Posts Tagged 'transparency'

OPAQUE TRANSPARENCY IN CANADA’S FOREIGN AID

OPAQUE TRANSPARENCY IN CANADA’S FOREIGN AID

McLeod Group Blog, June 30, 2016

By Liam Swiss and Stephen Brown

The Canadian government has been lauded for its efforts to increase the transparency of its foreign aid. The Aid Transparency Index has ranked Canada’s bilateral aid in the “Good” category for the past few years, below only a handful of the world’s top donor agencies. The government regularly publishes open data online, including its historical project datasets and contributions to the International Aid Transparency ...

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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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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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Lending for Private Sector-led Development. Another false start?

July 26, 2013

For decades development practitioners, including CIDA, have recognised the critical role of the private sector of developing countries in creating jobs for the poor.

We did not need the 2012 House Report to confuse the issue of strengthening the role of that local private sector with the promotion of Canadian offshore investment. Now, just as the very name CIDA is scratched from Canada’s international face to be replaced by the ugly acronym DFATD, there may be plans afoot ...

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Transparency, Secrecy, and Crystal Balls at CIDA

April 25, 2012

In 2011, Canada joined the International Aid Transparency Initiative, a global standard that aims to make information about aid spending easier to access, use and understand. The move was timely (although there is still no implementation schedule, four months after signing), not least because obtaining meaningful details on CIDA spending has always been difficult.

But transparency, it seems, will be limited to “where” and “how much”. The “why” will continue to be elusive, as will predictability and consistency. When ...

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