by Cooperation Canada | Apr 24, 2024 | Membership, News
Every two years, Cooperation Canada shares its Membership Survey with its members to assess their satisfaction and ensure that we remain relevant and responsive to their needs. This year, Cooperation Canada conducted its member satisfaction survey from October to December 2023.
51 out of the 102 members completed the survey, representing a response rate of 50%.
The 2023 survey afforded an opportunity for individuals from across member organizations to respond! Seventy-five (75) individuals from 51 member organizations responded to the survey. Respondents included a large proportion who identified as a Chief Executive Officer or Executive Director (44%), and a mix of individuals who worked in areas such as programming, communications and policy.
The objectives were to:
- Align Cooperation Canada’s work to members’ priorities, across all teams and initiatives;
- Inform Cooperation Canada’s annual planning with direct input from members; and
- Have a standard framework to measure member satisfaction over time.
Our seven takeaways
1. Our members are overwhelmingly satisfied with their Cooperation Canada membership.
95% percent of those who responded are satisfied with their Cooperation Canada membership, and just as many would recommend non-members to join us.
2. Our members are satisfied with how we are delivering on government relations, policy-related initiatives, advocacy and community animation and engagement.
The majority of respondents are satisfied with Cooperation Canada’s government relation efforts, specifically advocacy (86%), Global Affairs Canada engagement (84%), and policy analysis and research (83%). With respect to community animation, respondents showed 84% satisfaction in relation to working groups, member communications, and the member portal. Eighty-five percent (85%) of members are satisfied with our regular convening and events. There is room for us to improve in all these areas – members said our great events could have more member input, and future policy efforts could be better packaged with shorter, action-oriented research outputs on which members can engage.
3. Our thematic priorities – advancing Canada’ s global leadership, shifting power, protecting human rights and civic space, and supporting organizational resilience – continue to resonate with our members and their priorities.
Members are satisfied with the thematic priorities that guide Cooperation Canada’s work across the organization. Our focus on Canadian international cooperation and humanitarian leadership is seen as the biggest priority for our organization among those that responded to the survey. There is also strong support for initiatives related to shifting power such as localization and anti-racism, as well as for our efforts related to human rights and civic space. Additionally, members recognize organizational transformation as crucial for fostering trust and resilience within the sector.
4. We communicate a lot, and members can’t keep up!
While 82% of those who responded consider the work of Cooperation Canada to be important or essential for the work of their own organization, some struggle to connect with our work because of the breadth and depth of the content. Members recommend that Cooperation Canada improves communication mediums (such as our portal) and take a more targeted approach to dissemination to ensure that the right people can access the right information.
5. The Canadian landscape is changing, and members want support.
As the sector works to adopt a more decolonized and localized approach to international cooperation, they are also faced with a changing landscape in Canada related to a potential change in government, decreasing ODA, and the upcoming G7 presidency for Canada in 2025. In this context, members want Cooperation Canada to play a role in supporting efforts to ensure future government policies and practices align with global trends and support civil society. They would also like support to prepare for and navigate the uncertain future.
6. Our Working Groups are important, and we can do more to support them.
As a useful space for coordination, peer learning and thought leadership, our Working Groups are valued but could be better supported. In addition to technical issues with the portal and related communications notifications (that we are working to address with a new system!), the core work of the working groups could also be improved with more dialogue, ideation, and collaboration. Overall, while members appreciate the potential of Working Groups, they seek enhancements in engagement, inclusivity, and accessibility of participation to maximize their effectiveness.
7. Cooperation Canada’s relationship with Global Affairs Canada remains crucial for advancing sector priorities.
Partnership with Global Affairs Canada (GAC) is central to the work of many of our members. The survey showed that members appreciate Cooperation Canada’ s engagement with GAC and want more! Members specifically highlighted the importance of maintaining collaborative joint advocacy initiatives for transformation, particularly in areas such as funding models, the Grants & Contributions Transformation Initiative, and GAC accountability frameworks. While acknowledging the significance of GAC engagement, there’s a growing aspiration among respondents to align Cooperation Canada’s priorities and advocacy with broader global perspectives beyond just the Government of Canada.
We are committed to enhancing communication, engagement, and interaction with our members and working groups, leveraging the feedback provided by the survey to guide our efforts. The ongoing support of Cooperation Canada members is invaluable as we work towards a fairer, safer, and more sustainable world.
by Cooperation Canada | Jan 18, 2024 | Membership, News, Resilence
In 2023, the inequalities and injustices that many of us work hard to alleviate escalated in many parts of the world. Conflict, deepening food insecurity, global economic instability, the devastating effects of the climate crisis, and attacks on women’s rights, human rights, civic space and democracy were some of the critical issues that Cooperation Canada’s members, working alongside their partners, worked hard to address.
Supporting our members in these efforts is at the heart of what we do at Cooperation Canada. In 2023, we were thrilled to pass the 100-member mark, welcoming several new members to our network!
I am very grateful to Cooperation Canada’s Board of Directors, for their dedication and guidance over the last year. I am also deeply inspired by the work of the Cooperation Canada team, who continue their important work collaborating, convening, advocating and supporting our members and partners to contribute to a fairer, safer and more sustainable world.
