The Call Is Open. Bring What You Know.
The 4th Annual #IAmSahraBulle Conference has a harder ask this year.
Not harder in the sense of painful though some of this work is. Harder in the sense that understanding is no longer enough. Three years of learning, dialogue, and community-building have produced a room of people who know what gender-based violence looks like, who it targets, and what it costs. The 2026 conference theme — "From Awareness to Action: Ending Violence in Our Homes, Schools, and Communities" — builds on that foundation and asks: now what?
This is the question the Sahra Bulle Foundation Centre for Learning and Teaching is putting to practitioners, educators, researchers, community workers, artists, and advocates across Windsor-Essex and beyond. The call for proposals is open, and we want your answer.
About the Conference
The #IAmSahraBulle Conference is the annual flagship event of the Sahra Bulle Foundation Centre for Learning and Teaching, held each November during the UN's 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence. Now in its fourth year, the conference is co-hosted with the University of Windsor Office of the Vice-President, People, Equity, and Inclusion. It brings together students, educators, frontline workers, community organizations, and advocates for a full day of learning, dialogue, and collective action. Attendance is free, funded entirely through fundraising and donor contributions.
This Year's Theme
"From Awareness to Action: Ending Violence in Our Homes, Schools, and Communities" is grounded in the UN campaign "UNITE: Invest to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls," which calls for meaningful investment in prevention — not just response. It also connects to 1 Billion Rising's 2026 focus, centering the intersection of gender-based violence, environmental crisis, and bodily autonomy.
We are looking for sessions that move people:
— from awareness to action
— from knowledge to practice
— from reflection to sustained community commitment
The strongest proposals do not just explain the problem. They show what communities can actually do about it.
What We Are Looking For
The CFP outlines ten topic areas to help guide your thinking: the disproportionate impact of GBV on marginalized and racialized women; what accountability looks like in practice in schools, workplaces, and institutions; how communities respond when systems fail survivors; the role of men and boys as co-responsible community members; the intersection of gender-based violence and environmental crisis; digital safety as a concrete practice for youth, survivors, and organizations; the chronic underfunding of GBV organizations; what a trauma-informed institution actually looks like beyond policy documents; healing practices rooted in Indigenous knowledge and cultural tradition; and creative resistance through art, storytelling, spoken word, movement, and music.
These are directions, not requirements. If your work responds to the theme in a way not listed here, we want to hear it.
Every accepted session includes a concrete participant takeaway: one thing people can know, do, or act on differently when they leave the room. Sessions designed without genuine audience participation will not be selected, regardless of topic quality.
Formats include workshops (60-90 minutes), interactive presentations (45-60 minutes), sharing circles (60 minutes), arts-based sessions (45-60 minutes), panel discussions (60 minutes), and a dedicated student presenter slot. All sessions are organized within three conference streams: youth-focused, practitioner and community, and open to all.
Submit: https://www.sahrabullefoundation.ca/conference
If you have questions before submitting, reach out at info@sahrabullefoundation.ca. The program team responds within two business days.
Key dates:
Submission deadline: July 15, 2026 at 11:59 PM EST
Presenter notification: August 15, 2026
Presenter confirmation deadline: September 1, 2026
Session materials due: November 1, 2026
Conference date: November 26, 2026
Full submission guidelines are at sahrabullefoundation.ca.
Sahra Bulle's story demanded more than silence. It demanded action, structured, community-rooted, intersectional, and survivor-centred, structure. Every presenter who steps into this space becomes part of that demand.
The call is open. Bring what you know into the room.
Submit your proposal at sahrabullefoundation.ca
for questions email info@sahrabullefoundation.ca.
Education. Accountability. Community.