Bow Valley
Intercultural Competence
Facilitator Training Program
Next Session: Winter 2025
The Intercultural Competence Facilitator Training Program is a unique train-the-trainer program for the Bow Valley.
The program teaches:
Intercultural awareness and sensitivity
Intercultural knowledge, attitudes, skills, and behaviour, with emphasis on skills for intercultural communication
Skills for facilitating informal intercultural competence training in the workplace
The program includes 30-35 hours of online and self-directed learning.
Who is this training program for?
Bow Valley residents (all immigration statuses welcome) or individuals currently employed by a Bow Valley-based business
Human Resources professionals
Managers responsible for staff training and development
Developing leaders, especially people with diverse cultural backgrounds — experience of moving to Canada or working in another culture is an asset for this program. We encourage employers to enroll both an established leader and a developing leader in the program.
Members of workplace Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) or Employee Resource groups
Volunteers responsible for board or volunteer development
What is Intercultural Competence?
Intercultural competence is a range of knowledge, skills, and attitudes that help you work effectively with people from different cultural backgrounds than your own. This is an increasingly sought after and foundational skill for many work environments.
Is this program for you?
Register for this program if:
You are a resident of the Bow Valley (all immigration statuses welcome) or currently employed by a Bow Valley-based business
You would like to develop your own intercultural skill set
You are committed to helping your workplace become more inclusive and equitable
You can dedicate the time to complete the program and bring what you’ve learned back to your team
You have the support of your employer to lead workplace training on intercultural competence after you’ve completed the program
Your Investment
The Bow Valley Immigration Partnership (BVIP) is providing this training at no financial cost to participants. Our goal is to grow intercultural competence in all sectors throughout the community. In return for this free training, we ask and expect that participants who enroll in this program commit to around 35 hours of online and self-directed learning to complete the program.
Why join this program?
This is a unique opportunity to develop important intercultural skills to work effectively with the Bow Valley’s diverse community.
Benefits for organizations:
Overcome communication roadblocks, strengthen your team, and improve staff retention
Better meet the needs of diverse clientele
Reduce reliance on ad-hoc, external training by developing leaders who can offer in-house training
Complete a Workplace Inclusion Charter commitment — a big step towards being honoured as one of the Bow Valley’s most inclusive employers
Benefits for participants:
Develop a practical, increasingly sought after, and essential skill set to thrive in the global job market
Overcome communication roadblocks, strengthen your team, and improve staff retention
Receive a Certificate of Completion
Training Format & Schedule
Training Schedule
25 hours virtual workshops (10 x 2.5 hour sessions)
4-5.5 hours of reading, assignments, and journaling
1.5-3 hours of one on one coaching with the program instructors
Winter 2025 Program Schedule
Our next session of the ICFT program will be during Winter 2025. Please get in touch with us for more information.
Your Commitment
The Bow Valley Immigration Partnership (BVIP) is providing this training at no cost to participants. Our goal is to grow intercultural competence in all sectors throughout the community. In return for this free training, we ask and expect that participants who enroll in this program commit to:
Attend all of the workshop sessions
Complete the assigned readings and activities, including preparing and presenting a final facilitation project
Do your best to schedule a training session or plan other actions to share what you’ve learned with your colleagues
Ready to Sign Up?
Sign Up
Intercultural Competence Facilitator Training Program
Sign up to receive information and join our waitlist for the next session.
Protecting Your Information: We are collecting this personal information under the authority of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy (FOIP) Act, section 33(c). This information will be used for the purposes of the Bow Valley Immigration Partnership (BVIP). If you have any questions about how we collect or use this information, read our Privacy Policy or contact Natasha Lay at bvip@banff.ca or on (403) 431-0705.
Your Instructors
About The Intercultural Education Program Team
To host this program, we are bringing in the Intercultural Education Program Team at Catholic Social Services (CSS), one of Alberta’s largest immigrant serving agencies.
The CSS Team have more than 20 years of experience providing intercultural competence training across the province. They are one of the few immigrant-serving agencies in Alberta with a team specifically responsible for training both newcomer clients and staff on intercultural awareness and communication. CSS brings its training experience and frontline perspective to the project, making them the right fit for this training program.