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Aid group chief says ‘tacit agreement’ reached with feds for new methods of funding.

Embassy Photo: Kristen Shane

CCIC president Julia Sánchez.

Kristen Shane

Published: Thursday, 07/31/2014 10:47 am EDT

Last Updated: Wednesday, 08/13/2014 10:56 am EDT

The head of a coalition of Canadian foreign aid groups says it has a “tacit agreement” with the

federal government that would help groups gain new access to funding, after what they describe

as years of drought.

This comes as members of the foreign aid

community say the government has started

warming to them after years of chilly relations.

But while they are talking more now, the funding

problems still need to be worked out with the

Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and

Development, they say.

“Based on our conversations with DFATD, both at the minister’s-office level and with senior staff, I

think we have an agreement, a tacit agreement, that DFATD needs to have a diversity of funding

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mechanisms,” said Julia Sánchez, president of the Canadian Council for International Co-operation, in a July 3 interview at her Rideau Street office.

Representatives of Canadian non-governmental organizations involved in internationaldevelopment have complained for years about how the government pays for programs they workon abroad. The government defends its new funding system as being based on merit, andemphasizing that no organization is entitled to taxpayer funding.

Funding upheaval

The former Canadian International Development Agency overhauled how it funds Canadian NGOsfor foreign aid in 2010.

Previously, many used to suggest funding ideas to CIDA through its former Partnership branch,work with bureaucrats to fine-tune their proposals to fit CIDA’s priorities, then submit them forapproval. Some organizations were funded continuously for decades, while facing CIDAevaluations to ensure they weren’t squandering the money.

That all changed in 2010 when then-international co-operation minister Bev Oda brought in a newcall-for-proposals system. NGOs had to compete against each other periodically when thegovernment announced a call, to gain from the same pot of money to fund specific projects.

Government officials stressed that no group was entitled to taxpayer money. The new systemensures money goes to the most-deserving proposals that can best deliver on the priorities of thecall, they said. Others said the new system is more objective than its predecessor, which wasvulnerable to criticism that some groups were receiving privileged access.

But groups have complained that the new application process is long and expensive with noguarantee of approval. Ms. Sánchez said small NGOs with long-time funding relationships with thegovernment and relevant expertise but not enough resources to put together a top-notchproposal may lose out to large groups with the money to prepare a great proposal but no strongexperience. There hasn’t been a set of major general calls since 2011.

A survey commissioned by CCIC and seven provincial and regional councils like it, conductedearlier this year and completed by 138 aid groups, indicated that a “lack of any significant andpredictable funding...since 2011 is having a profound and detrimental impact on Canadian [civilsociety organizations’] capacity to deliver their programs on the ground—in terms of reducedstaff, partnerships and activities.”

Forty-four per cent of survey respondents had seen their total revenue drop since 2010, theresults indicated. Small and medium groups were disproportionately affected. More than half thegroups cited the loss of CIDA (now integrated into the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade andDevelopment) funding as the main reason for the revenue decline.

Forty per cent of groups with a history of CIDA/DFATD funding reported they no longer had any.

Norm MacIsaac, executive director of the Montreal-based Léger Foundation and a CCIC boardmember, said his organization’s long-term relationships with local NGOs in developing countrieshave helped achieve results.

He said Léger’s project partners are helping to improve policies for the shelter and reintegrationof survivors of human trafficking and sexual exploitation, and they are even training police andadvising Facebook on these issues.

“None of this would be possible, though, through short-term one-off funding. It takes a long-termapproach, supporting, listening and evolving through partnership. If you want to achieve amazingresults, you have to ensure stable, predictable support,” he wrote in an email.

“Sadly, since 2011, we have increased expenditure on proposal-writing and our support hassuffered because of convoluted calls for proposals. We have continued to receive new fundingfrom DFATD since 2012, but only for short-term projects. There is much more we can achieve if wecan ensure longer-term support.”

Door opens to change

After years of complaints, Ms. Sánchez said the government appears to be listening. “I think thereis a common understanding that this is not optimal,” she said.

“It hasn’t been good for civil society, but it hasn’t allowed DFATD to do stuff the way that it’s beenused to doing stuff before.”

Mr. MacIsaac agreed that the government understands NGOs’ concerns.

“I think the minister understands that calls for proposals are not always the way to go, that long-term work, not short-term Band-Aid solutions, is needed. And we are absolutely thrilled with hisopenness and understanding. However, we need more than talk: we need action,” wrote Mr.MacIsaac.

CCIC isn’t opposed to calls for proposals, said Ms. Sánchez. They’re useful for very specificprojects, for instance, when evaluators can compare apples to apples. But for less tangibleprograms, like capacity-building projects that may take years to bear fruit, other funding optionsare needed.

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are needed.

A CCIC working group is exploring how best to fund different projects, she said, which she hopeswill report recommendations in the fall.

“The government looks forward to...the outcomes of the work done by the CCIC working group onfunding mechanisms,” wrote Nicolas Doire, a DFATD spokesperson, when asked whether hisdepartment is open to funding Canadian groups through more diverse ways.

He added, in his July 22 email response, that “Canada is committed to deliver real results whilebeing accountable to recipients as well as Canadian taxpayers,” and he defended the calls forproposals system for ensuring the most-deserving proposals get government money.

In the past five years, he said, development money to Canadian civil society groups has “remainedstable” consisting of an average of 18 per cent of the budget of the former CIDA (currentdevelopment branch of DFATD).

He also noted that calls for proposals aren’t the only way Canadian aid groups can apply forgovernment funding. He referred to a DFATD webpage that noted the department acceptsunsolicited proposals if they meet certain criteria.

All this comes as Mr. MacIsaac, Ms. Sánchez and others say they see the beginnings of a shift inrelations with the federal government to more dialogue. While the Harper government used toonly rarely consult foreign aid NGOs, Ms. Sánchez said the communications channels are nowopen. Mr. Paradis announced a few specific calls for proposals this spring and in June released adraft of a new policy on how the government works with civil society groups.

The draft commits to “providing predictable funding opportunities.”

Both Ms. Sánchez and Brian Tomlinson, executive director of AidWatch Canada and theresearcher who crunched the CCIC survey data, said they’d like to see that bulked up to speak todiverse funding mechanisms too. Both said they liked the wording of a statement Mr. Paradismade in April. It said the government intended to give “predictable, equitable and transparentfunding opportunities through different modalities that support the diverse roles of civil society.”

“There is stuff happening,” Ms. Sánchez noted. “We need to see more concrete manifestations ofthis.”

[email protected]@kristenshane1

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Mike Flynn · D'arcy McGee High School, Montreal

The only way civil society groups are going to be able to get a fair share of the Canadian

tax payers' dollars directed to international development is when Harper and his bunch

have been removed from power. Their concerns are more focused on photo ops,

emergency relief headlines and gaining the sympathies of new Canadians by seeming to

do something for their homelands. Development is the last thing on their minds.

Reply · Like · Follow Post · July 31 at 4:47pm

Danielle Flynnwell looks who is on Face book.,............

Reply · Like · July 31 at 6:00pm



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