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20 mai 2020, par Stephen Brown
McLeod Group blog by Stephen Brown, May 21, 2020 Two prominent umbrella groups of Canadian development organizations – CCIC and CanWaCH – recently launched a COVID-themed campaign to drum up support for Canadian foreign aid. In doing so, they have embraced a nationalistic, threat-based case for (...)
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19 avril 2020, par Stephen Brown
McLeod Group blog by Stéphanie Bacher and Kirsten Van Houten, April 20, 2020 The COVID-19 virus has now reached Africa, a few weeks after it hit Europe and North America. Many analysts fear that the virus’s impact on the continent is nothing less than a “time bomb”, due to a lack of adequate health (...)
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16 avril 2020, par Stephen Brown
McLeod Group blog by Stephen Brown, April 16, 2020 Despite talking a good game when it comes to foreign aid, Canada is still not stepping up to the plate. Baseball metaphors are not my forte, but it is clear that Canada is refusing to contribute its fair share of development assistance. In (...)
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15 avril 2020, par Stephen Brown
McLeod Group blog by Hunter McGill and Lauchlan T. Munro, April 16, 2020 Aid-funded efforts to promote human rights, gender equality and good governance overseas have encountered many problems over the years. Impediments include low levels of funding, changing donor priorities and a projectized (...)
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8 avril 2020, par Stephen Brown
McLeod Group blog by Lauchlan T. Munro, April 9, 2020 The COVID-19 pandemic has forced governments around the world to take drastic policy measures, whose scale and scope are truly astonishing. Many of these measures were unthinkable only two months ago. As the nature of the policy responses to (...)
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6 avril 2020, par Stephen Brown
McLeod Group guest blog by Molly den Heyer, April 7, 2020 If you speak to any hardened international development practitioner, they will share stories about epidemics, states of emergency, conflicts and economic crises – but most will also acknowledge that this time is different. There is no (...)
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24 mars 2020, par Stephen Brown
McLeod Group guest blog by Clark Soriano and Rhonda Gossen, March 25, 2020 With a global health emergency now declared and COVID-19 present in most countries on earth, we need to ask: How should international assistance be used in this health emergency, beyond the usual items such as immediate (...)
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25 janvier 2020, par Stephen Brown — Blog
McLeod Group blog, January 27, 2020 Ten years ago this month, a massive earthquake struck Haiti, devastating the capital Port-au-Prince and other cities such as Léogâne and Jacmel. About 230,000 people were killed, with many more injured and tens of thousands of homes and small businesses (...)
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13 janvier 2020, par Stephen Brown
McLeod Group blog by Stéphanie Bacher, January 14, 2020 Global Affairs Canada (GAC) recently held a dialogue on civic space and the environment for civil society in Canada and globally, with a focus on women and marginalized human rights defenders. The meeting’s main purpose was to discuss the (...)
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26 décembre 2019, par Stephen Brown
By Ian Smillie, December 30, 2019 Several members of the McLeod Group had the privilege of knowing and working with Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, the founder of BRAC, one of the world’s top NGOs (see our recent blog). He passed away on December 20, and we wanted to share an appreciation of him with our (...)
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16 décembre 2019, par Stephen Brown
December 17, 2019 Dear Deputy Minister MacLean, Congratulations on your appointment as Deputy Minister of International Development at Global Affairs Canada (GAC). We wish you all the very best as you settle into your new job. Since you have been a senior public servant before, you will know (...)
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17 novembre 2019, par Stephen Brown
McLeod Group guest blog by Ryan Katz-Rosene, November 19, 2019 Yesterday’s blog highlighted the contradictions between economic development and climate action, focusing on the oil and gas sector. However, that is not to say that there’s no possible win-win scenario, even in the Prairies. In fact, (...)
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16 novembre 2019, par Stephen Brown
McLeod Group guest blog by Ryan Katz-Rosene, November 18, 2019 The 2019 federal election revealed an underlying contradiction between Canada’s climate change mitigation policy and its energy development strategy. On one hand, voters rewarded the Trudeau government’s efforts to take bold action on (...)
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12 novembre 2019, par Stephen Brown
McLeod Group guest blog by Rebecca Tiessen, November 14, 2019 The Conservative Party’s 2019 election platform promised significant cuts to Canada’s aid program. In response, several leading thinkers in the Canadian aid community highlighted the importance of foreign aid for a wide range of issues (...)
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7 novembre 2019, par Stephen Brown
November 12, 2019 Dear Minister, Welcome to your new job as Minister of International Development! The post you have just accepted offers the chance to make a real difference for Canada and the world if you build alliances and play your cards right. As long-time observers of and participants in (...)
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28 octobre 2019, par Stephen Brown
McLeod Group blog, October 29, 2019 Now that the dust has settled after the election, it’s time to look at what a minority government might mean for Canadian foreign policy and the role of aid in development cooperation. Unfortunately there were not many signs from either the campaign, where (...)
