Big changes are coming to Canada's annual $4.1-billion foreign aid budget that will see a significant reduction in the number of countries receiving Canadian assistance.
The new policy, expected by the end of the year, has been quietly under discussion within government for at least six months but non-profit groups working in foreign aid complain that they have been excluded from consultations.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper signalled plans for the new policy during a question and answer session in New York recently, telling foreign policy analysts that a review of foreign aid has “concluded that it's not nearly as effective as it could be” and that an announcement would be made “in the coming weeks.”
“We will be announcing a number of measures to make it more effective in terms of promoting a range of Canadian interests and values,” he added.
Although details are still being worked on, it's believed that the goal is to drastically shrink the number of countries receiving the bulk of bilateral aid from more than 75 currently to fewer than 25.
At the same time, the new focus will highlight assistance to Afghanistan, which emerged as Canada's largest aid recipient over Haiti three years ago, and to the Americas, which Mr. Harper has promised to make a priority for Canadian foreign policy.
Foreign aid groups admit that the Canadian International Development Agency needs reform and that a concentration on fewer countries may be desirable, but they're angry about being left out of the loop and worried that the new focus may take the emphasis away from helping the poor, particularly in Africa.
“We're perplexed because we haven't been consulted on this,” said Robert Fox, executive director of Oxfam Canada. “As recently as two weeks ago, senior CIDA officials said there was no foreign aid review planned. This is coming as a surprise to us and as a surprise to some people at CIDA.”
“They haven't spoken with us,” said Roy Culpeper, president of the North-South Institute. “It's not their style.”
The government outlined its main goals in the March budget, saying that concentration on fewer countries was needed. “Canada is among the least focused of all the countries that give aid,” the budget said.
As part of focusing on fewer countries, the government said it intends to be among the five largest donors in each of its core countries and to move more of its employees to the field and away from CIDA headquarters.
It's the same message included in the international policy statement published by the former Liberal government of Paul Martin.
“We will narrow our focus to maximize our impact,” the Martin document said. “We will be realistic about Canada's ability to help others, but we will be resolute in ensuring that our aid money is targeted so that it does as much good as possible.”
“CIDA doesn't have a good track record of getting out and doing things,” said John Richards, a professor of public policy at Simon Fraser University and author of an influential study on Canada's aid effectiveness for the C.D. Howe Institute. “Eighty-five per cent of its personnel is in Hull.”
“There's a sense that CIDA does need to rethink its strategies and policies that it hasn't changed for two decades,” he said in an interview.
Mr. Richards believes that Canada should not only concentrate its actions on fewer countries but in more limited sectors, notably primary health care and basic education.
While agreeing to narrow most aid to just a couple of dozen countries, the government has so far not taken the tough decisions on which countries will be cut off.
“There are lots of small ethnic communities in Canada who will not be happy to see countries fall off the list,” Mr. Richards said.
Striking off a series of countries from Canada's aid largesse could also prove embarrassing for Mr. Harper when he meets leaders of these nations in November at the Commonwealth summit in Uganda or when Canada plays host to the Francophone Summit in Quebec City next year. Afghanistan, which now is the leading recipient of aid, as well Latin America and the Caribbean will be essential parts of the new policy. Mr. Harper made that clear in his week-long visit to the Americas this summer and Bev Oda, the new international development minister, is just back from her inaugural foreign trip – to Haiti and Jamaica.
A spokeswoman for Ms. Oda was tightlipped when asked about the foreign aid review. “At this point, we have nothing to announce. When we'll announce it, we'll announce it.”
Gerry Barr, president of the Canadian Council on International Co-operation, an umbrella group of foreign-aid NGOs, is concerned that the emphasis on the Americas and Afghanistan could come at a heavy cost.
“Does this impinge on the priority currently accorded to Africa? If that is the case, that would be a very bad thing.”
And he's worried that development aid could simply become an extension of Canada's foreign policy rather than dedicated to alleviating the suffering of the world's poorest people. “That would be really alarming.”
Mr. Barr also would like to see Canada's performance on foreign aid improved. Mr. Harper has promised that Canada would work to increase Canada's effort as a percentage to the average of advanced economies – which was 0.42 per cent of gross domestic product last year. Canada's effort was a meagre 0.33 of a percentage point.
This weak performance is “especially poignant when the country is looking at better than a $14-billion surplus” this year, Mr. Barr said.
