AID POLICY

Canadian Aid Policy and Practice

2012-13 will be a landmark for the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) in many ways. Canada’s Aid Effectiveness Action Plan (AEAP) is up for renewal and the new plan should highlight how Canada expects to implement commitments made at the 2011 Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF-4). This will be particularly important following an OECD Peer Review critical of Canadian aid. 2012 will see the government translate its transparency pledge to the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) into concrete deliverables. It may see further clarity around CIDA’s long-term approach to Canadian civil society organizations (CSOs). Finally, it will see CIDA release a new Private Sector strategy, including how it will promote the role of the Canadian private sector in development. And all of this comes in the context of major cuts over the next three years to Canada’s aid program and countries of operation. Canadian aid may never be the same again.

In this section:

| Recent news, analysis and commentary |

| Canadian aid budget |

| CIDA and aid reform |

| CIDA development and humanitarian policy |

Recent news, analysis and commentary

CCIC News Release on Budget 2013
March 2013 (PDF 127KB)

CCIC and Aid Watch Canada Analysis of Budget 2013
March 2013 (PDF 693 KB)

A new era for Canadian aid – but is fighting poverty in the mix?
CCIC country chapter for Reality of Aid 2012 report (forthcoming)

CCIC Analysis of Budget 2012
June 2012; revised July 2011 (PDF 554KB)

OECD Development Assistance Committee – Peer Review Highlights
June 2012 (PDF)

Presentation to the Foreign Affairs and International Development Parliamentary Committee
May 2012
Memo on the role of the private sector in international development, presented by CCIC to the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development as part of their hearings on achieving Canada’s development interests

The morning after the night before – what future for Canadian aid?
CCIC blog
April 2, 2012

Canadian Aid Budget

In collaboration with its members, CCIC continuously monitors and analyzes trends and developments related to the International Assistance Envelope, Canadian Official Development Assistance and its implications on development and programming.

Aid 101 Capacity Building Resources

What is ODA and how do we measure it?
March 2010 (MP4 video 100MB)

How do we improve the quality of Canadian ODA?
March 2010 (MP4 video 100MB)

Aid 101: Part 1 What is ODA and how do we measure it?
March 2010 (Powerpoint presentation 113 KB)
These CCIC learning resources were compiled in collaboration with Oxfam Canada, and are designed to provide an introduction to the aid regime for practitioners working or volunteering in the sector. 

Federal Budget 2013

CCIC News Release on Budget 2013
March 2013 (PDF 127KB)

CCIC and Aid Watch Canada Analysis of Budget 2013
March 2013 (PDF 693 KB)

Creating the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development: Benchmarks for more Effective and Coherent International Development and Humanitarian Assistance
April 2013 (PDF 758 KB)

News release on publication of Benchmarks
April 2013

News release on Bill C-60
April 2013 (PDF 119 KB)

List of articles on merge between CIDA and DFAIT
April 2013 (PDF 478 KB)

Federal Budget 2012

CCIC Analysis of Budget 2012
June 2012; revised July 2011 (PDF 530KB)

Federal Budget 101: Making sense of the numbers on aid
April 2012 (Powerpoint presentation 1.63MB)

The morning after the night before – what future for Canadian aid?
CCIC blog
April 2, 2012

CCIC Brief to the Pre-Budget Consultations
September 2011 (PDF)

Federal Budget 2011

Analysis of the implications of the 2011 Federal Budget on Canadian ODA
March 2011 (PDF SIZE)

CCIC Pre‐Budget Backgrounder
March 2011) (PDF SIZE)

Federal Budget Key Messages
March 2011 (PDF SIZE)

Federal Budget 2010

Canada Turning Its Back on the World’s Poor: Foreign Aid Spending Hit Hard by Federal Budget
CCIC Press Release
March 2010 (PDF 57 Kb)

CCIC Pre-Budget Consultation - Federal Budget Brief
October 2009 (PDF 44KB)
Brief submitted to the Standing Committee of Finance in the context of the pre-budget consultations.

Federal Budget 2009

2009 Federal Budget – Pre-Budget Backgrounder
December 2008 (PDF 48 Kb)

Federal Budget 2008

CIDA Estimates 2008-2009 Part III – Report on Plan and Priorities
CCIC Briefing Note 
April 2008 (PDF 54 Kb)

CIDA and aid reform

Over the past several decades, CCIC has worked in collaboration with its members to monitor CIDA’s policy and practice, identify policy gaps, and propose changes to improve CIDA’s work in the area of international development and humanitarian assistance.

