Priority Setting

PROMPT had its first meeting in January 2003.From January to May, PROMPT has focused on setting research priorities. The following steps were taken:

1. Identification of barriers to immigrant professionals and tradespeople; grouping of barriers into themes
2. Root cause analysis of themes - resulting in 5 root causes
3. Brainstorming of solutions in the 5 root cause areas
4. Assessment of solutions using group-developed criteria
5. Final selection of six research areas

Step 1:

At the first PROMPT meeting, members identified the many barriers that are faced by immigrants in practicing their trade or profession.The barriers fell into ten theme areas:

1. Limited programs available to access the job market
2. No coordinated system for economic integration of immigrants
3. Lack of policy coherence between levels of government
4. Lack of strategy on access to professions and trades issues
5. Negative attitudes and practices of employers
6. Negative attitudes and practices of regulators
7. Negative attitudes of Canadian society
8. Requirement for Canadian experience
9. Arduous licensing requirements
10. Ineffective prior learning assessment

Step 2:

PROMPT did a root cause analysis on the 10 themes.Each problem was assessed in terms of its relationship to another problem – for example, was the problem of “limited programs available to access job market” the cause or the effect of the problem “no coordinated system for economic integration of immigrants.”From this point, a determination was made about which problems were caused by other problems (in other words, which problems were the “root causes” of other problems).From this exercise the five root cause drivers were identified as:

1. Lack of policy coherence between levels of government – resulting in a lack of strategy on access to professions and trades issues and no coordinated system for economic integration of immigrants
2. Lack of accountability mechanisms (government, regulators, private sector)
3. Negative attitudes of Canadian society
4. Negative attitudes and practices of employers
5. Negative attitudes and practices of regulators

The root cause analysis provides a lens through which the complex barriers of accessing professions and trades can be understood and through which solutions need to be developed. Successful strategies need to consider issues of policy coherence, accountability and attitudinal change.

Step 3:

PROMPT members brainstormed over 100 possible solutions within each of the root cause areas. All ideas were considered, regardless of how they would be implemented or what they would cost.

Step 4:

A working group met to develop criteria to assess each of the solutions. An initial assessment was made of each solution to determine whether it was something that PROMPT should be involved in. For the remaining solutions, there was a full discussion followed by the rating process. Based on this rating, a PROMPT member analyzed the ratings and showed the analysis in chart form.

Step 5:

The working group presented thirteen possible solutions to PROMPT. Through discussion these were reduced to ten. PROMPT members then voted on the top six priorities.

PROMPT Priorities

PROMPT will focus its attention on the following priorities. In each of the areas, participatory research will be undertaken:

Develop a national strategy to integrate immigrants into the labour market

Develop strategies for regional development that are holistic and incentive-based rather than punitive

Promote the role of internationally educated professionals in society

Promote the role of internationally educated professionals in creating innovation and links to global markets

Develop an analysis of the role of regulatory bodies and develop mechanisms for transparent accountability of regulatory bodies

Define equity from an immigrant perspective

PROMPT Research Process

As a first step in the research process, PROMPT contracted with the Centre for Research in Education and Human Services to do an environmental scan of all the key players (primarily government) involved in the access to professions and trades arena. The process of undertaking the environmental scan became an intervention in itself as it introduced PROMPT to many senior level civil servants. The environmental scan provides a road map for PROMPT to follow in its future lobbying efforts with government.

The PROMPT model has been designed to generate input from all stakeholders. The policy research process will be participatory in nature beginning with working groups for each of the priority areas. A participatory model of research will be used, engaging stakeholders through the process. Reference groups will be created to provide expert feedback in key areas once draft papers are developed. The participatory research process will identify some of the reference group members. Reference groups will include government, employers, regulatory bodies, service delivery agencies, and academics. At the end of this process, PROMPT will have six policy papers with credible and innovative recommendations that have been shaped by immigrants, with input from all key stakeholders.