"On-the-job training programmes are the most useful for women but there are very few such programmes" (Asha Abdullah, Skills for Change).

This chapter reports on employment services and language and skills training programmes offered by community-based agencies, and the views of agency personnel about the effectiveness of these services to African women clients. The chapter is divided into two parts. Part I describes African women's social organization, highlighting the important role played by centrewomen who link African women to information and other resources, including employment services and training programmes. Part II presents data on employment services and skills training programmes. The discussion is based on information from three sources: 1) annual reports and other materials produced by institutions involved in the delivery of employment services and training programmes; 2) the Agency Questionnaire (see Appendix 3); and 3) interviews with agency personnel.

Because of its extreme heterogeneity, the African population in Toronto can be characterized as "post-modern". In addition to significant differences in class identity and rural or urban origin, Africans' cultural, linguistic and religious heritages are extremely diverse. Fifty percent of the Africans in the 1991 Toronto CMA identified themselves as Muslims, 23 percent as Protestants, 14 percent as "Other", and 13 percent as Catholics. A glance at the year in which various African organizations were formed indicates the pattern of successive migration to Metro Toronto from Africa. The Association of Ghanaians was created in 1969 (Kasozi 1988:15), followed by a Nigerian association in 1973, Eritrean in 1979, Ethiopian in 1980, Ugandan in 1983, and Somali in 1985. Differences of social class and background (rural or urban), in conjunction with differing levels of educational achievement, have impeded efforts to form organizations with memberships which go beyond the level of the ethnic and/or national group. Though Ghanaian-Canadians were one of the most highly organized African communities in Metro Toronto by the 1990s, a researcher reports that Ghanaian social interaction in Toronto was limited to contacts with other Ghanaians (Opoku-Dapaah 1994a:23). Yet, the need to promote their collective interests, to deal with systemic racism and bureaucratically induced inequities, and the desire to promote African culture, has led to the creation of pan-African organizations which bring together individuals from diverse communities. The first of these organizations, the Canadian African Newcomer Aid Centre of Toronto (CANACT), was created in 1984; the most recent is the Council of African Organizations of Ontario (see below). Given our research focus on women and employment, it is relevant to examine the gendered aspect of African social organization in Metro Toronto.

African women are linked to one another and to the larger society through both informal and formal social networks. Their networks may be very small, but they are not isolated. The women expect social exchange to be mutually beneficial and are highly motivated to be in contact with other women. Most communicate frequently with at least one or two other women from their place of origin. Women's work and energy are largely responsible for many of the activities undertaken by African community organizations. In addition, organizations have emerged in relation to the activities of several dynamic African women themselves. While some of these organizations focus uniquely on women's issues, others respond to broader community needs.

Two types of centrewomen are found at the apex of African women's informal networks (see Sacks 1989). Type I centrewomen are wives and mothers whose activities result in their households becoming nodal points for community social life. Constrained in their ability to get out of their household by family responsibilities, especially for small children, the community at large benefits from the activities of Type I centrewomen, as do their husbands, because their work also contributes to their husband's status in the community (see Naira, Chapter 5).

Type II centrewomen speak English and most are well-educated. Their advice and counsel are sought by other women in the community because they have greater experience with how things work in Canada. Acting as intermediaries between their "sisters" and mainstream Canadian institutions, Type II centrewomen deal with a range of problems relating to migrant family-members' needs with respect to education, training, health, legal status, immigration, and employment. Their phones ring constantly because their skills as cultural brokers are in great demand (see Jeneba, Chapter 6). Motivated by the desire to help others in their communities avoid some of the problems they themselves encountered, Type II centrewomen's advice is based on hard-won experience.

