Speaking Notes for the Honourable Beverley J. Oda Minister of International Cooperation for a Meeting with African Ambassadors to Canada

Monday, October 26, 2009
Ottawa, Ontario


Thank you and good morning. I want to begin this morning by thanking so many distinguished members of Canada's African Group of Ambassadors for accepting my invitation to be here today.

Last June when we met at CIDA, we met in the spirit of constructive dialogue, friendship and solidarity. For me, this morning is an important opportunity to continue, in the same spirit, our dialogue on our government's aid and development engagement in Africa. Canada's history and friendship with Africa is strong and long-standing. And the Canadian International Development Agency, or CIDA, is an integral part of this relationship.

Our government remains committed to Africa's development, a commitment that our government takes seriously. This morning, I would like to update you on our record and accomplishments in Africa over the past three years that we have been in office.

First and foremost, last year we met our G8 commitment to double Canada's international assistance to Africa and we met that G8 commitment a full year ahead of the deadline. This means that Canada's support to Africa rose to $2.1 billion in 2008-2009. At this time, as we see the needs in your countries increasing, we are determined to maintain that same level of commitment for this fiscal year, 2009-2010. In fact, last year, 45 percent of CIDA's total aid budget went to Africa. Africa received 62 percent of our total food aid, 55 percent of all of our agricultural support and 51 percent of our multilateral aid.

We have stood by Africa and responded when you faced critical challenges. This was recently demonstrated and recognized internationally, when Canada was the first country to respond with $30 million to a worldwide appeal to help the drought victims in Somalia, Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia.

It is not only in times of crisis that Canada's supports Africa. Let me assure you that our government shares your vision of families that are healthy and prosperous, economies that are growing, and provide meaningful employment, and countries that are self-sufficient and strong. We also share with you the need to build brighter futures for your children and the next generation.

For example, together we identified education as an important first step to successfully reaching this goal. I am happy to report that we are on track to meet our commitment to increase our bilateral funding to basic education in Africa to $150 million annually by 2010-2011. As a result of our joint efforts with African and development partners in many of your countries, more than 6 million children, half of them girls, attended school between 2002 and 2007. Canadians are proud to be a part of your successes.

We supported the Government of Tanzania when it set out to revitalize its education system. Its primary school enrolment has increased by more than 35 percent since the 1990s. In 2007, over 97 percent of their children were in schools; 45,000 new classrooms have been built; and over the past five years, they've added 40,000 additional qualified teachers into their school system. I can tell you that when the Prime Minister and I visited one of their schools, we knew Canadians would be proud of the accomplishments we saw.

Together with our partners in many African countries, we have also made similar strides in health care. Here again, I am pleased to report that Canada is on track to meet its 2006 G8 Summit commitment to the Africa Health Systems Initiatives with $450 million over 10 years. Today, more health care workers are being trained, essential health services are being expanded and health systems are being improved in countries like Mali, Mozambique, Sudan, Tanzania, the DRC, Nigeria, South Africa and Zambia.

We know that we must continue to work together in these and other areas to achieve your country's goals for the future. However, over the past 18 months, your countries have seen dramatic challenges never seen before. A worldwide food crisis caused rioting, and extreme weather conditions have hit many countries with either drought or floods.

As the humanitarian need rose in Africa so did Canada's response. Back in 2007-2008, our overall humanitarian aid to Africa was $84.4 million. Last year, in 2008-2009, Canada's overall humanitarian aid to Africa rose from $84.4 million to $200.5 million.

Although Africa has achieved remarkable development results, doubling its GDP since the 1980s, decreasing its poverty rates by 5 percent in the previous five years, we know that the impact of the global economic crisis is being felt more intensely in Africa than anywhere else in the world. The African Development Bank projects that 29 million jobs could disappear; pushing 27 million more people into poverty. In sub-Saharan Africa, the World Bank estimates the number of people living on $1.25 or less a day has almost doubled since 1981, and if this trend persists, a third of the world's poor will live in Africa by 2015.

