CIDA activities take place within the context of established development policies, a management framework and a program planning process. These elements form the broad environment in which projects are identified, appraised, designed, implemented and evaluated and, together, help to promote consistency in Agency programming and practices. This chapter describes Canada's Official Development Assistance (ODA) Policy Framework (including six program priorities) and CIDA's Development Policy Base of existing and planned policies relating to the six program priorities and other development issues.
2.2Canada's Official Development Assistance (ODA) Policy Framework
The overall framework for
the Official Development Assistance (ODA) program is set out in Chapter
6: International
Assistance, Canada in The World
the Government's 1995 foreign policy statement. Canada
in the World identifies three foreign policy objectives for
Canada:
These objectives apply to all foreign policy instruments, including the ODA program.Canada in the World also defines the mandate of Canada's ODA ref. :
"The purpose of Canada's ODA is to support sustainable development in developing countries, in order to reduce poverty and to contribute to a more secure, equitable and prosperous world."
2.2.1 ODA Program PrioritiesTo achieve this purpose Canadian ODA concentrates on six program priorities:
Guidelines entitled ODA
Priorities: CIDA Operational Definitions on the activities included
within each ODA Priority have been developed, approved and distributed
throughout CIDA and to its partners. These guidelines help to clarify the
nature of programming within each priority area and also enable CIDA to
report on its disbursements and results on a priority-by-priority basis.
Policy statements on the six priorities can be found in Documents
Supporting CIDA's Development Policy Framework.
In September 2000, the Minister
also introduced
The
Social Development Priorities: A Framework for Action which emphasizes
four priority areas for development. The Framework for Action commits CIDA
to an aggressive five-year investment plan in the four priority areas of:
health and nutrition; basic education; HIV/AIDS; and, child protection.
Gender equality is considered to be an integral part of all these priority
areas.
While CIDA will continue to work in all six priority areas outlined in Canada and the World, the Framework for Action notes the need to strengthen the basic human needs and gender equality components of CIDA's programming. The Framework for Action is the first step in a longer-term plan for reorienting Canada's development assistance program to meet the needs of the 21st Century.
2.2.2Principles of Effective Programming
As part of its commitment
to improving the effectiveness of ODA programming, Canada
in the World provided five basic guidelines
for effective programming. Building upon these basic principles
and reflecting ongoing experience, Our
Commitment to Sustainable Development (see section
2.3) presents seven updated principles to ensure that programming is
based on:
The document entitled
Effective
Programming: Technical Notes provides further details.
As well, the Strengthening Aid Effectiveness document and Entre Nous site provide current thinking on ways to enhance the effectiveness of Canada's international development program through comprehensive approaches that bring together a wide range of factors: social, economic, political, environmental and cultural.
2.3CIDA's Development Policy Base
A number of documents have been prepared to provide better guidance to staff regarding the ODA mandate and program priorities.
Our Commitment to Sustainable Development was tabled in the House of Commons in December 1997. It articulates CIDA's vision for self-sustaining development and the enhancement of: our ability to acquire, share and use knowledge; our working relationships with our partners; our ability to learn from experience; our partners' and our own skills; the coherence of our policies and programs; coordination among donor initiatives; and our ability to demonstrate results.
CIDA's
Sustainable Development Strategy 2001-2003: An Agenda for Change builds
on Our Commitment to Sustainable Development and begins to address those
changes to our development cooperation program that will enable us to meet
most effectively the realities of an increasingly interdependent world.
This will serve as the Agency's business plan through which it will deliver
its mandate.
The document
Shaping
the 21st Century represents the collective vision of the members
of the Development Assistance Committee of the Organization for Economic
Co-operation and Development (OECD) about the future goals and directions
of development cooperation. It was endorsed by G8 Heads of State in 1997.
Canada played a leading role in its development and supports its four main
elements:
The first element of
Shaping
the 21st Century mentioned above is partnership. Development co-operation
must ensure that beneficiaries and partners have ownership of the development
process and results. Partnership is a key strategy to engender local ownership
of development initiatives, which in turn leads to more effective and sustainable
results. CIDA's approach to partnership is further reinforced in the
Agency
Accountability Framework discussed in section
3.4.
Making any partnership work requires committing to shared objectives and defining precise joint and individual responsibilities. Partnership starts with shared commitments, continues with shared control and management, and eventually leads to shared accountability for development results.
CIDA's primary partners are, of course, the developing countries themselves, while others include the associations, companies, institutions and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) with whom CIDA works. Partnership is supported by two related, but distinct tools: consultation and participation.
Consultation refers primarily to relations with Canadian stakeholders. CIDA's Policy on Consultation with Canadian (Civil Society) Stakeholders is primarily designed to set out the definition and principles to guide these consultations with Canadian stakeholders. The Policy defines consultation as being "not synonymous with either an exchange of information or with consensus, but deliberations between two or more parties in which all have a reasonable expectation of influencing the outcome. Consultations are also an accountable process in that all participants are accountable for the advice provided and the convener is accountable for providing a timely, visible and formally acknowledged report on the outcome, with an accompanying explanation, when appropriate". The policy contains a number of principles to help make the consultative process effective, efficient, and mutually beneficial for the Agency and those with whom it would consult.
For the bilateral branches, consultations with Canadians are mandatory when developing Country/Regional Programming Frameworks (C/RPFs) and may have value when identifying projects. Co-ordination of CIDA's developmental activities with those of other donor agencies is an important factor in programming effectiveness because it increases complementarily between CIDA's initiatives and those of other donors, improves policy and program efficiency, may leverage additional resources for development and rationalizes the planning and administrative burden placed on developing country partners.
In the bilateral context, participation refers to the direct involvement of beneficiary governments, organizations and populations in all aspects of development initiatives. CIDA recognizes that participation is a means of ensuring that development is more effective by involving the stakeholders directly in the process. The full participation of all stakeholders is critical to the identification and planning of potential initiatives. A participatory process should help to ensure a sense of commitment to, and ownership of, the project concepts on the part of local partners which is essential for long-term sustainability.
While participation is a means to effective, sustainable development, it also constitutes an end in itself as an important aspect of capacity development which contributes to the achievement of a more just and equitable society by involving people in the decisions and processes which affect their lives.
There are a variety of techniques and approaches that can be adopted to support participatory development. The techniques used may include "consultation" at some level, but in the development context, recipients and partners would ideally have the lead role. At the macro level, support for recipient ownership of the development process requires working within the developing country's own strategic development framework. At the macro and micro levels, it means involving local partners in all stages of program and project development and delivery, from identification through implementation to evaluation.
Special effort should be made to ensure that the poor and the disadvantaged within the target groups are included in project development and subsequent project activities. Particular attention is required to ensure that the needs and interests of women are addressed and that they are involved in the decision making process. For further information and references, consult with your Policy and Planning Division.
2.5.3Costs and Benefits of Partnership
The benefits of involving partners include a greater knowledge base for planning, implementation and evaluation, and greater sustainability of development activities. The costs include the time and level of effort required at the outset of a project and the particular skills that must be brought to bear. CIDA Performance Review information demonstrates that there is value in the investment of time to involve partners and recipients, but staff will need to continually monitor the relationship between costs and benefits and make periodic adjustments (if required) to maintain an appropriate balance.
Canada's ODA Policy Framework
and the CIDA Development Policy Base establish the context: