Making Canadian Aid Work - Results that make a difference

Delivering on G8 commitments

As a member of the G8 and through its own programming, Canada has acted to increase the amount of Canadian international assistance, while also ensuring that aid is delivered more effectively. Taken together, these actions mean that Canada's work in international development delivers concrete benefits to people around the world.

In 2002, at the International Conference on Financing for Development in Monterrey, Canada committed to double its international assistance to $5 billion by 2010-2011. This commitment was reiterated at the G8 Gleneagles Summit in 2005. Canada is on track to meet this commitment.

Canada met its Gleneagles commitment to double aid to Africa in 2008-2009. 

Doubling Canada's international assistance envelope

Canada's efforts

The Government of Canada has taken important steps to transform how it delivers aid by strengthening the focus, effectiveness, and accountability of its aid program. To assist in this effort, Canada has adopted a comprehensive aid effectiveness agenda. This agenda assists Canada in fulfilling its international commitments as set out in the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness (2005) and the Accra Agenda for Action (2008) (PDF, 317 KB, 23 pages). Important elements include:

• concentrating 80 percent of its bilateral aid in 20 countries of focus in which Canadian aid can make a high impact
• establishing five priority themes to guide Canada's international assistance, namely:
  
  
  • increasing food security
  • securing the future of children and youth
  • stimulating sustainable economic growth
  • ensuring security and stability
  • advancing democracy
  
  
• moving more CIDA operations to the field to increase impact and responsiveness

Canada's aid programs reach every region of the world (2008-2009):

• Americas: $724 million
• Africa: $2,165 million
• Eastern Europe: $197 million
• Asia: $1,279 million
• Middle East: $322 million
• Not allocated to a specific region: $743 million

Between 2005 and 2008 the share of Canada's bilateral aid going to low-income countries grew, rising from 53 percent to 69 percent.

Untying aid

In April 2008 the Government of Canada untied 100 percent of Canada's food aid. This was followed by an announcement in September 2008 to fully untie development aid by 2012-2013. Canada has made important progress in terms of its untying ratio, which has increased from 75 percent in 2007 to 91 percent in 2008.

Untying aid makes each dollar spent more effective by reducing delivery costs and building local infrastructure: the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development estimates an increase in effectiveness of up to 35 percent. This increase comes from the freedom to use local suppliers, seek the best costs, and benefit from simplified logistics. In addition, untied aid helps build local systems and long-term capacity.

Results that make a difference

In 2008-2009, Canada, with other development partners, delivered concrete results:

• 102 million people were fed in 78 countries
• 3.5 million people were taught better agricultural methods
• 75,000 small businesses were launched
• 20,000 front-line health workers in Africa were trained as a result of Canada's support to the Catalytic Initiative to Save a Million Lives
• clean water was provided to 130,000 people in 260 rural districts in Mozambique
• an estimated 45,000 African children's lives will be saved as a result of Canada's commitment of $20 million to Save the Children Canada's community program for malaria and pneumonia
• through nearly $1 billion in funding to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, 4.5 million AIDS orphans have received medical services, community care, and education, and support has been provided to 790,000 HIV-positive women to prevent the transmission of the virus from mothers to their children
• more than 7 million children under the age of five were vaccinated against polio in Afghanistan, one of the last countries where the disease remains endemic
• more than 2,500 community-based schools were established in Afghanistan, providing educational opportunities to 80,000 children ― 85 percent of them girls

Through the Canadian debt relief initiative, Canada has now cancelled close to $1 billion of debt owed by the world's most heavily indebted poor countries.

For information on specific projects, search CIDA's Project Browser.

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