Madeline Rowland The image of Canada as a global peacekeeper and champion of development is a salient part of our collective national consciousness. The formation of the (now-defunct) Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) in 1968 secured the position of aid and development on the political agenda, at least for CIDA’s 45-year lifespan. Prime Ministers of…
Tag: Foreign Aid
Aiding Global Poverty or their Campaigns? A Look at Foreign Aid Spending in the 2015 Election
Katie Bowers With words like recession and middle-class growth being thrown around, it’s clear that the current election campaign is focused on inward-facing issues as opposed to global ones. Canadians are concerned about jobs, housing, and childcare here at home. But the party leaders will often invoke the image of Canada as a champion on…
Why Canada Needs an Official Development Policy Framework
James Nelson For the last 24 years, the Government of Canada has made the first week of February International Development Week. This year’s theme, “We are Making a Difference,” encourages individual Canadians to share their personal experiences of how they feel they are contributing to change by working on development projects. The week fails to…
Development Aid: Evolving Conventional Wisdoms and the Case of Rwanda
Shranna Jaggernath, Elana Pal, and Saeed Selvam On his final day as the UK’s International Development Secretary, Andrew Mitchell reinstated 16 million pounds of development aid to Rwanda despite concerns over Rwandan President Paul Kagame’s human rights record and a recent UN report alleging that the Rwandan government is arming a rebellion in Congo, which…
Are the Millennium Villages an Answer to Accountable and Sustainable Development Policy?
James Tay and Naomi Shuman In August 2012, the British government announced that it was committing 18.1 million dollars of aid funding to a new five-year development program in northern Ghana, one of the poorest regions in West Africa. The program will be a joint partnership between Britain’s Department for International Development, the Government of…
Weathering the Changes to Foreign Aid Provision
Maybelle Szeto This past decade has seen a plethora of natural disasters plague many countries and continents; few regions have remained unscathed. Sustained international financial and food aid are crucial to affected countries during their recovery and rebuilding processes in the aftermath of these crises. Most recently, Hurricane Sandy serves as a reminder to Canadians…