A Type II centrewoman described a situation she had been dealing with for several weeks:

A woman who does not speak English phoned me to get help. Her son had an operation on his leg and developed a post-operative infection. The hospital wanted to release him, but the woman felt the infection was too serious for him to go home. She got frustrated because the doctors wouldn't pay attention to her and because she was unable to convey her alarm about her son's infection to hospital personnel. To get attention, she grabbed a chair and broke it. The police were called in and they, in turn, contacted a social worker. The social worker insisted that the boy be transferred to Sick Children's Hospital. X-rays revealed foreign material in the boy's leg. He had to have a second operation to remove it. Afterwards, he couldn't walk. I phoned an African lawyer but instead of helping he entered into an agreement with the surgeon and said nothing could be done. When I phoned The Canadian-African Legal Clinic, they told me they do not deal with cases of medical fraud. I contacted another lawyer, who convinced the first lawyer to deal properly with the case. The boy is still in a wheelchair. He may never walk again.

This case illustrates that women seek out Type II centrewomen as intermediaries and allies to communicate on their behalf and to put them in touch with resources in an effort to promote their interests and protect their rights..

Under certain conditions, the social dynamic which emerges in relation to the activities of Type II centrewomen results in the crystallization of a formal organization. So many demands are made upon certain Type II centrewomen that they invest not only in call-waiting, but also in a fax machine-machine. Moreover, their activities lead to the creation of non-profit organizations with boards of directors which formalize their informal work as counsellors and consultants. In Toronto, this process has lead to the creation of the African Women's Resource and Information Centre in Regent Park, The High Society Ghanaian Women's Group, Le Reseau des femmes francophones noires de Toronto, and the Somali-Canadian Women's Development Organization, among others.

In contrast to the social dynamic described above, other African women's organizations, such as the Eritrean Women's Association and the Ghanaian-Canadian Women's Support Group, have been established as branches of ethnic or national organizations. "SHAASH", created in 1991, is a uniquely Somali women's association. Some, but not all, of these women's organizations have explicitly feminist goals. In addition to establishing formally incorporated information and support groups, women have created organizations and businesses to promote African culture (see Mama Njina, Chapter Six).

Organizations to deal with social problems which serve the interests of the community as a whole (women and men) have been created by several African professional women, some of whom have not been allowed to exercise their professions in Canada. They include Women's Health in Women's Hands, the Somali Family Reunification Project, African Community Services of Peel (1993), and Africans in Partnership Against Aids (1994). Two of these women-headed organizations -- The Unemployed Professional Wo(men)'s Association (UPAWA, 1994), and the Toronto Community Training and Business Centre (1989, formerly TCTS), have been formed to respond to African women's employment needs. During the fieldwork period, the African Women's Commission, an umbrella organization affiliated with the Council of African Organizations of Ontario which brings together women from many communities across Metro Toronto, was being created. Bringing people together fosters the exchange of information and enhances collective interests. In addition to promoting women's interests through public education and lobbying activities, these organizations make vital contributions to community development.

With respect to employment, African women's initiatives have resulted in workshops and applied research on issues of shared concern. A conference on "African Women in the Community" was organized by a network of African women refugees in 1991 (Tabeje 1991). The initiative of Sophia Nsiah Yeboah, a Ghanaian woman settlement counsellor at CANACT, resulted in a research project on conjugal violence in the African community (Musisi 1992). Dr. Joyce Nsubuga has undertaken a study of aids and African women in the Metropolitan Toronto area. In 1994, women with the Toronto Ghanaian-Canadian Association organized a series of information sessions on non-traditional occupations. Funded by the Ontario Women's Directorate, the sessions were held in local community churches. In 1994, a group of professional Somali women met together in a series of information sessions whose purpose was to generate recommendations on Somali women's employment and training needs.

Because of their direct involvement in immigrant and refugee settlement activities and in the delivery of training programmes and employment services, African women settlement workers and employment counsellors are important brokers between African women clients, agency services and other resources. The pivotal location of a small number of highly responsible professional African women who work as doctors, lawyers, and so on, in mainstream Canadian settings (the Federal or Provincial civil service, various levels of the educational system (elementary, secondary, community colleges and university), leads to their roles as brokers between members of their migrant communities and the society at large. Though rooted to their ethno-cultural constituencies in Toronto, these women's professional activities bring them in contact with individuals both within and beyond the borders of Canada. Dr. Molly Nakyonyi, who heads African in Partnership Against Aids, for example, is connected to a network of organizations involved in Aids education and research which extends beyond Metropolitan Toronto to provincial, national and international circles. Amaresh Mebrahtu, who is active in the Eritrean Women's Association, liaises with Oxfam Canada as an member of Oxfam's transnational family.

