Archive for 'Blog'

Mr. Harper’s Maternal and Child Health Summit, Part 1: ‘Saving’ Women and Children by Targeting ‘Walking Wombs’

Guest blog by Rebecca Tiessen, University of Ottawa, May 22, 2014

Maternal health should be about women’s health before, during and after pregnancy, not just mothers. Some women who require maternal healthcare will not become mothers because fetuses and babies may not survive or because the women may not choose to raise these children. Therefore, an effective and comprehensive maternal health strategy is key. It should include services that address women’s maternal health needs, while also addressing the broader societal ...

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Paradis Shocker: NGOs Stunned

Paradis Shocker: NGOs Stunned

McLeod Group Blog, May 21, 2014

Christian Paradis, Canada’s Minister for International Development, surprised a great many people—stunned might be a better word–when he said this in an April press release:

“Canada recognizes and supports the vital role that civil society plays in reaching development objectives. Civil society engages citizens in their countries’ decision-making processes that affect them. Empowered by the fundamental rights of freedom of expression, association and assembly, civil society enables citizens to hold their governments to account, providing ...

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McLeod Group at the CCIC-CAIDP Conference May 2014

Clan McLeod was out in force at this event, sharing the limelight with Joe Clark, Development Cooperation Minister Christian Paradis and a broad mix of Canadian development actors drawn from the memberships of the Canadian Council for International Cooperation (CCIC) and the Canadian Association of Independent Development Professionals (CAIDP).

The highlight of our participation was a session, ‘Taking Stock: the Changing Context for Development’. The event was informal, even if the room was packed. It was a set of frank and lively conversations ...

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Better Data on Foreign Aid: Not the Same as Better Transparency

Better Data on Foreign Aid: Not the Same as Better Transparency

Guest Blog by Brian Tomlinson

May 7, 2014

 The International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI), launched in 2008 in Accra, aimed to make information about foreign aid spending easier to access, understand and use. It was and remains a noble ambition, well worth pursing for several reasons. First and foremost, access to information on the use of public resources for development cooperation is a citizen’s right. Understanding of the trends and policies affecting allocations of public resources for aid, including resources raised from ...

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Canada and the Commonwealth: Hissy Fits, Shouting and Bullying

Canada and the Commonwealth: Hissy Fits, Shouting and Bullying

McLeod Group Blog, April 21, 2014

The Harper government’s announcement that it will cut $20 million over the next two years from its funding to the Commonwealth Secretariat because of human rights abuse in Sri Lanka is surely one of the most illogical things it has done in a fast-growing list.

The Prime Minister of Sri Lanka currently serves as the Chair-in-Office of the Commonwealth because Sri Lanka hosted the last Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in 2013. The Chair-in-Office is ...

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Slip Sliding Away: Democracy and the Silencing of Civil Society Organizations

McLeod Group Blog, April 9, 2014

It may come as a surprise to many Canadians who follow global civil society issues to learn that Canada chairs the Community of Democracies’ Working Group on Enabling and Protecting Civil Society, a group that believes,

“An active, pluralistic civil society is an essential ingredient of a vibrant democratic political system. Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) are the primary vehicles through which people organize themselves to promote shared objectives and values and to convey their interests. ...

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Land-Grabs Expropriate Poor Farmers’ Livelihoods

Guest Blog by Roy Culpeper

Chair, Coalition for Equitable Land Acquisitions and Development in Africa

March 27, 2014

Over the past decade and a half, huge swaths of land in the developing world have been wrested from the rightful owners, peasant farmers and pastoralists who typically have no formal property rights even though they and their forebears have worked the land for centuries. Often the dispossessed are moved onto marginal lands with poor access to water, undermining ...

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Canada and Haiti: What is there to show from the last four years?

March 17, 2014

It is now more than four years since a devastating earthquake struck Haiti, killing over 200,000 and leaving over 3 million homeless. The poorest country in the Western hemisphere, at that point still recovering from hurricanes in 2008, saw the poorest segment of its population affected by an even more severe natural disaster.

The outpouring of sympathy and support from countries in the hemisphere, and beyond, was swift and massive. Governments pledged large amounts and sent relief teams, the ...

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Gay Rights in Africa: Regroup, Recommit, Act, Learn

Gay Rights in Africa: Regroup, Recommit, Act, Learn

March 10, 2014

Well, that didn’t work.

With the recent signing of harsh anti-gay laws by the otherwise pro-Western presidents of Uganda and Nigeria, it’s time for the West to reassess how it can help advance LGBT rights in Africa.

And then take bold action.

Why Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni or Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan calculated they had to support the further criminalization of homosexuals is a good question.

Perhaps they needed to lock in the votes and money of conservative political and ...

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Guile, Ambiguity and the Cult of Mediocrity

Guile, Ambiguity and the Cult of Mediocrity

January 21, 2014

On December 5, 2013, Canada’s International Development Minister (yes, there still is one) Christian Paradis spoke to the Montreal Board of Trade about the Harper Government’s approach to foreign aid. The speech was chock-full of myth, urban legend, half-truths and what can only be described as a bunch of whoppers.

Mr. Paradis began by saying, “I want us to be recognized as a world leader in poverty reduction and humanitarian assistance.” That may be what he wants, but ...

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