Recently Canadians have witnessed a forced marriage with the merger of CIDA and DFAIT into the new Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade, and Development (DFATD). This union was forced, in a sense, because at least one of the ‘partners’ in the merger appears to have been forced into it unwillingly. It is of course the … Read more
It was a time-honoured tradition at the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). Every time a new minister was appointed, officials within the Agency would wait several months for the new Minister to announce a new set of priorities for Canadian aid. With each new Minister trying to put their own stamp on the Canadian aid … Read more
As the Canadian International Development Agency symbolically faded into history today with the folding of its Internet presence and Twitter feed, Canada’s newly re-titled Minister for International Development continued this week in publicly defending the recent CIDA-DFAIT merger with zeal. One of Minister Fantino’s favourite talking points for explaining the upside of what is destined to … Read more
The global development community has long asked what can be done to improve child health globally. Canadian children are fortunate, for the most part, to avoid many of the devastating effects of poverty and inequality on their health and survival. Children in many other parts of the world are not so lucky. It is not … Read more
Testimony yesterday at the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development revealed that senior CIDA and DFAIT officials learned of their respective departments’ arranged marriage only on the day of the 2013 budget. Though the concept of a CIDA-DFAIT merger may not have come as a surprise to many in the Canadian development community, to learn … Read more