1. Services offered by community-based training agencies in 1995

We solicited information on the services offered by community-based training agencies in 1995 using the Agency Questionnaire (see Appendix 3) . Eleven of 13 agencies returned completed questionnaires; in addition, a completed questionnaire was returned by an African woman expert on training, for a total of 12 questionnaires.

Table 8.1 reports the types of employment services and training programmes offered by the agencies surveyed in March, 1995. The programmes agency personnel considered most important with respect to meeting African women's needs are listed in descending order of importance.

The programme most frequently administered by community-based training agencies is Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC). In addition to LINC, front-line personnel favour programmes which combine language acquisition with technical training and programmes which include on-the-job training. Several respondents indicated that they favoured inclusion of resume preparation and job search techniques with other kinds of training, such as LMLT.

A study carried out by OCASI in 1990 found that one quarter of the agencies with which they work offered women courses in job-search techniques but very few offered courses in skills training which included a work placement (1990:32). In 1995 this was still true. Of the agencies surveyed, 11 offered training in resume preparation, while only 4 offered job placement in relation to training programmes (ATEC, the Learning Enrichment Foundation, Rexdale Microskills, and Skills for Change). According to a front-line worker at Skills for Change, "on-the-job training programmes are the most useful for women but there are very few (such programmes)".

2. Access to Community-Based Agency Employment Services and Training Programmes

An immigrant's entry status (sponsored, independent, refugee, refugee claimant) has a determinative effect on his/her access to training. Refugees, but not refugee claimants, for example, are eligible for LINC classes. Legal residency in Canada is not, however, a criteria for access to ESL language classes offered by the boards of education in Metro Toronto. The fact that only individuals on unemployment insurance (UI) benefits are eligible for most skills training programmes effectively excludes most African women from participating in such programmes because they do not have work experience in Canada.

Eight agencies reported that the majority of the African women they serve are either landed immigrants or refugees, and 5 that they are refugee claimants. Most African clients' seen by agency personnel were receiving support from unemployment insurance, welfare, and/or a combination of welfare, family benefits, and UI.

3. The larger funding context

At the time of our study, Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC) is making qualitative changes in the administration and funding of skill training and employment services to Canadian citizens and landed immigrants. It is clear that the implementation of this policy is based on econometric, rather than humanitarian, concerns. In an effort to lower the deficit, federal government funding for employment services and training programmes is being drastically reduced or withdrawn altogether. Spokespersons for HRDC argue that these "bold moves" are necessitated by the Draconian cuts to the Province of Ontario's share of the Consolidated General Revenue Fund (CGRF) announced in the 1995 Federal Budget.

Federal funding for employment training programmes was, until recently, paid for through the CGRF, through which the federal government allocates money to each of the provinces to spend as they see fit. In 1994, the Province of Ontario sustained a 60 percent cut in CGRF funding. As a result, the only money available for training came from the unemployment insurance fund.

This shift in policy with respect to the funding cuts and the reorganization of the delivery of employment services and training programmes has been surrounded by bitter social debate on the merits of funding particular types of training programmes and employment services as well as other types of necessary social welfare services (McQuaig 1993).

In response to the budget cuts, the federal and provincial governments entered into negotiation and devised a programme designed to address high levels of unemployment and get people back to work. JOBLinc Ontario was announced in a press conference at Skills for Change by the Federal Minister of HRDC, Lloyd Axworthy, and the Provincial Minister of Community and Social Services, Tony Silipo in July, 1994. "More aggressive training" is made available to the unemployed through JOBLinc programmes if they are on unemployment insurance. Through JOBLinc the federal government, in partnership with the province, will top up minimum wage salaries employers pay workers in order to entice those on unemployment insurance benefits or welfare to re-enter the workforce.