Civil Society and Development

CIDA/CCIC Cooperation Agreement
April 2011 (PDF 150KB)
CCIC’s call for a new Cooperation Agreement between CIDA and Canadian NGO's which would set out shared principles and commitments to support each other's work.

A CCIC Response and Proposals for a CIDA Policy on Civil Society and Development
June 2008 (PDF 99 Kb)

CIDA, Civil Society and Development - A Discussion Paper 
February 2008 (PDF 96 Kb)
Assembled by Réal Lavergne and Jacqueline Wood with inputs from CIDA's Expert Group on Civil Society

CIDA, Civil Society and Development - A Summary of the Discussion Paper
Africa-Canada Forum
April 2008 (PDF 57 KB)

The Marginalization of CSOs in Canada's International Cooperation Program
Briefing Note
January 2006 (PDF 71 KB)

An Overview of Issues for Canada's International Cooperation Program
Briefing Note
February 2006 (PDF 97 KB)

CIDA's Operational Requirements and the Foundation of Partnerships
Briefing Note 
February 2006 (PDF 49 KB)

Public Engagement and Global Citizenship
Briefing Note 
February 2006 (PDF 45 KB)

The four briefing notes above correspond to CCIC’s input to a 2006 Expert Panel on Partnership Programming in CIDA and its renewed Framework for Effective Partnerships.

The Millennium Development Goals and the Post-2015 framework

The Politics of the Millennium Development Goals:  Contributing to Strategies for Ending Poverty?
CCIC and the North-South Institute
August 2005 (PDF 108 Kb)
Summary report of conference

Summary of Main Arguments and Conclusions
May 2005 (PDF 109 Kb)

Part One:  The Politics of the MDGs and Poverty Eradication
May 2005 (PDF 160 Kb)

Part Two:  Financing the MDGs Through a Global Partnership for Development
May 2005 (PDF 152 Kb)

Part Three:  Canada and the Global Partnership for Development
May 2005 (PDF 139 Kb)

OECD Peer Reviews

OECD Development Assistance Committee – Peer Review Highlights
June 2012 (PDF 1.16MB)

OECD Development Assistant Committee – Peer Review Highlights
October 2007 (PDF 31 KB)

Security and Aid

Official Development Assistance and Security – Should the criteria be expanded?
May 2006 (PDF 29 KB)

Official Development Assistance and Security-Related Expenditures - Myths and Realities
May 2006 (PDF 39 KB)

CIDA’s development and humanitarian policy

Countries of Focus

In February 2009, the Canadian government announced that by 2010/11 CIDA would be allocating 80% of its bilateral money in 20 “countries of focus”. The 20 countries are Bolivia, Colombia, Haiti, Honduras, Peru, the Caribbean Region, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan, Vietnam, West Bank and Gaza, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mali, Mozambique, Senegal, Sudan, Tanzania, and Ukraine. When the Conservative government replaced the 20 long-term programming countries and five fragile and conflict-affected countries set out by the Liberal Government in 2005, it did so without consulting African counterparts or Canadian development actors. Further cuts to CIDA’s countries of operation occurred in 2012 as part of Budget 2012.

Analysis of Budget 2012
June 2012; revised July 2011 (PDF SIZE)

CCIC Briefing Note – A Review of CIDA's Countries of Priorities
February 2009 (PDF 27 Kb)

Thematic Priorities: children and youth, food security, and sustainable economic growth

The Canadian government announced in April 2010 that CIDA will focus its programming in three thematic areas: food security; sustainable economic growth; and children and youth (with a sub-theme of maternal, newborn and child health).

For information on food security, see Food Security Policy Group

The elusive quest for pro-poor growth? An analysis of CIDA’s Sustainable Economic Growth Strategy
December 2011 (PDF 1.34MB)
A discussion paper by Brian Tomlinson (AidWatch Canada) and Fraser Reilly-King (CCIC) on CIDA’s sustainable economic growth strategy

Agenda and concept note for CCIC learning conference on CIDA's Sustainable Economic Growth Strategy
January 2012 (PDF 460KB)

Report on Key Findings from CCIC learning conference on CIDA's Sustainable Economic Growth Strategy
January 2012 (PDF 577KB)

Crosscutting themes

CIDA has maintained three cross-cutting themes:

• Increasing environmental sustainability
• Advancing equality between women and men
• Helping to strengthen governance institutions and practices

Strengthening Canada's International Leadership in the Promotion of Gender Equality: A Civil Society Response to the Evaluation of the Implementation of CIDA's 1999 Policy on Gender Equality
Informal CSO Working Group on Women's Rights
September 2009 (PDF 664 Kb)