CIDA Partnerships with Canadians Branch

In July 2010, following a year-long review of the mandate of Canadian Partnership Branch, the Honourable Beverley J. Oda, Minister of International Cooperation, introduced the new “Partnerships with Canadians Branch” (PWCB).

Through the new PWCB, the Minister intends to structure “a new approach to engage Canadians and organizations in international development”. The promise is to “streamline the application process and reduce the administrative burden for project applications” to ensure effective and measurable results on the ground.

This included the introduction of a new competitive funding mechanism intended to “streamline the application process and reduce the administrative burden for project applications, leaving more money for real development work on the ground”. This shift from responsive programming – whereby organizations submit their plans and priorities to CIDA for funding – to a more directive competitive process – whereby organizations respond to calls for proposals in keeping with CIDA’s priorities and countries of focus - has created a lot of anxiety, frustration and questions within the international development community.

In response, CCIC has agreed to play a key role in advocating for greater transparency and major improvements to PWCB’s competitive bidding system, as well as facilitating the exchange of information between members and between PWCB and partner organizations.

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