International Development

Budget Bill Will Reduce Government Accountability for Canadian Foreign Aid 0
- Analysis
- November 28, 2018
By Stephen Brown and Hunter McGill

To help ensure that Canadian foreign aid is spent on supporting people in need in developing countries — rather than things like white elephants and Canadian commercial interests — Canada has legislation that mandates …
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Canada’s Afghanistan Aid Urgently Needs Review — But That Doesn’t Mean We Should Go It Alone 0
- Analysis
- November 28, 2018
The recent interaction of John Sopko — the American Special Inspector General of Afghanistan Reconstruction — with the Canadian media on billions of wasted aid dollars in Afghanistan has stirred Canadian public interest on the forgotten subject of Canada’s Afghanistan …
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Lessons from Canadian Involvement in Fragile and Conflict-Affected States 0
- Analysis
- November 1, 2018
As Stephen Brown noted in a recent blog, much of the media commentary on the latest Peer Review of Canada’s development co-operation has focused on its recommendations to increase spending and implement the Feminist International Assistance Policy. Brown reminds …
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Canada’s Lessons in Afghanistan Not Recorded and Not Learned: Part 1 0
- Analysis
- October 29, 2018
Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) John Sopko’s assessment of American lessons learned in Afghanistan is similar to that of Canada, except that our findings are not based on systematic and independent review. Canada lacks appropriate monitoring and evaluation …
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Canada’s Lessons in Afghanistan Not Recorded and Not Learned: Part 2 0
- Analysis
- October 29, 2018
In terms of Afghanistan, Canada has clearly been afflicted with attention deficit disorder; in less than a decade, it changed program focus three times (as noted by a summative evaluation of Canada’s development program in 2015). The lessons that could …
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Development Partnership Part 1: The Way of the Future 0
- Analysis
- October 10, 2018
A key goal for Canada is to be BACK as a credible development partner. A significant driver is the ambition of taking a UN Security Council (SC) seat in 2020. Recent signals, however, suggest some uncertainty about Canada winning …
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Development Partnership Part 2: A Canadian Action Agenda 0
- Analysis
- October 10, 2018
This blog continues from Part 1, The Way of the Future.

A solid agenda exists of desirable institutional changes in Global Affairs Canada (GAC, and other public entities) over the next few years. We need to start building new …
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Beyond Aid Budgets: What Canada Can Do to Promote International Development 0
- Analysis
- October 10, 2018
Of late, many commentators, from humble bloggers to the more august Toronto Star and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), have lamented Canada’s relative lack of generosity in foreign aid and called on the Canadian government to increase the …
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What Do Canada’s Peers Say about Canadian Development Co-operation?0
- Analysis
- September 19, 2018
by Hunter McGill and Stephen Brown

Every five years or so, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) conducts a “peer review” of the countries that belong to its Development Assistance Committee (DAC). This year was Canada’s turn and …
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Canada’s Feminist International Assistance: Can Bad Policy be Well Implemented? (Part 1)0
- Analysis
- September 13, 2018
Last summer, the government of Canada launched its “feminist international assistance policy,” a radical rebranding to a “truly feminist approach that supports the economic, political and social empowerment of women and girls, and makes gender equality a priority, …
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Canada’s Feminist International Assistance: Can Bad Policy be Well Implemented? (Part 2)0
- Analysis
- September 13, 2018
In Part 1 of this blog post, I ranted about discussed why Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy is likely to fail. However, even a bad policy can be implemented in ways that make failure less likely and create opportunities …
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The ODA Accountability Act at Ten: Time for an Update 0
- Analysis
- September 5, 2018
by Stephen Brown and Hunter McGill

Ten years ago, the Canadian parliament unanimously passed the Official Development Assistance Accountability Act, following years of intensive lobbying by Canadian civil society organizations. Prior to 2008, Canada had not had any legislation …
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