Capacity Joint Table

The Capacity Joint Table (CJT) was established to improve understanding of the challenges facing the sector and to develop ways of strengthening the sector’s ability to meet the demands placed on it by Canadian society. The Table’s first meeting was held in October 2000; members represented federal government departments and voluntary organizations.

The Table’s work focused on three main capacity issues:

• skills development and recruitment (human resources);
  
• research and information sharing; and
  
• policy capacity.

The CJT carried out its work largely through committees, which then reported back to the Table. The Policy Internships and Fellowships Committee provided overall co-ordination of the PIAF Pilot Project as well as providing guidance on other policy-related projects. The Committee’s work ended with the completion of Phase I of the VSI.

The Table’s mandate ended in October 2002, with the completion of Phase I of the VSI, and a smaller Advisory Committee was struck; the Committee’s mandate is to provide ongoing coordination and leadership to the CJT work until the end of the VSI in 2005. This includes ensuring that the CJT projects are linked to each other and to broader VSI activities. The CJT Secretariat in Human Resources Development Canada continues to support the work of the Advisory Committee.

Three activities were undertaken by the CJT to improve the voluntary sector’s ability to provide input into policies of the federal government:

• Policy Workshops

• Policy Internships and Fellowships (PIAF)

• Participating in Federal Public Policy: A Guide for the Voluntary Sector