The introduction of JOBLinc Ontario has resulted in a shift in responsibility for training from the public to the private sector. JOBLinc Ontario created a partnership structure bringing together the federal, provincial and local communities with respect to employment strategies. While JOBLinc Ontario shifts responsibility for getting people back to work to the local community, the community does not appear to have adequate financial resources to deal with current high levels of unemployment. Moreover, JOBLinc Ontario illustrates that the current government policy favours subsidizing individual training on the job rather than funding classroom training programmes. The policy contains no provision for training the "long-term employment disadvantaged" who in the past benefited from skills training programmes delivered by community-based agencies funded through Canadian Jobs Strategy (CJS). In addition, there is no provision to assist those who are not eligible for welfare or unemployment insurance benefits.

These recent policy changes have had a significant impact on the delivery of employment services and skills training programmes by both government and non-government agencies. The lack of government funding has already forced agencies with proven records of effectiveness in providing skills training for women to cease operation and close. In the latter part of 1994, highly effective community-based agencies such as the Immigrant Women's Job Placement Centre had to reduce staff due to lack of funding. In March, 1995, several agencies which provide services to African women received faxes from the Ontario Regional Office of Human Resources and Development Canada, which is fiscally responsible for funding training at community-based agencies, advising them to put a stop on all intakes of clientele effective April 1, 1995 and not to accept new clients into for which they were awaiting federal government funding. The number of Canadian Employment Centres in Metro Toronto will be reduced from 18 to 7 in 1995.

Policy with respect to services for newcomers is worked out in a highly politicized environment made up of various government ministries which manoeuvre for jurisdiction. Which ministry administers and funds a particular programme depends on how that programme is defined. The history of the administration and funding of language programmes to new Canadians illustrates this well. A difficulty in categorizing language training as a settlement or employment service is at the heart of the problem. When LINC was initiated in 1992, settlement and employment services were administered jointly through The Ministry of Employment and Immigration (CEIC). When the Liberal government came to power in 1991, it separated settlement and training programmes by creating two new ministries -- The Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration (MCI) and the Ministry of Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC), which retains responsibility for employment. Defined as a settlement service, LINC was administered by the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration. In contrast, Labour Market Language Training (LMLT) was defined as an employment training service and therefore is administered by HRDC. At the time of writing, LINC remains under the jurisdiction of MCI, "where it rightfully belongs".

Organizations delivering LINC now apply for funding to the CIC, which accords them support for specific amounts of "seats". Administrative demands are especially high in Ontario, which receives a disproportionately low percent of funding for the number of seats under its jurisdiction. Community colleges have responded to the increased demand for English courses by initiating courses, under "English for Specific Purposes", designed to attract immigrants. Though community-based agencies can administer LINC courses for approximately $6 per seat, they find themselves in increasing competition for "seats" with community colleges, whose costs are $30 per seat.

Funding for settlement programmes is more secure than that for training programmes. Nevertheless, as the government economizes, funding for LINC programmes could also be cut. Pressure to economize has already resulted in a freeze of LINC staff salaries and a decrease in the length of LMLT classes from 12 to 10 weeks.

LINC's administrative history shows that the threshold between the provision of settlement services, and that of employment services and training programmes per se, is not always clear. While settlement and training programmes are not funded by the same government ministry, they are difficult to separate. A spokesperson from one community-based agency was of the opinion that more funding is available for settlement through CIC, as this ministry has not sustained budget cuts, than for training programmes which, as previously noted, are funded through HRDC, a ministry facing significant cuts both in programme dollars available and personnel. Funding for settlement services is also being reduced, however; the costs of processing immigrants' and refugees' entry documents have recently been shifted to immigrants and refugees themselves.

