McLeod Group guest blog by Adrian Murray, June 3, 2020

Will the COVID-19 pandemic pit countries against each other or will it promote global solidarity? Despite frequent public statements to the contrary, Canada’s actions would suggest that unfortunately we are not all in this together.

In early April, Minister of International Development Karina Gould insisted that: “The COVID-19 virus knows no borders. This has been a wake-up call for the world to stand in solidarity and work together. ...

McLeod Group blog by Kirsten Van Houten and Em Mijares, June 1, 2020

Around the world, many governments and other actors are using the cover of COVID-19 to perpetrate human rights abuses. In response, Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister François-Philippe Champagne stated that “while the need to protect public health is vital, it is imperative to ensure that these measures are not used to undermine the fundamental civil liberties and human rights of all people.”

Since then, the Canadian ...

McLeod Group blog by Stephen Brown, May 21, 2020

[Postscript: The website discussed in this blog, AidHelpsCanada.ca, was taken offline at the end of May 2020.]

Two prominent umbrella groups of Canadian development organizations – CCIC and CanWaCH – recently launched a COVID-themed campaign to drum up support for Canadian foreign aid. In doing so, they have embraced a nationalistic, threat-based case for aid that verges on xenophobia, reinforces outdated stereotypes and risks undermining ...

McLeod Group blog by Stéphanie Bacher and Kirsten Van Houten, April 20, 2020

The COVID-19 virus has now reached Africa, a few weeks after it hit Europe and North America. Many analysts fear that the virus’s impact on the continent is nothing less than a “time bomb”, due to a lack of adequate health infrastructure and personal protective equipment. There is an urgent need for international assistance. Canada can play a leading role in supporting community-led initiatives, including ...

McLeod Group blog by Stephen Brown, April 16, 2020

Despite talking a good game when it comes to foreign aid, Canada is still not stepping up to the plate. Baseball metaphors are not my forte, but it is clear that Canada is refusing to contribute its fair share of development assistance. In fact, the figures for 2019, released earlier today, reveal that Canada under the current government is less generous than the previous year, less generous than ...

McLeod Group blog by Hunter McGill and Lauchlan T. Munro, April 16, 2020

Aid-funded efforts to promote human rights, gender equality and good governance overseas have encountered many problems over the years. Impediments include low levels of funding, changing donor priorities and a projectized approach that supports individual, time-bound initiatives without building organizations, systems or movements.

A recent Canadian initiative, the Equality Fund, seeks to change all that. With financial support from public, private and philanthropic sources, the ...

McLeod Group blog by Lauchlan T. Munro, April 9, 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced governments around the world to take drastic policy measures, whose scale and scope are truly astonishing. Many of these measures were unthinkable only two months ago. As the nature of the policy responses to the pandemic becomes clear, it is time to take stock of the early implementation. Here are five early lessons.

1. The unthinkable is doable

Nobody would have thought, two months ...

McLeod Group guest blog by Molly den Heyer, April 7, 2020

If you speak to any hardened international development practitioner, they will share stories about epidemics, states of emergency, conflicts and economic crises – but most will also acknowledge that this time is different. There is no green zone or safe third country to which to retreat from COVID-19. This global pandemic will, according to projections, ebb and flow for many months.

While experts in humanitarian aid jump ...

McLeod Group guest blog by Clark Soriano and Rhonda Gossen, March 25, 2020

With a global health emergency now declared and COVID-19 present in most countries on earth, we need to ask: How should international assistance be used in this health emergency, beyond the usual items such as immediate humanitarian funding for supplies, equipment, and surge staff? Both humanitarian and development agencies need to act fast across multiple organizational mandates and ...

McLeod Group blog, January 27, 2020

Ten years ago this month, a massive earthquake struck Haiti, devastating the capital Port-au-Prince and other cities such as Léogâne and Jacmel. About 230,000 people were killed, with many more injured and tens of thousands of homes and small businesses destroyed. Over one million people were left homeless. For the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, already struggling to recover from hurricanes in 2008 and 2009, the earthquake dealt a shattering blow.

The international response ...