Review of Evidence of the Effectiveness of CIDA's Grants and Contributions

This report presents a review of the effectiveness of the Canadian International Development Agency's (CIDA) Grants and Contributions (Gs&Cs) provided through its three programming channels — bilateral, partnership and multilateral. CIDA's Gs&Cs are governed by the Treasury Board (TB) approved Terms and Conditions for International Development Assistance. This review supported the renewal of CIDA's Terms and Conditions.

This quantitative and qualitative review of CIDA Gs&Cs focused on three key criteria for assessing aid effectiveness: objectives achievement, relevance and sustainability. This review covers CIDA's bilateral and partnership programming over the period 2005/06 to 2010/11 and, as an update to CIDA's 2009 multilateral review, multilateral programming from 2007/08 to 2010/11.

During the 2005/06 to 2010/11 period, CIDA's total expenditures were approximately $20.4 billion. Of this, $16.1 billion (79%) was disbursed through Gs&Cs, with 49% of CIDA's expenditures via the geographic channel, 42% via the multilateral channel, and 8% via the partnership channel.

CIDA has undertaken a number of initiatives over the past few years to improve its aid effectiveness, strengthen its focus, improve its efficiency, and increase its accountability. Driven by both Canadian and international factors, these efforts have substantially changed CIDA's operations and processes. Since this review covers programming that predates many of these changes, it has not been able to fully assess their impact. Rather, the review describes the reasons as well as the expected effects of these changes.