The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and International Cooperation
Development in its most tangible form is simply a healthy child, a girl who can go to school, a poor woman who has access to credit, an ethnic group that is able to live in peace, a dissident allowed to speak. Development means water, food, schools, health care, jobs for all, and the freedom and dignity for every person to be a full-fledged citizen.
Development is an enormous and multidimensional global effort that affects every facet of life in every country. It is a complex, long-term process that involves all of the world's peoples--rich and poor--and governments and organizations at all levels. Canada, like other industrialized countries, provides international development assistance in the form of goods, services, the transfer of knowledge and skills, and financial contributions. The objective is to give developing countries and countries in transition the tools to eventually meet their own needs.
Developing countries have made undeniable progress in recent decades. Unfortunately, this progress has been uneven. While some countries have achieved remarkable economic growth and are becoming important trading partners for Canada, others are still very poor. Each country's assistance program is different and depends on a country's needs, its stage of development and capacities. In accordance with its principles, Canada allocates the largest share of its budget to the poorest countries of Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.
Countries in transition are those of Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, which began the transition from communism to democracy and a market economy in 1989. Canada's encouragement of cooperation is intended to facilitate this transition, which is vital to the region.
Cooperation between Canada and all these countries acts as a catalyst, expediting returns on the efforts and investments made by the countries themselves.
What aid has done for developing countries
- Child mortality rates have been cut in half in one generation.
- For the first time in developing countries, adults who can read outnumber those who cannot.
- Average incomes in the developing world have more than doubled over the past 30 years.
- The number of families with access to safe drinking water has increased to 70%.
Canada's aid program
The assistance provided through Canada's aid program is called Official Development Assistance (ODA). The money for ODA comes from the International Assistance Envelope, which is also used to fund other cooperation programs, such as assistance to Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. For 1997-98, the ODA budget is $1.9 billion, or less than two cents of every dollar the federal government spends.
The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) is the federal government agency responsible for about 80% of Canada's aid. Established in 1968, it reports to Parliament through the Minister for International Cooperation and Minister responsible for La Francophonie. The other 20% is administered by the Department of Finance and the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, which have responsibility for specific aspects of the aid program, such as our contributions to the World Bank and other international organizations.
CIDA supports projects in more than 100 countries, which represent four-fifths of the world's people. CIDA works in partnership with developing countries, Canadian organizations, institutions and businesses, as well as international organizations and agencies.
Since 1995, CIDA has administered a special budget allocated for cooperation with the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. At present, this budget is approximately $90 million a year. CIDA programs in these coutries are helping to support the transition to market economies, to promote democratic development and to increase Canadian trade and investment. This budget is in addition to and separate from the Official Development Assistance budget.
CIDA's mandate and priorities
The purpose of Canada's Official Development Assistance (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. To achieve this, the aid program concentrates on the following six priorities.
Basic human needs CIDA supports efforts to provide primary health care, basic education, family planning, nutrition, water and sanitation, and shelter.
Women in development CIDA supports the full participation of women as equal partners in the sustainable development of their societies.
Infrastructure services CIDA helps developing countries and countries in transition to deliver environmentally sound infrastructure services--for example, rural electricity and communications--with an emphasis on assisting poorer groups and building capacity.
Human rights, democracy, good governance CIDA works to increase respect for human rights, including children's rights. It promotes democracy and better governance, strengthens the components of civil society such as civic organizations and trade unions, and ensures the security of individuals.
Private sector development CIDA promotes sustained and equitable economic growth by supporting private sector development in countries.
The environment CIDA helps developing countries to protect their environment and to contribute to addressing global and regional issues.
What the aid program does for Canadians
Development assistance is a vital component of Canadian foreign policy. By furthering the social and economic development of developing countries or countries in transition, the assistance program contributes to global security and prosperity, including our own. In so doing, it assures Canada a major voice internationally, projects our values, makes our institutions, organizations and businesses known, and establishes ties between Canadian society and developing countries.
Global security
- Canadian aid contributes to global security by tackling threats to human security, such as human rights violations, disease, population growth, environmental degradation, and the growing gap between rich and poor.
- In developing countries, poverty is often the root cause of ecological damage. By reducing poverty, aid helps to protect the global environment. It can also enable all countries to develop in harmony with the environment.
- Poverty is also often a cause of social instability and civil unrest, which in turn can produce flows of refugees and acts of terrorism. Aid helps us build a safer, more peaceful world.
Prosperity and jobs
- In the long run, our efforts to reduce poverty will facilitate the establishment of a stronger global economy, in which we can all grow and prosper.
- Thanks to the ties created by the aid program, the Canadian economy is directly connected to some of the world's fastest growing markets--the markets of the developing world. The assistance we contribute in goods and services provides jobs, contracts and export sales for Canadians.
Canadian values
- Our aid program testifies to the desire of Canadians to help the less fortunate and to their concern for social justice. It effectively helps to project these values throughout the world.
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