it, and leave with something tangible they could do next.
In October 2025, we attended SCIC’s two-day Inclusive Program Design workshop in Saskatoon. We came into the room already committed to inclusive leadership, gender equity, youth empowerment, and community-based change. But we left thinking differently about the difference between creating access and creating agency.
One of the biggest reflections we carried home was that it is not enough to invite people into programs or leadership spaces. We also have to ask what conditions need to exist for people to fully participate, make decisions, and benefit from those spaces. That means thinking about childcare, transportation, food, safety, rural access, disability access, interpretation, and whether participants are simply present or actually able to shape what happens next. It pushed us to look at our own programs, including our mentorship work and youth leadership programming, and ask better questions: Are we only solving immediate problems, or are we helping shift power? Are we designing for participation, or for real decision-making? Are we talking at people, or building with them?
That learning directly complemented the work we were already doing through RaiseHER Co., including inclusive leadership training, advocacy, mentorship, girls’ leadership programming, and community events. It also strengthened the way we showed up in partnership with SCIC. In March 2026, we facilitated Global Connections: Rethinking Collaboration from Programs to Ecosystems, where we explored how community organizations can move beyond isolated programs and toward trust-based, coordinated systems of change. After the session, one attendee shared that it completely shifted how they approach systemic problems within their own organization and gave them new language for that work.
That moment mattered to us because it showed that the learning was not staying with us. It was moving through us and into the broader community.
That is why SCIC’s work matters to us. It creates spaces where Saskatchewan-based organizations can connect local action to global citizenship, gender equality, youth empowerment, and international solidarity. For RaiseHER, being a member of SCIC affirms something we deeply believe: what happens here matters everywhere. The way we design programs here, build relationships here, redistribute power here, and support young leaders here contributes to a much bigger movement for justice.
Our work with SCIC reminded us that collaboration is not just about being in the same room. It is about building the conditions for people to belong, participate, decide, and lead. That shift will continue to shape how we design our programs, partnerships, and leadership spaces moving forward.
Francine Proulx-Kenzle
Francine’s first contact with SCIC was a happy coincidence. Some might even call it pure serendipity. Someone told her about a poster they had seen on the University of Regina campus, seeking French educators to present modules on global citizenship in schools.
Francine’s own story of change began when she was 10 years old, when her family moved from a small village in Quebec to the rural Prince Albert area. This experience gave her the opportunity to adapt, build resilience, learn English, and discover different cultures. Today, her family continues to foster their French-Canadian roots while contributing to the development of the Fransaskois community.
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Service and connection are at the heart of Francine’s core values, with joy linking both. The main role she plays, both as a professional and as a community volunteer, is creating spaces where people can listen to one another, share ideas, and move toward collective action. For Francine, this work is rooted in building relationships and trust.
She believes that change often begins close to home, in how we choose to engage with one another. It is always a choice.
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Francine is deeply interested in how people work together, how power is used, and how organizations and communities can become healthier, more equitable, and more human-centred. She sees leadership as the responsibility to create conditions where people can thrive together, rather than using power over others. This perspective has led her to specialize in collaborative governance that encourages shared responsibility, distributed leadership, and collective intelligence.
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Mental health and well-being are also priorities for Francine. As a certified Mental Health First Aid trainer, she makes a meaningful contribution to increasing awareness of mental health and reducing mental health-related stigma. She believes that an individual’s mental health has a direct impact on our families, communities, and workplaces.
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With this in mind, after a management career at the University of Regina, Francine founded Pense Transformation Consulting, where she offers bilingual consulting, facilitation, and training in governance, organizational development, conflict resolution, and mental health.