As we look to 2024, I am pleased to share some of Cooperation Canada’s priorities for the year ahead. We want to see Canada step up to this moment of global instability and uncertainty and do its part to support peace, prosperity and justice. We also know that this is a time of reckoning for those of us working in international cooperation – and that we must take action to address long-standing power imbalances in the international cooperation system. We believe deeply in the important role that civil society – and Canadian organizations – play in making the world a better place and want to support innovation and change to enhance our collective impact. And we stand ready to support Cooperation Canada members to do the hard organizational work to be resilient and relevant now and into the future.
Pushing for bold Canadian global leadership
In 2024, we will continue to engage with Canadian parliamentarians, and the Canadian government, to push for bold Canadian global leadership on international cooperation. We’re looking forward to engaging with many parliamentarians about the life-saving and life-changing work of Canadian international cooperation at our International Development Week Hill Day in February 2024. We are pushing for the Canadian government to respond to immense global needs, and leverage Canadian expertise in international assistance, through new and additional commitments in the 2024 federal budget.
We have started strategizing on influencing Canada’s G7 Presidency in 2025 and are working actively to be well-prepared for the next federal election. We will continue to work with Global Affairs Canada to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of their partnerships with civil society, including through the important Grants and Contributions Transformation process. And we will keep up the important work of tracking and analyzing key trends in Canadian international assistance and global humanitarian action.
Shifting power in international cooperation
At Cooperation Canada, we are committed to shifting power in international cooperation. This means taking action ourselves as an organization, including through the implementation of our new Anti-Racism, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Justice Strategy and Action Plan (2023-2026), and supporting our members to do the same. The important work of the Anti-Racist Cooperation (ARC) Hub will continue in 2024 – keep an eye out for ways to engage during Black History Month in February and take a look at the ARC Hub’s most recent annual report. We are also working with our members to make real progress on operationalizing our collective efforts on localization, including through engaging with and influencing Global Affairs Canada and global coalitions focused on shifting power. The need to respond to the historic and ongoing implications of Canada’s colonial history remains top of mind for us. We will be doing more work as a Cooperation Canada team, and with our members, to take meaningful action on Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples.
Championing civil society innovation and impact
Our exciting strategic foresight work, delivered through our Futures Initiative, is in full flight, and will help us look ahead to anticipate and address emerging trends that will shape international cooperation. The Humanitarian Response Network has an important strategic year ahead and will continue to work hard to bolster the impact of Canadian humanitarian action. Our newly energized Innovative Finance Working Group is connecting, sharing and learning on how to best leverage innovative finance in international cooperation. And we are excited to see what the year will hold for Resilient Societies, the newly launched hub for civil society activists in exile that we are incubating at Cooperation Canada.
Supporting organizational resilience
Cooperation Canada will continue to support our members to improve their organizational resilience and impact. We’re encouraged to see the Cooperation Canada Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Working Group and Human Resource Working Group go from strength to strength, and that people playing these important roles in our membership have opportunities to learn from and support each other. We are excited to launch Digna’s PSEA Organizational Assessment Tool for the third year in a row, working with members and partners to maintain momentum on our collective efforts on safeguarding in international cooperation.
We will work with others across the Canadian charitable sector to shine a light on the immense impact of Canadian charities, and advocate for a supportive enabling environment for us. We know that funding diversification is a key priority for our members, and we will seek to support creative and innovative efforts to diversify revenue sources for our members, including by enhancing our connections with the Canadian philanthropic sector.
At Cooperation Canada, we truly believe that we are stronger when we work together. Stay tuned – through our newsletter, LinkedIn and X – to keep up to date on opportunities for collaborating with us in 2024. A key moment will be our second International Cooperation Futures Festival, which will take place from 8-10 October 2024 at the National Art Centre in Ottawa. We hope you will join us!
There is no doubt that the world feels more insecure and complex than it did a decade ago, and that we’re looking towards a period of instability for the world – and the for the Canadian international cooperation organizations that operate within it. This will bring challenges. But it will also opportunities. And it should drive us to embrace innovation and change.
I’m optimistic about what we can achieve working together. I look forward to collaborating with our members and partners in the year ahead!
by Cooperation Canada | Jan 18, 2024 | Membership, News
The Cooperation Canada Awards recognizes excellence and merit in the field of international cooperation by awarding prizes to individuals or organizations that have distinguished themselves in the past year.
On February 7, 2024, from 4 to 5 pm ET, Cooperation Canada will recognize excellence in humanitarian aid and international development at the annual Cooperation Canada Awards ceremony by presenting the Karen Takacs Award and the Innovation & Impact Awards, presented in collaboration with World University Service of Canada (WUSC) and the Lewis Perinbam Award Trustees.
The Minister of International Development, the Honourable Ahmed Hussen, will give the keynote address at this ceremony.
This year’s ceremony won’t be an exception: it’s a can’t miss event! Join us in your fanciest attire – yes, even virtually! – and celebrate with the amazing awardees and their peers.
Join us on February 7, 2024, at 4:00 PM ET and celebrate our esteemed colleagues in the international cooperation sector.