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26 octobre 2019, par Stephen Brown
McLeod Group blog, October 28, 2019 BRAC is one of the world’s foremost NGOs, ranked at the top of global charities. Based in Bangladesh, it has a staff of 100,000 and an annual budget of approximately $1 billion. With this kind of profile, some might wonder why, earlier this year, Global (...)
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17 octobre 2019, par Stephen Brown
McLeod Group blog by Stéphanie Bacher, October 18, 2019 In its 2019 platform, the Liberal Party claims that “Canada has earned its place in the world, anchored by a reputation for defending democracy, human rights, and the rule of law”. This statement seems completely at odds with the Trudeau (...)
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10 octobre 2019, par Stephen Brown — Blog
McLeod Group, October 10, 2019 We are writing to express our concern that to date and with less than two weeks to the elections there has been no serious discussion of Canadian foreign policy and the role of foreign aid. Given the changing and serious nature of global challenges, we believe it (...)
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3 octobre 2019, par Stephen Brown
McLeod Group blog by Stephen Brown, October 3, 2019 Be careful what you wish for. During Canadian election campaigns, people interested in international development complain that foreign aid is almost never an electoral issue. Even broader issues in foreign affairs are rarely discussed in any (...)
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1er octobre 2019, par Stephen Brown
McLeod Group blog by Stéphanie Bacher, October 2, 2019 On numerous occasions, both in Canada and abroad, Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chrystia Freeland, expressed Canada’s concern over the rise of populism and authoritarianism around the world. For instance, in August 2018, she said: “The (...)
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1er septembre 2019, par Stephen Brown
McLeod Group guest blog by Julia Tops and David Manocchio, September 3, 2019 Under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Canada took a progressive feminist approach to G7 global governance. However, while seeking to tackle gender-based inequalities, Canada failed to sufficiently address the (...)
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28 août 2019, par Stephen Brown
McLeod Group blog by Stephen Brown, August 29, 2019 Does the world need more Canadians? Global Affairs Canada recently announced a new initiative to send more Canadians abroad to help developing countries fight poverty. The new Technical Assistance Program, says the press release, “highlights (...)
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9 août 2019, par Stephen Brown
McLeod Group guest blog by John Cameron, August 12, 2019 Just and sustainable global development requires legal and policy change in Canada and globally, and civil society organizations (CSOs) can play important roles in advocating for that change. Canadian policies on international development (...)
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4 août 2019, par Stephen Brown
McLeod Group guest blog by Ian Smillie, August 6, 2019 The Globe and Mail recently ran a story written by two employees at a Canadian government-funded organization called Convergence. Headlined “Blended finance offers global solutions,” it explained – or at least it tried to explain – how (...)
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13 juin 2019, par Stephen Brown
McLeod Group blog, June 13, 2019 Women Deliver, the world’s largest gathering on the health, rights, and well-being of women and girls, made headlines last week in Vancouver. Hosted by Canada, it was the setting for a major announcement by Maryam Monsef, Minister for Women and Gender Equality and (...)
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1er juin 2019, par Stephen Brown
McLeod Group blog, June 3, 2019 The OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) has released its preliminary report on member countries’ development assistance expenditures in 2018. It makes for interesting, if discouraging, reading. Overall, global official development assistance (ODA) (...)
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16 avril 2019, par Stephen Brown
McLeod Group guest blog by Joan Kuyek, April 17, 2019 Although it took 15 months to identify and appoint lawyer Sheri Myerhoffer to the new post of Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise, her powers remain undefined. Civil society organizations in Canada and the Global South fear that, (...)
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7 avril 2019, par Stephen Brown
McLeod Group blog, April 8, 2019 The Canadian government recently announced that it would match every dollar Canadians contribute to the response to Cyclone Idai in Southern Africa. While the matching funds mechanism sounds like a generous move and one that would encourage individuals to donate (...)
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3 avril 2019, par McLeod Group General Admin
McLeod Group guest blog by Liam Swiss, April 4, 2019 Whether blamed on Scott Brison’s retirement or the SNC-Lavalin affair, the revolving door of Trudeau Cabinet shuffles and resignations over the past months has heads spinning. A move that attracted little attention outside the development (...)
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23 mars 2019, par Stéphanie Bacher
McLeod Group Blog by Stephen Brown, March 21, 2019 From the international development perspective, Budget 2019 is the most disappointing federal budget since the current Liberal government was elected. Foreign aid warrants a mere three paragraphs. The first repeats past commitments and the (...)
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1er mars 2019, par Stephen Brown
McLeod Group blog, March 4, 2019 After years of pressure from civil society organizations, the Canadian government finally adopted new legislation on December 13, 2018, that removes restrictions on charities’ ability to undertake policy advocacy. This is a welcome step, but more efforts are (...)
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1er mars 2019, par Stephen Brown
McLeod Group blog, March 4, 2019 After years of pressure from civil society organizations, the Canadian government finally adopted new legislation on December 13, 2018, that removes restrictions on charities’ ability to undertake policy advocacy. This is a welcome step, but more efforts are (...)
