Posts Tagged 'Aid'

HomeTag: Aid

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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So Long and Thanks for the Surplus

So Long and Thanks for the Surplus

McLeod Group Blog, Sept. 18, 2015

Through its most excellent management of the economy, the Harper government finally discovered, after six years in the red, how to balance the budget.

The surplus in 2014-15, we are told, amounts to $1.9 billion. This is seriously good news for a Conservative election campaign that seems a bit like a dump truck rolling downhill without brakes.

So how on earth did they finally do it? They did it in three ways. The first was asset-stripping. ...

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Welcome to Fantasy Island: Financing for Development

McLeod Group Blog, July 28, 2015

It’s pretty much official: The UN’s hugely ambitious Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), not yet formally launched, aren’t going to be worth much more than the paper they are being written on. If proof is needed, just read the 39-page report of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development, held in Addis Ababa in July.

There, the world’s development ministers, a few heads of state, the aid community and what the UN likes to ...

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Foreign Aid: Think of it More as a Dating Site

McLeod Group Blog, June 24, 2015

If you’re in favour of foreign aid, there is good news: Development aid from the world’s industrialized countries remained steady at US$135.2 billion in 2014, after an all-time high in 2013.

If you think aid should go to the poorest countries, however, there is bad news: They only got 28% of the total, a drop of 16% in a single year.

Among OECD member countries, the ten least generous—all at less than 0.2% of gross national ...

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The One We Would Write: A Mandate Letter for Canada’s Next Development Minister

The One We Would Write: A Mandate Letter for Canada’s Next Development Minister

McLeod Group Blog, June 16, 2015

You will serve as Minister of International Development Cooperation, with full cabinet membership, reporting directly to me as Prime Minister. As Minister you will:

Policy

  •  Rebuild Canada’s capacity to be a strong global development actor after a decade of institutional neglect and distorted priorities.
  • Develop programs within a broad made-in-Canada framework that does not rely on norms and precedents of G7 and OECD member states. Engaging the South is critical to Canada’s future well-being, its economic, political and ...
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‘NEW, INNOVATIVE, BLENDED’ – CANADA’S PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT FINANCE INITIATIVE

‘NEW, INNOVATIVE, BLENDED’ – CANADA’S PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT FINANCE INITIATIVE

McLeod Group Blog, May 11, 2015

In the 2015 Federal Budget, the Conservative Government announced the creation of a Canadian development finance ‘initiative’. Details remain scanty. In the name of ‘coherence and effectiveness’, the budget states that the government has established the new initiative to enhance private sector development, achieve meaningful development outcomes, and raise people out of poverty.

Despite claims about advancing ‘new’, ‘innovative’, and ‘blended’ financing by involving the private sector, neither promoting the role of the private sector ...

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Canada Balancing Budget on Backs of World’s Poorest

Canada Balancing Budget on Backs of World’s Poorest

Guest blog by Liam Swiss, April 22, 2015

Liam Swiss is an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology at Memorial University in St. John’s. He teaches courses on development, gender, globalization, and research methods.

The latest foreign aid numbers were released on April 8. Globally, aid remains at near record high levels (US$135 billion). This is good news for the global fight against poverty. The numbers tell a rather depressing story, however, if you are Canadian. In the past ...

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REQUEST FOR FEEDBACK

REQUEST FOR FEEDBACK

McLeod Group Blog, April 15, 2015

Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (DFATD), has come up with a novel idea: asking Canadians to board a train that left the station months ago.

The ‘train’ is the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that have been under negotiation at the UN and around the world for the past two years. The SDGs will build on the 2000-2015 Millennium Development goals and will establish the most comprehensive set of development plans ever conceived. ...

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