News
June Highlights
PRAN Community Institutional Scan (CIS)
With 80% of our interviews complete, the PRAN team is working diligently to address remaining gaps. The transcription validation of completed interviews has already taken place.
Thanks to all our partner organizations for their ongoing support and participation. We are grateful to PRAN team members in each city for their hard work and dedication to the project.
PRAN Longitudinal Qualitative Study (LQS)
With a fantastic team of 16 interviewers from 7 different sub-Saharan African countries, we conducted 120 semi-structured interviews in Edmonton, Toronto, Montreal, and Halifax. Our sample includes both immigrants and refugees coming to Canada along many different trajectories from a wide swath of sub-Saharan African countries, ethnic and language groups. Transcription validation and preliminary analysis is underway!
New PRAN Briefs!
25 ans d’immigration francophone de l’Afrique subsaharienne/25 years of Francophone immigration from sub-Saharan Africa
PRAN, the Observatoire en Immigration Francophone au Canada (OIFC), and the Francophonie Canadienne Plurielle (FRAP) produced a research brief for Black History Month. The brief summarizes the key findings of a comparative analysis. It also documents the evolution of immigration from sub-Saharan Africa in Francophone minority communities over 25 years using 1996 and 2021 census data.
Visible Minorities in Canada’s Entrepreneurial Landscape
PRAN completed a scoping review project in collaboration with the Black Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub (BEKH). The review explores the experiences of visible minority entrepreneurs in Canada through an intersectional lens. PRAN recently finalized a research brief for this project—Visible Minorities in Canada’s Entrepreneurial Landscape.
Access the English VME brief & French VME brief
Black Entrepreneurship in the United States
With funding from the Black Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub (BEKH), PRAN carried out a second scoping review project. This second review focused on Black and Sub-Saharan African Immigrant entrepreneurship in the United States. A research brief was produced by PRAN.
Access the English U.S brief and French U.S brief
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Hot off the Press!
Racial disparities in child welfare: A propensity score matched analysis of Black and White children in Canada
A new article from a research team led by PRAN team member Dr. Alicia Boatswain-Kyte analyzes national data, excluding Quebec, drawn from the 2019 Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect (CIS-2019). The article is the first to use this data to look specifically at Black youth and child welfare. Evidence from the study reveals the role of racial bias, specifically anti-Black racism, in the overrepresentation of Black youth in Canada’s child welfare system.
Congratulations to PRAN RA, Sewordor!
Sewordor Toklo, one of PRAN’s excellent RAs, is a recent recipient of an Alberta Graduate Excellence Scholarship (AGES). The Alberta Graduate Excellence Scholarship recognizes the outstanding academic achievement of students pursuing graduate studies in Alberta. Learn more about Sewordor’s research.
Sewordor is a Ph.D. candidate in Political Science and the Director of Black Youth for Social Innovation (BYSI) at the UofA.
Welcome, New Summer Research Assistants!
Working with Black Youth for Social Innovation (BYSI) Program at the University of Alberta, PRAN is onboarding four new summer Research Assistants. The new RAs to join the PRAN team are Enock Rutaganda, Afua Kobi Dwumah, Precious Majekodunmi, and Rahmah Artan.
Enock is a third-year undergrad student in Political Science (minoring in Psychology) at the University of Alberta. Afua, also a Political Science student at the UofA, is in her second year. Precious, a Master of Nursing student at the UofA, is deeply committed to health equity. Rahmah is an undergraduate student in Psychology at the UofA.
Find PRAN’s new summer RAs on the PRAN Meet the Team page!
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February Highlights
PRAN Community Institutional Scan (CIS)
PRAN Longitudinal Qualitative Study (LQS)
SSAI Data Watch
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Welcome, New Team Members!
To round out the LQS data collection team, we onboarded three new Research Assistants: Daniel Ayimah, Nyasha Maganga, and Jeffrey Sanda. Daniel, based in Montréal, is a recent McGill University MSW (Thesis) graduate and an affiliated researcher with the Center for Research on Children and Families (CRCF). Nyasha, based in Halifax, is an analytical finance professional and a PhD student in Global Development studies. Jeffrey, also based in Halifax, is a Master of Social Work student at Dalhousie University. Find them on our Meet the Team page!
PRAN Survey Analysis
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2025 Highlights
October Highlights
PRAN Survey Data & Analysis Update
Since July, we’ve logged over 750 hours of analysis and coordination! We’ve:
- Mapped out the first 6 analysis projects,
- Assembling & training our quantitative data analysis team
- Conducted descriptive statistical analysis on key themes
- Produced internal data visualizations & reports to guide next phases of analyses
- Set up qualitative data analysis software, logistics, & training
Stay tuned for updates on analysis results!
New Briefs! A Snapshot of Survey Respondents
Five “by the numbers” styled briefs, designed for September’s Survey Results Webinars with Community Partners, are now available! Each brief features a “snapshot” of socio-demographic information of PRAN survey respondents.
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FRAP's Family to Family (F2F) Project
PhotoVoice Exhibition Launched
A collaborative project between La Francophonie Canadienne Plurielle (FRAP) and PRAN, Family to Family (F2F) incorporated PhotoVoice to facilitate intercultural exchange among African, Caribbean, and Albertan francophone families, schools, and organizations through workshops, community dialogue, and an exhibition.
