Development Effectiveness Archives

“There Is No Development Without Peace”: Perspectives from Eastern Congo

by Cooperation Canada | Sep 12, 2023 | Development Effectiveness, Members' Spotlight, News

This story is part of Cooperation Canada’s Triple Nexus Spotlight Series

The village of Shasha, a little to the west of Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo, illustrates well the integration of humanitarian, development, and peace work. The rich volcanic soils in this area are densely settled by small-scale farmers who, in recent years, have been joined by thousands of internally displaced people (IDPs) fleeing combat zones. The arrival of IDPs creates the potential for more conflict as they seek out plots of land to live on and support their families. Local NGOs are implementing Triple Nexus projects to meet humanitarian needs (short-term food assistance), development needs (land for IDPs to grow food) and to prevent conflict between IDPs and host communities. This is one of the projects I visited in January 2023, alongside colleagues from the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC). Peace programming is central to MCC’s work, and sometimes included in the Canadian Foodgrains Bank’s work.

In the DRC, the conflict is highly visible and ever-shifting, with dozens of armed groups involved (Congolese military, armed groups supported by foreign actors, Congolese who have armed themselves to defend their resources, and now peacekeepers from East Africa and the UN) and daily reports of troop movements and attacks in rural areas. Much of the conflict is rooted in competition for minerals, with some groups wanting to exploit the minerals and others protecting their land. Eastern Congo is rich in several critical minerals in high demand by green economy companies. There are some local artisanal miners, but much of the mining industry is run by foreign companies, including Canadian companies, who have a mixed record of abiding by Congolese laws and contributing to development outside the mines themselves.

Some of the partners we met are working to reduce these types of armed conflict, contributing to peace at a societal level, or what is often called “big P peace”. A Congolese partner works directly with armed groups, encouraging their members to disarm, while also helping those who disarm to find livelihood activities and communities that will accept them.

All partners are working toward “little P peace” or reducing interpersonal conflict. These efforts are often integrated into projects with humanitarian or development goals or both. This can look like providing a water source for a community garden, and a second water source for the wider community who are not members of the garden group. In some cases, working on “little P” involves organizing workshops or ongoing clubs that help people manage interpersonal conflict, recover from past trauma, or learn mediation skills. While there are effective tools to measure the impact of these “small P” activities at a community level, it’s not clear to what degree they contribute toward “big P peace” across society.

From the partners we visited, there were some agreed messages about the triple nexus. We heard from many partners and project participants that “there is no development without peace” i.e., peace and development are intertwined, and there are synergies in working on both together. Our partners have been doing Nexus work all along, often with different funding streams. When asked, they seemed agnostic about whether funding should come from a single source or more. They have the capacity and experience to deliver programming that responds to the needs of the moment. They did ask that different donors recognize this diversity of programming and try to align reporting requirements.

We also heard that peace programming can be inexpensive (compared to other types of programming). In many cases, it can be incorporated into humanitarian or development projects without much additional cost, but it adds significant value to the project by reducing the risk of conflict that might undermine the project’s gains.

The MCC partners we met welcomed our questions and were pleased to know that Canada (GAC and CSOs) is looking more closely at nexus work. It may be a new area of work for us, but not for them. With considerable Nexus programming experience already, partners such as these can help us learn about and improve Nexus programming.

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The Future of Canada’s Engagement with Africa

by Cooperation Canada | Jul 31, 2023 | Cooperation Canada Publications, Development Effectiveness, News, Publications

In recent months, Cooperation Canada and its members have actively engaged in conversations with Global Affairs Canada and other political actors about relationships between Canada and Africa, seeking to contribute to the redefinition of the rules of our engagement with and on the African continent.

Learn more about Cooperation Canada and its members’ views in these recommendations from the Canadian civil society.

Recommendations

Civil Society Policy Recommendations and Cooperation Canada’s Engagement Ahead of the 2023 G7 Summit in Japan

by Cooperation Canada | May 10, 2023 | Development Effectiveness, News

The G7 is an informal grouping of advanced democracies that share values of freedom, democracy and human rights. The platform started in Paris in 1975 with six countries (France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, and the United States of America). The G7 was formed in 1976 after the US requested demanded that Canada be brought in. G7 countries meet annually to coordinate global economic policy, global security, and address other transnational issues. This year, the G7 summit will be held from 19 to 21 May in Hiroshima, Japan.

Parallel to the governmental process, non-state actors mobilize to bring to the attention of G7 leaders the concerns of their respective constituents called engagement groups. In the lead-up to this year’s G7, Cooperation Canada is working with civil society actors and the Canadian government to ensure constructive dialogue with G7 countries.

The C7 Process

The Civil 7, or C7, is one of the seven official Engagement Groups represented in the G7 forum. The C7, coordinated by a civil society coalition of the country assuming the G7 Presidency, produces every year a set of policy recommendations for the Leaders’ Summit. This year, the C7 is led by Japan Civil Society Coalition, supported by an International Steering Committee that Cooperation Canada is part of. As part of the C7, there are six Working Groups: climate and environmental justice; economic justice and transformation; global health; humanitarian assistance and conflict; open and resilient societies; and nuclear disarmament.