Given our interest in training programmes for African women, consideration of how implementation of these new policies will affect the delivery of training programmes for this client group is relevant. To reiterate, the fact that individuals must be on UI to be eligible for many programmes offered by community-based agencies means that many African immigrant and refugee women will not be eligible for such programmes because they have never had a job in Canada. Advocates of community-based training argue that, because it favours people who have established work records in Canada and are eligible for UI, the current funding situation is resulting in the creation of a two-tiered training system.

As can be seen, services to visible minority immigrant women do not appear to be a priority in the current fiscal environment. Research undertaken by OCASI has shown that in times of fiscal constraint, women's programmes are a last priority. Essential programmes addressing the social, cultural and employment needs of immigrant women are often short-lived due to a lack of funding (1990). The end result of this process of funding cuts to agencies delivering much needed community-based training and employment services is a direct attack by the state on immigrant and refugee women.

We turn now to examination of the specific organizational structure and funding sources of community-based agencies offering employment services and training programmes to African women at the time of the research. Data on African women's use of employment and training services offered by the agencies delivering such services, including community-based agencies, is particularly relevant to the current debate on the funding of such services.

4. Agency Programme Funding and Organizational Structure in 1995

Judging by level of funding and staff size, agencies delivering training programmes and employment services to African women are either very large or very small (see Table 8.2). Table 8.3 indicates the degree to which African personnel are involved in community-based training. Note that volunteers make a significant contribution to the activities of certain community-based agencies. Half those responding to the Agency Questionnaire worked with volunteers; 6 reported that Africans sat on the Board of Directors and 4 that Africans did other types of volunteer work. In research done on volunteers in its partner agencies, OCASI found newer agencies to be more dependent on volunteer labour than older agencies. In OCASI's view, the "size of volunteer contribution is an indication of community support" (1994:12). While volunteers' unpaid community service work directly benefits the public treasury, its monetary value is rarely emphasized.

Community-based agencies secure funding from diverse sources -- several levels of government as well as non-government sources, including corporations and foundations. As reported in the Agency Questionnaire, the major sources of federal government funding for fiscal 1994 were Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC -- 5 agencies) and the Immigrant Settlement Adjustment Programme (ISAP -- 1 agency). Heritage Canada is listed as a minor federal government source by one agency. The Provincial government funding picture is more complex. Three agencies receive major funding from JOBSOntario. The Ontario Women's Directorate, Jobs Ontario Community Action (JOCA), the Ministry of Community and Social Services and the Ontario Training and Adjustment Board (OTAB) are sources of minor funding for several agencies. At the Metro government level, several agencies received minor funding from Metro Community Services and the Metro Job Incentive Programme. The Toronto Board of Education and the City of Toronto are also sources of financial support. Finally, the community-based agencies are supported by the United Way and by corporate and foundation donations and grants.

In recent years, agencies have been able to secure funding for language training, support groups, and education on issues relating to women and violence. Currently some funding has become available for programmes to involve women in non-traditional occupations and small business entrepreneurship. There is a direct relationship between this funding policy emphasis and the federal government's actions to divest itself of responsibility for and control over programmes to meet labour market needs by shifting responsibility for these to local governments and communities. Administrators and policymakers argue that, in addition to getting people back into the labour force, small business entrepreneurship contributes to community economic development.

5. Profile of African Women Clients reported by Community-based Agencies

The agencies responding to the Agency Questionnaire serve more women than men clients. Five of the agencies reported that at least 75 percent or more, and 7 that at least 50 percent, of their clients were women. Of these, two (CANACT and ATEC) indicated that 25 percent or more of their clients were African women; 4 estimated that 10 to 25 percent of their clients were African women (COFTM, IWJPC, LEF, Rexdale Microskills). Less than 10 percent of the other agencies' clients were African women. Eight agencies reported that the African women they see come primarily from Somalia, 3 from all over Africa, 2 from Nigeria, and one -- COFTM -- from Zaire.