That is why, last month at the G20, Prime Minister Harper announced that Canada will provide $2.8 billion in callable capital to the African Development Bank, increasing Canada's level of shares by 200 percent. This initiative by Canada alone will allow the Bank to increase its lending by 75 percent. Through the Bank, these new resources will assist your countries meet the basic needs of your people and help sustain the important gains made in education, health and your economies.

Along with you, Canada is looking to the long term. A few days ago, in Winnipeg, I announced CIDA's strategy and plans for Food Security. It is one of CIDA's three thematic focuses that I told you about last spring, along with economic growth and children and youth. I want to thank those who participated in our consultation process this summer as we worked on developing our plans.

We know that now more than a billion people worldwide are now facing extreme hunger and near starvation, a reality resulting from the impact of the economic recession and the food crisis, compounded by climate change and extreme weather conditions. I am sure you are very concerned as to how wide and deep these factors have affected your people.

As the head of the World Food Programme has said, "Food is at the basis of human survival." In fact, hunger and malnutrition cause more deaths than HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined. That is why Food Security will be a key focus for CIDA in its work going forward. Under our Food Security Strategy, we will follow three paths - food aid and nutrition, agriculture and research and development. Let me say a few words about each of these, beginning with food aid.

In the midst of the food crisis, our government first made up a shortfall in Canada's Food Aid Convention commitment, inherited from the previous government. At the same time, we increased our food aid minimum commitment by $50 million to $230 million annually. In fact, our government has met Canada's Food Aid Convention commitment every year we have been in office, even exceeding our targets. Of the $318 million contributed by Canada under the Food Aid Convention last year, 62 percent went to Africa.

When we untied our food aid in 2008, it meant that now Canada's food aid dollars have increased their purchasing power by up to 35 percent. It means food and supplies can reach those who need it faster, at a lower cost, as well as support local agricultural development in areas closer to those who are in need.

CIDA will also work on new and better ways to procure and manage emergency food stocks. As part of the Prime Minister's G8 Summit commitment this year, Canada will support two World Food Programme's 'Purchase for Progress Initiative' pilots, one in each of Ghana and Afghanistan. Through this program, the WFP commits to purchasing locally grown food from low-income or smallholder farmers in Ghana. Our support led the WFP to call Canada one of its "most secure and creative partners on the frontlines of hunger."

And millions of the worlds most vulnerable are also malnourished leading to illness, blindness, mental disorders, and death. This year, Canada became the Vice-Chair of the Food Aid Convention Committee. As such, Canada was able to have micronutrients added to the list of food items under the Convention. Under our Food Security Strategy, CIDA will increase its micronutrient programming and promote nutrient supplements as an integral part of food security programs worldwide. To ensure that children get a nutritious meal every day, we will continue to support school-feeding programs, many programs currently in place in Africa.

As many of you know, agriculture is central to livelihoods and a primary source of economic prosperity, human health and social well being. Many have said a significant factor leading to today's food crisis is the decreasing investment in agriculture in developing countries for over a decade. These countries must become more self-reliant in feeding their populations and by doing so, improve their economies.

According to the 2008 World Development Report, agriculture-related growth is between 2 and 4 times more effective in reducing poverty than other sectors. In the poorest countries, up to 80 percent of the rural poor depend, in one form or another, on farming to gain their livelihoods.

As part of its Food Security Strategy, CIDA will work closely with countries that are planning for the future. We will support national and regional agricultural plans, helping with access to technology and practices to achieve sustainable agriculture and food production growth and stability. CIDA's plan is to increase its support for agriculture to achieve sustainable long-term food security, while contributing to economic growth.

In July of this year, Prime Minister Harper announced that Canada was committing an additional $600 million for agricultural development over three years, 50 percent of which is estimated to go to Africa. As part of this commitment, Canada's support for the International Fund for Agricultural Development, IFAD, will make it the world's 4th largest contributor. With Canada's help, support will be given to smallholder farmers to improve their business practices, increase productivity, improve the nutritional value of crops, rehabilitate their farmland, access finance, and develop their markets. With this kind of focus and a commitment to more than double Canada's current investment in agriculture to nearly $1.2 billion over three years, CIDA is determined to make a difference.

