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Policy Coherence for Development: Putting it into Practice

Policy Coherence for Development: Putting it into Practice

McLeod Group Blog by Stephen Brown, June 23, 2016

Providing foreign aid is only one among many things that countries like Canada can do to promote international development. Official development assistance (ODA) on its own is not sufficient to help developing countries radically improve the lot of their poor and marginalized people, including achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by the 2030 deadline.

A government’s policies beyond aid – including agriculture, fisheries, trade, investment, immigration, climate change, security and intellectual property ...

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THE PRIVATE SECTOR AND BUCKETS OF MONEY

THE PRIVATE SECTOR AND BUCKETS OF MONEY

McLeod Group Blog, June 20, 2016

A year ago, in July 2015, the great and the good of the world’s development community gathered in Addis Ababa to talk money at a conference on “financing for development”. It had become clear, in the lead up to the agreement on the Sustainable Development Goals, that the world’s foreign aid budgets were not going to come anywhere near the price tag. Action was required.

What emerged was an “Action Agenda” that had 134 paragraphs, ...

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The UN Development System: Running on Empty

The UN Development System: Running on Empty

McLeod Group Blog, May 31, 2016

Canada wants to regain its international reputation. But we won’t get it back with a charm offensive. Canada needs to renew support for an effective UN, with a special focus on ways in which the UN Development System is financed.

Imagine running a company and having control over only 25% of your overall budget—your core funding. Imagine the rest being controlled by 30 large investors and a score of smaller ones, each pushing you into product ...

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CANADA’S INTERNATIONAL ASSISTANCE REVIEW: OPPORTUNITIES AND RED HERRINGS

CANADA’S INTERNATIONAL ASSISTANCE REVIEW: OPPORTUNITIES AND RED HERRINGS

McLeod Group Blog, May 20, 2016

In his Globe and Mail column on May 12, Jeffrey Simpson took note of seven major policy consultations currently under way: Canada Post, defence, communications and culture, innovation, productivity, missing and murdered aboriginal women, Via Rail upgrades and the legalization of marijuana, all expected to report back in 2017. The very next day, Friday the 13th, Global Affairs Canada (GAC) kicked off another one: an International Assistance Review.

“See a pattern here?” Simpson asked. “Consultation. ...

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TRUDEAU SHOCK SENSATION: “AID TARGETS TOO AMBITIOUS”

TRUDEAU SHOCK SENSATION: “AID TARGETS TOO AMBITIOUS”

McLeod Group Blog, May 12, 2016

According to a recent article in the Toronto Star, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has “acknowledged Ottawa has no intention of meeting the international goal to spend .70 per cent of gross domestic product on foreign aid anytime soon.” The article goes on to say that he is “scaling back Canada’s support of a key UN goal to boost international aid spending, calling it ‘too ambitious.’”

In fact what Trudeau said—a bit deeper into the article—was, ...

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BROKE OR BROKEN? HOW WE RESPOND TO EMERGENCIES

BROKE OR BROKEN? HOW WE RESPOND TO EMERGENCIES

A McLeod Group Blog, April 22, 2016

by Ian Smillie

In May the United Nations will convene the first-ever ‘World Humanitarian Summit’ in Istanbul, bringing together world leaders, NGOs, the private sector and others—5000 people in all—to talk about the growing humanitarian challenges of our time. The objective is to ‘enable the world to better prepare for and respond to crises, and become more resilient to shocks.’ A ‘major shift’ in disaster prevention is foreseen.

Maybe.

For months, the humanitarian paper mill has ...

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Foreign Aid Mindlessness – USAID Has Lost its Vision

Foreign Aid Mindlessness – USAID Has Lost its Vision

Guest Blog by Tom Dichter, January 7, 2016

About a year ago the U.S. government’s foreign aid agency (USAID) completed a new mission statement based on polling some 1500 of its staff members.

“We partner to end extreme poverty and to promote resilient, democratic societies while advancing our security and prosperity.”

I’ve been working in international development for fifty years and I’ve rarely seen as mindless a statement coming from any entity devoted to promoting development (Recall that USAID stands for the “United ...

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Not Wanted on the Voyage

Not Wanted on the Voyage

McLeod Group Blog, December 21, 2015

Like a bunch of month-old puppies, the media are all over the Syrian refugee story, unsure whether to focus on missed deadlines or new ski jackets for kiddies getting off the plane. There isn’t much talk, however, about those left behind: the 4.3 million Syrians in Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon, and the hundreds of thousands of Afghans, Somalis, Iraqis, Eritreans, West Africans and Asians trying to make it across the Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean.

Of the ...

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Canada is Back. But How Far Back?

Canada is Back. But How Far Back?

McLeod Group Blog, Dec. 14, 2015

December 4, 2015 saw the first throne speech of the Liberal government. The speech carried the by now familiar ‘Canada is back’ message, one that has been very successful in drumming up international applause for the Trudeau government. The speech was very compact, essentially a set of headlines, recapping the Liberal manifesto and ministerial mandates, with an emphasis on current hot topics: refugees, re-engagement on climate change and Canada’s indigenous population.

It devoted just a single ...

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A Little Humility Please

A Little Humility Please

McLeod Group Blog, Nov. 30, 2015

The Centre for International Policy Studies  (CIPS) at the University of Ottawa recently released a report entitled “Towards 2030: Building Canada’s Engagement with Global Sustainable Development”. The report was produced by a working group co-chaired by Margaret Biggs, former President of the erstwhile CIDA, and John W. McArthur, an economist with a solid pedigree in a range of cross-cutting development issues.

The report is nothing if not optimistic about Canada’s proposed engagement with “global sustainable ...

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