Mobilized on April 13-14, 2023, for the C7 Summit in Tokyo, then on April 16-17 at the Hiroshima People’s Summit, C7 representatives released policy recommendations ahead of the G7 Hiroshima Summit. As Policy Lead for Cooperation Canada, I had the privilege of attending these meetings and participating in this process.

The C7 Communiqué

On Wednesday, 12 April, C7 representatives presented to the G7 Chair and Prime Minister of Japan, Fumio Kishida, the recommendations contained in the 2023 C7 Communiqué. This document was a collective effort of over 700 civil society representatives from 72 countries. The Communiqué reminds G7 leaders of the responsibility and opportunity to design and implement transformative policies for peace, prosperity, and transparency. Following a Preamble that calls for the Hiroshima Summit to “be ‘AAA’ rated – ‘Ambition, Action, Accountability’”, the Communiqué outlines recommendations from the six Working Groups.

The Nuclear Disarmament Working Group is the first of its kind, born under this year’s Presidency, given the context of nuclear risk exacerbated by the war in Ukraine. The Working Group recommends that G7 leaders acknowledge the harm caused by nuclear weapons, commit to reducing nuclear risk, and reallocate resources spent on nuclear arsenal to disarmament.

Noting that the G7 economies are overwhelmingly responsible for the climate crisis, the Climate and Environmental Justice Working Group calls on G7 leaders to leverage their power to disentangle economies from fossil fuels, address climate change impacts including by providing adequate finance to the Loss and Damage Fund, protect and restore ecosystems, as well as promote sustainable food systems and climate-friendly financial institutions.

The Working Group on Economic Justice and Transformation calls on the G7 to steer the system-wide transformation needed to respond to multiple crises, including by reforming the international debt and tax architecture, re-inventing the World Trade Organization, enforcing mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence legislation, and promoting an inclusive and trustworthy digital economy.

The recommendations of the Global Health Working Group underscore the protection and advancement of health equity and global solidarity to guarantee the rights of everyone to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. This requires G7 leaders to invest in Universal Health Coverage, strengthen the global health infrastructure by building on lessons from the Covid-19 pandemic, and prioritize health and environment co-beneficial policies.

Recognizing that the humanitarian system is under immense strain, the Humanitarian Assistance and Conflict Working Group asks G7 leaders to reimagine a humanitarian system that truly anticipates needs, prioritizes those most at risk, and preserves a space independent from political agendas.

The Open and Resilient Societies Working Group advocates for more democratic and just societies, and for the protection of civil society action. The WG asks the G7 to uphold the human rights principles in words and actions at home and abroad, committing to standing against human rights violations, discrimination against minorities, corruption, and limitations on civic space.

The C7 Summit

The Communiqué was publicly handed over to the G7 Sherpa, State Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, on the first day of the C7 Summit. The Summit gathered participants in person and online in plenary sessions, including a scene-setting panel with Japan’s G7 sous-Sherpa moderated by Cooperation Canada, and several breakout sessions led by the various Working Groups.

Collaboration was an important aspect of the Summit. Japan’s C7 leadership made a point to ensure the presence in Tokyo of civil society actors from the Global South to demonstrate the global nature of the C7 process beyond the G7 countries. The C7 coalition also included a panel discussion with representatives of other G7 Engagement Groups, including Labour7, that issued a joint statement with C7 after the Summit, Pride 7, Science7, Think7, Women7, a group that became official in 2018 when Canada last held the G7 Presidency, and Youth7.

The People’s Summit

C7 representatives joined citizens of Hiroshima at the Peoples’ Summit organized on April 16-17, 2023, to emphasize the significance of the location and its message of peace ahead of the G7 meeting. The city of Hiroshima, branded as an international city of peace, literally rose from the ashes following the devastation caused when the first wartime atomic bomb was dropped by the United States in 1945. In the current context of global instability and growing nuclear risk, it is not surprising that Japan chose to host the May G7 Summit in Hiroshima.

Throughout the People’s Summit, the presence and testimonies of Hibakusha (atomic bomb survivors) were vivid reminders of the inhumanity of nuclear weapons and the urgent need to commit to their abolition worldwide. Recognizing that some voices would like Japan to become a “normal” country that invests more in defence and armament, People’s Summit participants called for Japan to be a “special” country, one that remembers the horrors of war and nuclear weapons and determines not to let it happen again.

Canadian Organizations Engaging Ahead of the G7 Summit and Beyond

Cooperation Canada and some of its members have been engaging with the government to understand Canada’s priorities for this year’s G7 Summit. Representatives of the Humanitarian Policy and Advocacy Group (HPAG) met on April 27th with Gallit Dobner, Executive Director at Global Affairs Canada and G7/G20 sous-sherpa, to understand Canada’s priorities for the G7 Summit, especially regarding the hunger crisis and famine prevention. HPAG representatives appreciate that the April 2023 Foreign Ministers’ Communiqué reaffirmed the G7 commitment to the famine prevention compact, yet were hoping for a refreshed compact reflecting current challenges. They also highlighted the opportunities to contribute to future conversations on nutrition and food security in the G20 process this year and under Italy’s presidency in 2024.