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18 février 2019, par Stephen Brown — Blog
McLeod Group guest blog by Roy Culpeper, February 19, 2019 The sudden resignation in January of World Bank President Jim Yong Kim has reignited debate on the process of selecting his successor. To fill this position, US President Donald Trump has nominated Treasury Undersecretary for (...)
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18 février 2019, par Stephen Brown — Blog
McLeod Group guest blog by Roy Culpeper, February 19, 2019 The sudden resignation in January of World Bank President Jim Yong Kim has reignited debate on the process of selecting his successor. To fill this position, US President Donald Trump has nominated Treasury Undersecretary for (...)
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5 février 2019, par Stephen Brown — Blog
McLeod Group Blog, February 6, 2019 Mali, a vast country in West Africa on the edge of the Sahara, is receiving large amounts of assistance from Canada. But what are we doing there? Are we addressing the deeply rooted issues that make Mali an impoverished, fragile state? Canada’s involvement in (...)
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5 février 2019, par Stephen Brown — Blog
McLeod Group Blog, February 6, 2019 Mali, a vast country in West Africa on the edge of the Sahara, is receiving large amounts of assistance from Canada. But what are we doing there? Are we addressing the deeply rooted issues that make Mali an impoverished, fragile state? Canada’s involvement in (...)
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6 décembre 2018, par Stephen Brown
Blog by Stephen Brown and Hunter McGill, December 6, 2018 To help ensure that Canadian foreign aid is spent on supporting people in need in developing countries, rather than things like white elephants and Canadian commercial interests, Canada has legislation that mandates a focus on poverty (...)
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6 décembre 2018, par Stephen Brown
Blog by Stephen Brown and Hunter McGill, December 6, 2018 To help ensure that Canadian foreign aid is spent on supporting people in need in developing countries, rather than things like white elephants and Canadian commercial interests, Canada has legislation that mandates a focus on poverty (...)
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1er décembre 2018, par Stephen Brown
McLeod Group blog, December 3, 2018 In October, the report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) hit the press like a bomb. The headlines since then have been relentless and shocking: “UN report calls for urgent action to avert catastrophic climate change”, The Globe and Mail, (...)
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1er décembre 2018, par Stephen Brown
McLeod Group blog, December 3, 2018 In October, the report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) hit the press like a bomb. The headlines since then have been relentless and shocking: “UN report calls for urgent action to avert catastrophic climate change”, The Globe and Mail, (...)
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17 novembre 2018, par Stephen Brown — Blog
McLeod Group blog, November 19, 2018 This year, the theme of the Canadian Council for International Co-operation’s annual conference was “Is Canada Back? Delivering on Good Intentions”. A confident community of civil society organizations (CSOs) felt now was the time to challenge the Trudeau (...)
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17 novembre 2018, par Stephen Brown — Blog
McLeod Group blog, November 19, 2018 This year, the theme of the Canadian Council for International Co-operation’s annual conference was “Is Canada Back? Delivering on Good Intentions”. A confident community of civil society organizations (CSOs) felt now was the time to challenge the Trudeau (...)
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29 octobre 2018, par Stephen Brown
McLeod Group blog by Betty Plewes, October 30, 2018 In July, I received a frantic email from a Ugandan colleague who was coming to Canada to present a paper at the International Conference of Agricultural Economists in Vancouver. Both of her research associates, one from Ethiopia and one from (...)
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22 octobre 2018, par Stephen Brown
McLeod Group guest blog by Ian Smillie, October 23, 2018 Every five years or so, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) conducts a “peer review” of its members’ development assistance programs. This year, it was Canada’s turn again, and the OECD report card was, as it (...)
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9 octobre 2018, par Stephen Brown
McLeod Group blog by Stéphanie Bacher, October 11, 2018. We often hear about Canada urging other countries to respect human rights, most recently Saudi Arabia. But other countries also make recommendations to the Canadian government in order to help Canada improve its human rights situation at (...)
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22 septembre 2018, par Stephen Brown — Blog
McLeod Group blog, September 24, 2018 Medical advances in public health, notably in the realm of vaccinations, have transformed the life expectancy of people in all parts of the world. They have also vastly improved the quality of life: less blindness, less deafness, less brain damage, and (...)
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18 septembre 2018, par Stephen Brown
McLeod Group blog by Hunter McGill and Stephen Brown, September 18, 2018 Every five years or so, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) conducts a “peer review” of the countries that belong to its Development Assistance Committee (DAC). This year was Canada’s turn and (...)
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16 septembre 2018, par Stéphanie Bacher
McLeod Group guest blog by Marc-André Anzueto, September 17, 2018 “How shall we behave in a world we no longer dominate?” Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland recently asked, referring to liberal democracies. Beyond the famous catchphrase “Canada is back”, the Trudeau government has remained (...)
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4 septembre 2018, par Stéphanie Bacher
McLeod Group blog by Stephen Brown and Hunter McGill, September 4, 2018 Ten years ago, the Canadian parliament unanimously passed the Official Development Assistance Accountability Act, following years of intensive lobbying by Canadian civil society organizations. Prior to 2008, Canada had not (...)
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