It has also been observed that as investments in agricultural research in developing countries declined over the past 30 years, so too has agricultural productivity overall and food security declined. Canada has a strong tradition of research and innovation in agriculture. Canada is also a top financial supporter of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, CGIAR. As part of Canada's G8 commitment to agriculture, we will be supporting two CGIAR Challenge Programs, one to increase the micronutrient value of staple foods. The second to explore new ways to help vulnerable rural communities adjust to the impacts of climate change. Our government's G8 commitment to agriculture research through CGIAR will compliment CIDA's current investment in 22 agricultural research programs, programs such as the Pan African Bean Research Alliance that has developed over 100 new bean varieties and reached over seven million households.

In addition to this, 10 days ago in Winnipeg I announced the new Canadian International Food Security Research Fund, a partnership with Canada's International Development Research Centre, to support applied research with developing countries. Working with researchers in developing countries, the new CIFS Research Fund will finance practical, applied research that seeks to solve immediate and concrete challenges on the ground in those countries, challenges such as dry land farming and rehabilitation, reduction of post-harvest losses, vaccines to combat livestock diseases. Our goals are to see results that are accessible to smallhold farmers, who produce 80 percent of the food consumed in many developing countries, particularly in Africa and Asia, the majority of whom are women.

Our government is making these new strategic investments in Food Security in hopes of making a measurable difference for millions of people in the future, but to make a real difference means that whether in its work on Food Security, Economic Development or Children and Youth, CIDA will continue to follow its Aid Effectiveness Agenda. Canada will look to consult with your governments. We will support your national poverty reduction plans or your national, regional or even district agricultural, education, health and economic plans. We believe that by supporting willing governments and their plans to build a better future for their people, our efforts will be more sustainable, effective and bring about meaningful results. whereby the people see its leadership, whether at the national, regional, or local level, providing for their basic needs and services. I know that when these kinds of results are reported to Canadians, they will see the outcomes they want from Canada's international assistance.

By concentrating and focusing our resources, Canada will also select the most effective channels of aid to achieve our mutual objectives. This may be through hemispheric institutions, regional organizations or more local efforts. All of our work will be further aided by CIDA's contribution of $500 million toward the New Partnership for Africa's Development, or NEPAD, which came out of the G8 Africa Action Plan. Canada has been a long time supporter of your own African institutions, such as the African Union, the African Development Bank, and regional economic communities such as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the East African Community (EAC). We will continue to identify ways in which we can strengthen our country-level work by working with these institutions.

CIDA supports the African Union's establishment of the Africa Peer Review Mechanism, an important part of our need for accountability. I commend the 29 African Union Member States, including all of our countries of focus, who are now voluntarily part of the peer review process.

Canada's official bilingualism has eased our work in Africa's Francophonie countries, such as Mali, Burkina Faso and Senegal, produce important results in governance, economic management, and education. And this is enhanced by Canada's strong support for the Francophonie. Canada also values the work of the Commonwealth Secretariat in promoting democracy and governance and its support to smaller states.

At the same time, as you know, Canada is itself dealing with the impact of the global recession in a responsible manner, but I am proud to say that Canada is among those countries that has not - not - reduced its international assistance this year, but in fact is increasing it. As I pointed out earlier, Canada is on track to maintaining the same level of support for Africa this year as was provided last year.

We will continue to work hard and meet our obligations to those in need, as part of the international donor community, through effective and accountable international assistance. In fact, after doing a quick review late last night, I can report that since we last met in June, CIDA has processed 28 new projects and programs for Africa, representing over $120 million. These will support work in 17 African countries, only five of which are on CIDA's bilateral Countries of Focus list.

As you can see our government is committed to continue to assist and support Africa. And our most meaningful commitment to the developing world, including Africa, is that we will make responsible, meaningful commitments and keep them.

We will continue to work with partners in the most efficient, focused and accountable ways to achieve outcomes we can all be proud of. Canada, through CIDA, will continue to help you meet your challenges and realize your vision of a brighter future for African people. At the heart of our relationship with Africa, Canada's long-term goal is for a strong, self-sufficient and resilient Africa.

Merci. Thank you.