The services and programmes agency personnel believe African women clients need most are listed in descending order of importance in Table 8.4. Respondents reported that most African women clients hear about agency services by word-of-mouth or referrals (9 and 10, respectively); 4 reported that government officials give the women information about their agency. Mainstream media publicity was viewed as a relatively ineffective way of reaching potential clients by the agencies surveyed.

The educational background of most African women who contacted the agencies was: some high school (3 agencies); high school (7 agencies); university or post-graduate (3 agencies); most, but not all African women clients, also had some knowledge of English (see Table 8.5).

The occupational sectors agency personnel reported African women clients having worked in their countries of origin are reported in Table 8.6. One agency staff member noted: "Most married women (who come to us) are housewives; single women tend to have varied clerical experience". Most agency personnel viewed African women clients as hard working and willing to take any work; several were impressed by African women's ability to work together.

In 1992, Africans were "the most rapidly growing client group" coming to Skills for Change. Fifteen percent of these clients were from Somalia:

presently we are not able to offer the many African women we see ... many of (whom) have a serious problem of literacy ... very much in the way of services". There are "huge numbers of African immigrants and refugees with multiplicity of settlement needs. Many women are not able to access language training, even after many years in Canada, because of lack of access to child-care (Skills for Change -- Client Statistics [January - March]: 1992, mimeo).

6. Agency evaluation of training programmes and employment services

Three of the eight agencies which identified themselves as offering job placement services (ATEC, CAWL, LEF) indicated that 50 percent or more of their clients got "permanent long-term jobs" upon completing their programmes. On the other hand, 5 respondents indicated their agency was only "partially effective" in meeting African women's employment needs. Eight agencies have procedures to follow-up clients, but some do not track by nationality. In most cases, such follow-up procedures are verbal, rather than written. Nevertheless, more personnel reported that their agency's programmes are generally evaluated positively by clients (8) than reported "some positively, some negatively" (3). Programmes evaluated as most effective with respect to meeting African women's needs were those which include employment training in conjunction with language training (Rexdale Microskills -- see Services offered by community-based training agencies in 1995 below).

The programmes agency personnel viewed as most "cost-effective" in meeting the employment needs of African women clients, meaning the programmes which get women employed with the least expenditure of money, are indicated in Table 8.7. A respondent who queried, "cost-effective" for whom -- the government, or the client?", raised a critical issue. Though programmes targeting the severely employment disadvantaged are costly, the cost of training may be less, in the long run, than welfare benefits, and thus of greater benefit to both clients and society.

In early 1994, three of the agencies surveyed offered courses in small business entrepreneurship. More agency personnel considered self-employment as a viable option for African women (6) than did not (1), yet several evidenced caution about the usefulness of self-employment to alleviate African women's employment problems: "only with solid training on (the) Canadian financial system", "if they have capital". Six agency personnel indicated that participation in training to facilitate women's self-employment should not be dependent on clients being on social assistance or unemployment insurance.

7. Agency personnel's views on issues relating to the labour-market participation of African women

Ten agency personnel believe there is a crisis with respect to African women's employment in Canada, and that African women are at a disadvantage when competing for jobs in comparison to non-African immigrant and refugee women. Eleven agency personnel cited "systemic discrimination", and 7 "Canadian employers' and service providers' misconceptions about African cultural values and African women's capabilities as workers", as contributing to this crisis. On the other hand, one respondent to the Agency Questionnaire held the view that whether or not there is a crisis depends on a woman's language competence and education (her social class), and that the systemic discrimination African women experience is as severe as that experienced by non-African immigrant and refugee women. Sources of systemic discrimination cited by agency personnel were barriers for highly professional women due to the fact that their education and employment experience is not recognized as equivalent to that of Canadians (credentialism), barriers due to the women's need for English as a second language, barriers due to high unemployment, and barriers due to the need for daycare. That African women also experience discrimination on the basis of their cultural distinctiveness is evidenced by one respondent's comment: "People's misconceptions are due to the fact that they see what they want to see and not what there is to see."

