Policy Updates

On April 15, 2024, Canadian Minister of International Development Ahmed Hussen participated in the International Humanitarian Conference for Sudan and its Neighbours, where he announced CAD132million (US$96 million) in international assistance funding to Sudan and neighbouring Central African Republic, Chad, Ethiopia, and South Sudan.

The announcement included nearly CAD101 million (US$73 million) in humanitarian assistance and nearly CAD32 million (US$23 million) in development assistance amid the ongoing armed conflict in Sudan. The funding is slated to provide crisis-affected people with emergency health services, food and nutrition assistance, protection services for gender-based violence survivors, and other assistance including shelter, water, and sanitation services. The development assistance will support critical programming in SRHR and education infrastructure.

On April 11, 2024, Canada’s Minister of International Development Ahmed Hussen announced CAD142 million (US$103 million) in funding for projects in the DRC and Benin to advance gender equality and women’s rights.

Six projects valued at a total of nearly CAD75 million (US$55 million) were announced for the DRC. The projects will improve access to health resources for women and girls, promote inclusive governance practices, improve women’s inclusion in public and democratic life, and help prevent and respond to SGBV. Funding also included humanitarian programming that will address critical needs arising from the conflict in eastern DRC.

Five projects valued at a total of CAD68 million (US$49 million) were announced for Benin. The initiatives are slated to increase women’s economic resilience, promote a greener economy and agricultural sector, address SGBV, and strengthen inclusive health systems.

On March 25, 2024, amid a growing humanitarian crisis in Sudan, Open Canada is criticized the government of Canada for its inaction to address the public health and nutrition crisis, as well as the government’s lack of focus on the African continent as a whole.

The humanitarian crisis in Sudan followed the outbreak of war in April 2023, with 8 million people displaced, roughly half the population (approximately 25 million people) in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, a cholera outbreak, and a widespread famine predicted by June 2024.

Open Canada criticized the government for its passivity in the crisis, with neither Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau nor Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly having spoken publicly about Sudan since shortly after the outbreak of war. While Canada evacuated its Sudanese embassy in April 2023, it did not follow other donor countries in maintaining the presence of a senior official in the region to assist in conflict resolution or support key international humanitarian and development organizations. Open Canada also noted that, unlike the EU, UK, and US, Canada has not imposed sanctions on Sudan.

The group also criticized Canada's apathetic approach to the region more broadly. Canada announced a new Foreign Policy Engagement Plan for Africa in 2022, however, the strategy has since been transitioned into a “framework” with the Canadian government yet to release any details of the plan. Open Canada called on the Canadian government to implement a proper engagement strategy in Africa, particularly amid the growing humanitarian, development, and security crisis in Sudan.

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.

On March 11, 2024, the CLARE partnership between the UK and Canada’s IDRC launched 17 research projects designed to build climate resilience and reduce vulnerability in LICs and LMICs, valued at CAD180 million (US$133 million).

The research projects aim to support socially inclusive and sustainable action to build resilience to climate change and natural hazards in African partners and the Asia-Pacific region. Researchers in recipient countries are leading or co-leading the research, which will embed gender equality and inclusion principles and will address a wide range of climate change issues in the fields of agriculture, health, urban adaptation, water security, among others.

On March 8, 2024, Canadian Minister of International Development Ahmed Hussen announced that Canada is lifting its temporary pause on funding to the UNRWA.

Canada announced a temporary suspension of UNRWA funding on January 26, 2024, following allegations of the involvement of some UNRWA staff in the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023. As UNRWA has taken immediate measures to strengthen oversight and accountability, Canada resumed funding due to the vital role UNRWA plays in providing over 2 million people in Gaza with humanitarian relief, as well as other operations supporting 4 million people elsewhere in the region.

On February 28, 2024, Cooperation Canada launched their Global Landscape Analysis of the international cooperation sector, a report of IDRC's Futures Initiative, which encompasses extensive research to provide a comprehensive outlook of the trends, challenges, and emerging issues impacting international development cooperation for the coming decade.

The report focused on five issue areas that present pressing challenges to international development: political, environmental, social, economic, and technological. It examined geopolitical shifts impacting issues, including climate change, gender equality, education, healthcare, and civil liberties.

The report was intended to be the first step to achieving the project’s goal of defining three transformative scenarios for global development cooperation. The report recommended that CSOs adopt innovative strategies in the face of a volatile international development cooperation landscape, including:

• Strategic foresight: Implementing a systemic approach to anticipate challenges, explore alternative futures, and identify strategic opportunities;
• Integrative thinking: Bringing siloes and developing holistic approaches that engage diverse stakeholders and systems;
• Impact communication: Demonstrating impact and effectively communicating results and tangible outcomes, in the face of shrinking funding pools; and
• Diversification of revenue streams: Diversifying revenue sources to bolster financial resilience in the face of challenges such as diminishing contributions from ODA and shrinking civic space.

On February 27, 2024, at the 46^th Regular Meeting of the Conference of CARICOM in Guyana, Canadian Minister of International Development Ahmed Hussen announced a total of CAD169 million (US$124 million) to support initiatives in climate, health, gender equality, and more in multiple Caribbean countries.

Funding included:

• CAD120 million (US$88 million) over 10 years to the Government of Guyana through a policy-based loan to strengthen the protection of marginalized populations, promote gender empowerment, and deliver social programs by enhancing the capacity of Guyana’s Ministry of Human Services and Social Security. The loan includes a climate-resilient debt clause in the event of a climate incident or disaster, as well as a technical assistance facility of CAD5 million (US$4 million) over 4 years to support the implementation of activities;
• CAD39 million (US$29 million) for four new international assistance projects with activities in Haiti, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Suriname. The projects will support climate and biodiversity conservation, economic resilience, sustainable and inclusive governance, food security, health, and gender equality; and
• CAD10 million (US$7 million) to a new partnership with the Government of Guyana in support of their One Guyana Digital Skills Development Programme, which will promote economic opportunities and gender equality by providing training for the digital economy to thousands of young Guyanese.

On February 9, 2024, Canada announced CAD28 million (US$21 million) in development programming for the Philippines, focused on climate adaptation, resilience to natural disasters, and improving health care as part of its International Development Week.

The announcement outlined:

• CAD8 million (US$6 million) to Forest Foundation Philippines to support vulnerable communities in mitigating the impact of climate change and biodiversity loss;
• CAD13 million (US$10 million) to Alinea International to enhance climate resilience in six vulnerable provinces in the Philippines, with a focus on gender-responsive approaches; and
• CAD7 million (US$5 million) to Plan International Canada to support health promotion campaigns and increased health-care services in remote communities.

On February 6, 2024, as part of Canada’s International Development Week, Canadian Minister of International Development Ahmed Hussen announced CAD25 million (US$19 million) in funding for the International Youth Internship Program.

The program allows youth living in Canada to partake in professional development experiences abroad in the field of international development. The funding will go to six program partners, who will select over 800 eligible youth to complete internships in more than 40 LICs.

Areas of work include climate adaptation, gender equality, SRHR, disability support, mental health support, education, restoration of peace and security, and more.