For project descriptions, see Areas of Expertise.
It has been my pleasure to work with Mary Ferguson in my capacity as Manager of a Community Futures Development Corporation. I have benefited from Mary’s instructive mentorship on the topic of rural social enterprise. Her conviction to the cause, combined with a naturally inquisitive mind, and instinctive understanding of rural values makes her an invaluable asset to rural-based organizations and the communities they serve.
When I joined the Canadian Women’s Foundation it was Mary Ferguson and Janet Murray who provided me with a thorough orientation to the Sustainable Livelihoods framework. As part of the Foundation’s capacity building work we traveled across Canada and trained over 50 community based agencies on effective evaluation practices, logic models and methods to improve their program evaluations. To date, many of those organizations continue to use the model and asset based approach to their programming with women and their evaluations. As a facilitator and trainer, Mary is a great listener, communicator and is extremely personable.