The community exhibition is currently on display at FRAP, featuring the PhotoVoice photos and written descriptions from workshop participants. These same materials were used in the community dialogue that led to a rich discussion among F2F participants about culture, family, and community.
Read more about the project in PRAN’s October Newsletter.
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July Highlights
PRAN Survey Data & Analysis Update
We’ve been busy with survey data activities since April! Over the last few months, we completed initial checks and a data quality assessment of version 1 of the raw dataset (1,548 responses with 260 variables).
After identifying and resolving issues, we transcribed audio responses and cleaned version 4 of the dataset, resulting in version 5 with 1,524 responses and 280 variables. We completed a Descriptive Data Report and held meetings with the research team and the ACE team.
Next steps are underway; subscribe to our newsletter for updates!
PRAN Briefs
Where to find PRAN briefs
PRAN briefs will be added to the PRAN website under Knowledge Mobilization>Publication>Briefs as they become available.
Coming soon
Briefs on the PRAN-BEKH scoping reviews of Black and visible minority entrepreneurship and the PRAN SSAI census data project are underway!
News from our Partners—FRAP
Family to Family (F2F) is a PhotoVoice project in collaboration with La Francophonie Canadienne Plurielle (FRAP) and PRAN. In conjunction with FRAP’s Settlement Workers in Schools (SWIS) program, F2F is exploring issues of family and gender roles in supporting children’s education, among immigrant and refugee francophone families from sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean.
Learn more about this innovative project!
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May Highlights
PRAN's First Event Brief
Knowledge mobilization is a PRAN cornerstone, supporting the flow and uptake of research knowledge, which is why we aim to produce more briefs.
We tested our new brief templates with an event brief for Moving Forward: Canada and the United Nations Decade for People of African Descent, our October 2024 conference. The brief summarizes the event, the six panel, and the roundtable discussions.
Research & Policy Brief Series
Where to find PRAN briefs
PRAN briefs will be added to the PRAN website under Knowledge Mobilization>Publication>Briefs as they become available.
Coming soon
Briefs on the PRAN-BEKH scoping reviews of Black and visible minority entrepreneurship and the PRAN SSAI census data project are underway!
Cross-Sectional Survey
On March 31, the cross-sectional survey closed. Spring and early summer will focus on additional data cleaning, preliminary analysis, and identification of analysis priorities. Mid-summer, PRAN will collaborate with partners to determine partner-driven analysis priorities to finalize the survey analysis plan, with the implementation of training and analysis plans set for July. Result dissemination is predicted for September.
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Featuring Dr. Philomina Okeke-Iherjirika, this video introduces the topic of gender relations and the factors that impact them. Listen to our podcast, Better Than the Cure, to learn more! linktr.ee/pran_22 #genderrelations #gender #IPV #equality #yeg #YYC #DomesticViolence
— Partnership for Research with African Newcomers (@pran-22.bsky.social) May 22, 2025 at 11:23 AM
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Better than the Cure: Preventing Intimate Partner Violence is an 11-part podcast series on the complexities of #IPV in African-descent communities. Explore issues related to gender relations, engaging men, masculinity, & community engagement. All episodes available on Spotify & YouTube, link in bio.
— Partnership for Research with African Newcomers (@pran-22.bsky.social) May 15, 2025 at 11:33 AM
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April Highlights
Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Program
In April, we bid farewell to our seventh QEScholar from West Africa, Dr. Añulika Kosy Okafor, a lecturer at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria. Añulika continues to work on two QES-related articles for publication, and we look forward to collaborating with her further!
The team is working to bring three additional scholars to complete placements this summer.
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Our #IPV Project included diverse voices as collaborators, working group members, and experts. Project stakeholders included Black Canadians and immigrants, victim-survivors, and those with experience in gender-based violence advocacy and education, newcomer support, and programming for men & boys.
— Partnership for Research with African Newcomers (@pran-22.bsky.social) May 1, 2025 at 12:09 PM
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Meet our team! PRAN's team includes researchers, partners, and student research assistants from Halifax, Montreal, Toronto, and Edmonton. Our partners serve and support African immigrants and refugees in multiple capacities (1/2).
— Partnership for Research with African Newcomers (@pran-22.bsky.social) April 30, 2025 at 2:09 PM
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2022-2023 Highlights
2023 PRAN Annual Meeting
PRAN’s first Annual Meeting took place on June 23rd & 24th, 2023, at York University in Toronto. The event brought together a diverse group of partners, including academics, researchers, students, non-profit workers, and community representatives.
Director Dr. Philomena Okeke-Ijherika, kicked off the meeting by highlighting PRAN’s key goals:
- Supporting the SSAI community
- Redefining resilience by adopting a more inclusive and community-engaged approach
- Training graduate students and early career researchers
- Fostering a network of academic and community partners to create a support network for SSAI newcomers in Canada
May 2022 PRAN Community Launch
PRAN Community was launched at the Africa Day event in May 2022, which was hosted by our community partner, Africa Centre.
All images are from Faith Abimbola
August 2022 PRAN Official Launch
In addition to our Community Launch, we also held another significant event to mark the official launch of PRAN. This event took place at the University of Alberta on August 17th, 2022.
All images are from Faith Abimbola