With respect to strategies to overcome systemic discrimination, agency personnel generally agreed on the following (in descending order of importance): 1) hard work and determination on the part of African women themselves (10); 2) educating Canadian employers and the society at large (8); and 3) advocacy through employment equity programmes for visible minority women together with competition with non-Africa women based on merit (7). The fact that "economic improvement" was cited less frequently reveals that agency personnel surveyed do not believe that an economic upturn will bring an end to systemic discrimination against African women.

The views of agency personnel concerning whether African women could best communicate their views with respect to training and employment by limiting themselves primarily to African networks and agencies, or by accessing training through networks which cross ethno-cultural boundaries were also solicited. Opinion on this issue was almost equally divided, with those advocating the broad-spectrum approach having a slight edge (7 to 6).

8. Agency views on issues relating to agency work

Agencies defined "outreach" in different ways. For some, outreach is the effort to inform the wider African public about agency services. Others, such as CANACT, use the term to refer to activities such as providing escorts to clients who need assistance when dealing with welfare officials, health care personnel and immigration. Five agencies indicated they felt their agency should engage in "outreach". Agency personnel said outreach is made difficult because Africans in Toronto are not a linguistically homogeneous group. To do outreach effectively, an agency would need to print materials in many languages. Most agency personnel indicated that accessing ethno-cultural networks is the most effective way to inform African women about training and employment services. Fewer personnel (3) indicated they felt there was a need to improve communication with employees of Canada's immigration services and other government officials or to encourage interaction of new immigrants with mainstream Canadians (3). Nevertheless, agency personnel agreed that "greater community outreach with both employers and potential clients was "very important (or) essential".

Agency personnel reported that African women most often request the following services (listed in descending order of importance) which their agency is not, at present, able to provide:

1) criteria-free, subsidized access to skills training and/or academic upgrading

2) permanent job placement

3) on-the-job skills training

According to personnel, the main problems facing agencies, in order of importance, are:

1) programme recruitment limited by funding criteria;

2) lack of sufficient daycare facilities

3) inability to expand existing programmes due to financial constraints.

Finally, funding insecurity was cited most frequently as a constraint on an agency's ability to plan. A respondent said, "Planning can take place but implementation cannot without funds available". Another wrote, the government makes "no effort...to work closely with the community with a view to planning to meet needs". The Rexdale Microskills employee expressed the reality for several community-based agencies when she wrote that Rexdale's level of funding for the upcoming fiscal year was "uncertain".

Dynamic and responsible African women, whether or not they are formally employed, play an important mediating role as brokers in the social organization linking African women to information and resources available beyond the boundaries of their particular ethno-cultural communities. One of the activities of such women is to link others to information about employment services and training programmes. The Agency Questionnaire shows that more women than men use the employment services and training programmes offered by community-based agencies surveyed, almost of all of which have African staff members. Through their work in these agencies, African staff play a significant role mediating between the state and women clients, facilitating African women's integration into the Metro Toronto labour force. The Agency Questionnaire shows that these agencies benefit substantially from the work of African volunteers. Agency personnel reported that most African women who seek the services of community-based agencies are high school graduates or have had some high school (their educational level is generally lower than that of the women we surveyed). The African women clients who have worked are most likely to have experience in the clerical sector. According to agency personnel, in addition to language training programmes, the African women they serve benefit most from programmes which combine technical training and job placement. However, very few agencies offer such programmes. The majority of agency personnel reported that the recession is contributing to the employment crisis among African women. The personnel believe, however, that because of systemic discrimination, African women will continue to be disadvantaged with respect to labour market participation when the economy improves. As a client group, African women are becoming more numerous and have a multiplicity of needs, but agency personnel believe funding priority should be given to training programmes which include a job-placement component; training in job-search techniques can be included in language-training classes. Finally, agency personnel report that the present fiscal climate makes it difficult to secure permanent funding for the kind of employment services and training programmes delivered by community-based agencies which experience has shown to be most effective in meeting African women's employment needs -- criteria-free subsidized training with on-the-job placement and provision for adequate daycare.