The Policy and Regulatory Frameworks of ODA

The nature of the Canadian Official Development Assistance is defined by the documents Canada in the World and the Canadian ODA Policy Framework (Chapter 1). Six Program Priorities are identified and elaborated through a body of policy documents which in turn constitute CIDA's Development Policy Base (Chapter 2). The delivery of the Canadian ODA is conditioned by seven Program Principles, which are elaborated in body of regulatory documents constituting CIDA's Regulatory Environment (Chapter 3).

Bilateral Program Delivery

These two branches of the Canadian ODA Policy Framework provide the mandate and modalities for the organization of CIDA's Bilateral Aid Programs, which operate through the Project Teams, Program Delivery Models and Programming Mechanisms (Chapter 4). The Bilateral Programs are implemented according to the principles of Results-Based
Management through the application of a key tool, the Logical Framework Analysis (LFA) (Chapter 5).

Regional Implementation and the Project Cycle

The LFA is used in the development of programs and project in each of the Geographic Regions, leading to the Country/Regional Programming Frameworks - C/RPF (Chapter 6). The fundamental building blocks of the programs are the Projects. The Projects are identified, designed, implemented and managed in a cyclical process known as
the Project Cycle.

The Project Cycle consists of the different stages of project delivery from conception to either the design of a new project based on the experience of the previous project or the completion and closure of the project. The project planning process has several stages:

a) Potential project identification (Chapter 6);
b) Project Selection (Chapter 6);
c) The Concept Paper (Chapter 7);
d) Project Appraisal (Chapter 8);
e) Project Feasibility and Design (Chapter 9); leading to
f) Project Approval (Chapter 10)

Once approved, the operational context of the project is established through a body of collaborative and contractual documents and agreements linking CIDA, the host country partners and the agencies responsible for the implementation of the project (Chapter 11 - Project Operationalisation).

The implementation of the project is managed and overseen using the project design documents; the implementation plan of the executing agency; project evaluations; management, operational and performance reviews and audits (Chapter 12).

On completion of the project, as indicated by different parameters, the project is transferred to the project partners and closed (Chapter 13) or a new project is identified and the project cycle begins again.