On May 2nd, Cooperation Canada joined a meeting with David Morrison, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and G7 Sherpa along with other engagement groups, both official such as Business7, Science7, Think7, Women7, and Youth7, and unofficial like Pride7, University7, and Urban7. The Sherpa opened the meeting reflecting on the drastic changes and complex crises that beset the world, following decades of post-war prosperity for G7 countries. This ongoing polycrisis context, obviously dominated by the Ukraine war, has led to unprecedented levels of engagement among G7 countries since 2022: Heads of State met six times, while Foreign Ministers met on 12 occasions. Cooperation Canada took the opportunity of this meeting to share the key recommendations from the C7 Communiqué.

As Cooperation Canada engages in this G7 process, we are also looking to 2025, when Canada will hold the G7 Presidency. We look forward to engaging with Cooperation Canada members, and other partners in Canada around the world, in the lead up to 2025. We believe that positive synergies and constructive dialogue between civil society and government are essential to overcome current intersecting crises, and are critical in our collective efforts to work towards a fairer, safer, and more sustainable world for all.

Andy Ouedraogo

Research and Program Officer

Carelle Mang-Benza

Policy Lead

Darron Seller-Peritz

Policy Analyst and Program Officer

Nicolas Parent

Policy Analyst

Cooperation Canada Statement on Auditor General of Canada Report on International Assistance in Support of Gender Equality

by Gabriel Karasz-Perriau | Mar 27, 2023 | Development Effectiveness, News, Statement

Today the Auditor General of Canada released the Report on International Assistance in Support of Gender Equality.The report focused on bilateral development assistance programming from 1 April 2017 to 31 March 2022, which represents an average of $3.5 billion per year.

The report concludes that Global Affairs Canada was not able to demonstrate how Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy contributed to improving gender equality in low- and middle-income countries. This finding is linked to weaknesses in Global Affairs Canada’s information management systems, an inadequate focus on outcomes against policy goals and the need to look beyond gender and age in the department’s project-level gender equality assessments to take a more inclusive approach that considers how other aspects of identity should inform programming.

The Auditor General also found that the department did not meet two out of three spending commitments. While Global Affairs Canada consistently exceeded its 80% gender-integrated spending commitment for projects that integrate gender equality, it did not quite meet the commitment for 15% of projects to target gender equality as the main project objective, and for 50% of bilateral funding to go to projects in sub-Saharan Africa.

Cooperation Canada commends the Government of Canada’s commitment to gender equality and its global leadership on feminist programming, guided by Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy. Canada’s global leadership on funding women’s rights organizations and movements, sexual and reproductive health and rights, and paid and unpaid care work is having transformational impacts on the lives of women, girls and gender diverse people around the world. In addition, the integration of gender equality throughout Canada’s international assistance programming makes Canada the top bilateral donor on gender equality according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.

“The launch and the implementation of the Feminist International Assistance policy has been a huge undertaking. It was – and is – the right vision at a time when women’s rights and progress on gender equality are under threat around the world. We are proud of Canada’s global leadership as gender equality champions,” said Kate Higgins, Chief Executive Officer of Cooperation Canada.

Cooperation Canada appreciates Global Affairs Canada’s agreement with the report’s recommendations and promise to take swift corrective measures. The weaknesses identified in the Auditor General’s report are issues that Cooperation Canada members have been working closely with Global Affairs Canada to address in recent years. These efforts have accelerated in past months as Cooperation Canada members work closely with Global Affairs Canada to inform the transformation of internal information management and granting and monitoring systems. We are encouraged by the priority Global Affairs Canada is giving to this work, and trust that initiatives like the Grants and Contributions Transformation initiative will improve monitoring and reporting systems and increase overall accountability to both Canadian taxpayers and country partners.

Cooperation Canada is also encouraged by the government’s commitment to supporting an intersectional approach to international assistance and building the collective capacity of those engaged in Canadian international assistance to do this critical work, including through the government’s support of the Anti-Racist Cooperation (ARC) Hub and DIGNA, hosted by Cooperation Canada.

The Auditor General’s recommendation to more effectively capture the impact of Canadian international assistance is a critical reminder about the importance of finding effective ways to document and demonstrate the difference that Canadian international assistance is making around the world, focusing on aggregate impact and long-term outcomes.

“We know that Canadian international assistance is helping save and change lives around the world every day,” Kate Higgins said. “But there is more that the Canadian government and its partners can do to track, document and communicate impact to Canadians. We hope that the findings of the Auditor General’s report push us to continue to invest in demonstrating the impact of our collective efforts towards gender equality and a safer, fairer and more sustainable world,” she said.

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