Our Strategy
AAISA’s strategy sets the direction for our organization and activities that are rooted in our commitment as a provincial organization to work with and for its members, while contributing to a stronger settlement sector across Alberta and Canada. This page outlines our approach to many areas of service and support.
What Is an Umbrella Organization?
An umbrella organization brings member agencies together under one collective structure, rather than delivering settlement services to newcomers directly. It represents its members’ shared interests to funders, governments, and policy makers, and it coordinates the training, information, and advocacy that let individual agencies focus on frontline service delivery.
AAISA is Alberta’s umbrella organization for immigrant serving agencies. AAISA speaks for the collective settlement sector across the province, not for any single agency, and that role is the foundation for everything else on this page, our strategic plan, our national engagement, our Francophone representation, and our approach to policy advocacy all flow from it.
Our National Engagement Approach
AAISA is a provincial organization but recognizes the importance and impact national decisions have in shaping provincial outcomes for newcomers. AAISA takes an active role in the national structures that connect provincial settlement work to national policy.
That role starts with AAISA’s peers. Across the country, immigrant serving agencies are represented by a small set of provincial and regional umbrella organizations, and AAISA works directly with them to align approaches and share practice nationally.
- AMSSA, Affiliation of Multicultural Societies and Service Agencies of BC
- SAISIA, Saskatchewan Association of Immigrant Settlement and Integration Agencies
- MANSO, Manitoba Association of Newcomer Serving Organizations
- OCASI, Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants
- ARAISA, Atlantic Region Association of Immigrant Serving Agencies
This peer collaboration carries important national influence with many umbrellas sitting at important national tables, including:
- SIPPC, the Settlement and Integration Policy and Program Committee, coordinating IRCC funded organizations around the Settlement and Resettlement Assistance Programs
- NSIC, the National Settlement and Integration Council
- The National GAR-RAP Working Group, informing the national Government Assisted Refugees Resettlement Assistance Program
- The Newcomer Language Advisory Board, shaping national direction on language training
- The Canadian Council for Refugees, Pathways to Prosperity Canada, and Metropolis Canada, national partners AAISA draws on to strengthen our own policy work
Our Francophone Representation Approach
Francophone newcomers are a growing and essential part of Alberta’s settlement landscape. AAISA’s strategy reflects that directly, not as an afterthought.
AAISA’s first strategic goal names the growth of relationships with Francophone member organizations as a defined priority. Through our governance and advocacy work, AAISA is committed to strengthening the voice of Alberta’s Francophone immigration sector, including engagement related to IRCC’s Francophone Integration Pathway. AAISA also connects to this work nationally, through our relationship with the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada.
AAISA backs this commitment with action. We publish our website and key organizational documents in both English and French. This is not translation added after the fact. Francophone newcomers should be able to access AAISA’s work, and understand AAISA’s strategy, in the language in which they arrive.
Our Advocacy Approach
AAISA is committed to representing Alberta’s settlement sector, and to advocating for the newcomers our member agencies serve.
We do this through several channels.
- Policy briefings that bring accurate analysis and current data to decision makers
- Formal seats on sector engagement tables, SIPPC provincially and NSIC nationally, where AAISA helps shape policy questions as they are being formed
- Professional development that builds the skills and professionalism of the sector, strengthening the practice behind our advocacy
- Direct observation from frontline practitioners across our member agencies, showing where a policy holds up in service delivery and where it needs to change
AAISA’s advocacy work aims to make sure Alberta’s newcomers are supported by policies built with direct input from the sector that serves them.
Our Current Strategic Plan, 2026 to 2030
AAISA’s Strategic Plan for 2026 to 2030 sets five goals. Each goal names what AAISA aims to accomplish and the strategies that guide the work. Staff carry out the detailed actions through AAISA’s many projects, and the board carries them out through long term planning.
These five goals represent AAISA’s current organizational focus and mandate.
Goal 1. Strong Member Relationships
AAISA has reciprocal and respectful relationships with its members for a unified, responsive settlement sector.
- Grow relationships and engagement with Francophone member organizations.
- Strengthen relationships and trust with AAISA members.
Goal 2. Sector Sustainability
AAISA leads the sustainability of the settlement sector through training and collaborative capacity building available in both official languages.
- Facilitate capacity building that increases organizational and sector health.
- Develop professional development opportunities that engage, learn from, and support AAISA members in best practices.
Goal 3. Policy Influence
AAISA influences policies at all levels, within organizations and across all levels of government, that promote equal access, opportunities, advancement, and outcomes for newcomers.
- Link with other umbrella and external organizations to collaborate on policy advocacy.
- Strengthen AAISA’s capacity to be a resource and partner to government bodies and institutions.
- Build AAISA’s capacity and processes to ensure appropriate and effective responses to emerging advocacy needs.
- Amplify the sector’s collective expertise on the assets and practices of equity, diversity, and inclusion.
Goal 4. A Trusted Voice
AAISA is an active, trusted voice for newcomer integration, producing and sharing effective knowledge, practices, and policies with stakeholders outside of the settlement and integration sector.
- Produce and amplify rigorous research related to settlement and integration so AAISA, its members, and its partners can engage in effective action.
- Engage and support AAISA members in relevant action outside of the direct settlement and integration sector.
- Actively engage in proactive communication and relationship building with partners outside of the sector.
Goal 5. Organizational Health
AAISA invests in its organizational health so it can continue to grow with the settlement and integration sector.
- Prioritize AAISA’s business continuity processes.
- Diversify funding for financial sustainability.
- Focus on staff retention.
Through these five strategic goals, AAISA will continue to advance a strong, connected, and resilient settlement and integration sector across Alberta, ensuring newcomer-serving organizations have the relationships, capacity, influence, and resources needed to help newcomers thrive and fully participate in their communities.