Policy Updates

On May 27, 2024, Canadian Minister of International Development, Ahmed Hussed announced more than CAD55 million (US$40 million) to address urgent civilian needs in Syria amid the ongoing conflict.

The new funding will address urgent civilian needs in Syria and the region, including providing food, WASH services, protection services including the prevention and response to GBV, and health services including the provision of access to SRH healthcare. Development assistance funding will also be allocated through existing projects in Iraq, Jordan, and Lebanon that benefit Syrian refugees and strengthen these countries’ ability to support displaced Syrians.

More than 13 years into the Syrian crisis, over 16 million people, or 70% of the population, urgently require assistance, and nearly 7 million Syrian refugees remain sheltered in neighboring countries. The new funding brings Canada’s total commitment to over CAD147 million (US$108 million) in international assistance funding to Syria and neighboring countries in 2024.

On May 16, 2014, Canadian Minister of International Development Ahmed Hussen concluded a trip to Ethiopia and Tanzania, where he announced nearly CAD195 million (US$143 million) to several development projects focused on education, SRHR, climate, peace, and security.

The funding included:

• CAD65 million (US$48 million) to UNFPA to implement the Protecting the Dignity and Rights of Women and Girls project in Ethiopia, which will support family planning services and prevention and response to SGBV;
• CAD30 million (US$22 million) to the International Finance Facility for Education to implement a new financing mechanism for global education, which will support lower-middle income countries to fund quality education;
• CAD25 million (US$18 million) to ACELI Africa to implement the Agri - SME Catalytic Financing Mechanism, helping high-impact agricultural SMEs and promoting economic growth and food security;
• CAD21 million (US$15 million) to CARE Canada for the Her Resilience, Our Planet project, which promotes climate-resilient agriculture and supports the empowerment of women to address climate change;
• CAD20 million (US$15 million) to the [[AU] to help implement its 2063 agenda and strategic plan to advance sustainable and inclusive development;
• CAD15 million (US$11 million) to UNICEF’s Improving Adolescent SRHR in Tanzania initiative, to enhance access to gender-responsive SRHR information and services for adolescents; and,
• CAD14 million (US$10 million) to the UNDP’s demobilization and reintegration project in Ethiopia.

On May 14-15, 2024, the C7 summit was held at the UN FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy, organized by the Italian Civil Society Coalition that led, coordinated, and moderated the C7 2024 process.

Approximately 400 global representatives took part in the event, as well as international decision-makers, including FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu, Italian G7 sherpa Ambassador Elisabetta Belloni, Cardinal, President of the Italian Episcopal Conference, Pope’s envoy for the Russian-Ukrainian conflict Matteo Maria Zuppi, and Director of the UN SDG Action Campaign Marina Ponti.

The official C7 communiqué that listed the international civil society recommendation to the G7’s Leaders around seven key issues was released at the event, which included:

• Economic justice and transformation;
• Climate, energy transformation, and environmental justice;
• Global health;
• Principled humanitarian assistance;
• Peace, common security, and nuclear disarmament;
• Human mobility and migration; and
• Food justice and food systems transformation.

On March 18, 2024, Canadian Minister of International Development Ahmed Hussen announced CAD66 million (US$49 million) in funding for six international development projects to support sexual and reproductive health and rights, mental health, and education for women and girls in Mozambique.

Projects included:

• CAD20 million (US$15 million) to the University of Saskatchewan for their Sexual and Reproductive Health for Young Women in Inhambane project, which aims to improve sexual, reproductive and maternal health and rights in the province of Inhambane;
• CAD20 million (US$15 million) to Pathfinder International for Impacto II: Supporting Family Planning Services in Mozambique, which aims to improve gender equality, self-determination, and access to sexual and reproductive health services in the Tete and Manica provinces;
• CAD13 million (US$10 million) to the UNDP through Action for Girls and Young Women’s SRHR, which removes barriers that prevent young women from accessing sexual and reproductive health rights services;
• CAD7 million (US$5 million) to the WHO’s Improving Data for Better Health Systems project, which aims to improve the quality of data to facilitate decision-making on sexual, reproductive, maternal, neonatal and child health;
• CAD5 million (US$4 million) to the University of Washington for the project Empower Mental Health, focused on strengthening existing health care and community-based systems of mental health care for underserved populations in the provinces of Manica and Sofala; and
• CAD1 million (US$1 million) to the Voluntary Service Overseas for their Empowering Adolescent Girls to Learn and Earn project, which aims to expand the basic literacy and numeracy of 3,000 out-of-school adolescent girls.