Global Affairs Canada Transformation Implementation Plan (2023 to 2026)

• Introduction
• Our organizational culture: Strengthening our foundation
• Our people: Becoming an employer of choice, in Canada and abroad
• Our global presence: Increasing our influence and engagement where it matters most
• Our policy: Leveraging our strengths to advance Canada’s national interests
• Our processes and tools: Building a high-performing organization
• Enabling the transformation: Commitment, prudence and accountability
• Transformation Implementation Plan summary charts

Introduction

After 3 decades of unprecedented security and prosperity, Canada is grappling with a shift in economic and political power away from its traditional allies and partners, a return of great power competition, increasing vulnerability to transnational threats like climate change and cyber attacks, and rapid technological change. At the same time, the fabric of Canada has evolved: Canadians are much more connected to the world than in the past, and they have higher expectations for how their government will promote and protect their interests overseas. Global Affairs Canada (GAC) stands at the forefront of Canada’s international policies and operations. It has a proud history but now faces the challenge of adapting to this rapidly changing environment. Faced with similar pressures, many of Canada’s allies and partners are re-investing in their diplomatic capacities. Canada must do so now, or risk losing ground to partners and competitors alike.

It is in this context that Global Affairs Canada is implementing a multi-year organizational transformation to ensure that it is well equipped to serve Canadians in meeting the global challenges of today and of the future. The implementation of this evergreen, rolling 3-year transformation plan follows the launch of the Future of Diplomacy: Transforming Global Affairs Canada discussion paper in June 2023. The plan lays out how GAC will transform itself to better deliver on its mandates in foreign affairs, trade, international assistance and consular support.

Our implementation plan outlines an ambitious agenda focused on outcomes under the 5 following pillars:

• Our organizational culture: Strengthening our foundation
• Our people: Becoming an employer of choice, in Canada and abroad
• Our global presence: Increasing our influence and engagement where it matters most
• Our policy: Leveraging our strengths to advance Canada’s national interests
• Our processes and tools: Building a high-performing organization

This is an evergreen plan that will evolve over time. The key actions and deliverables outlined below, which build on work already well underway, are all necessary to achieve the main outcomes of this transformation process. 

Our organizational culture: Strengthening our foundation

Our organizational culture: summary chart

Culture is at the core. The bedrock of GAC’s transformation will be defining our shared values and principles: what drives and defines us as a department and what the key drivers of our transformation efforts should be. By the end of 2023, GAC will publish a North Star statement emphasizing our common purpose, the values and principles that underpin our organization, and the culture we want to uphold and strengthen. We can expect to see a commitment to transparency, accountability, excellence, service and collaboration. We also know that employees want us to take smart risks, break silos and foster a culture of resource reallocation. Finally, equity, diversity and inclusion, official languages and employee well-being will continue to be at the forefront of everything we do. However, publishing a statement does not mean that transforming our organization by strengthening our culture will be complete. The initiative will only be successful if it is followed up by sustained actions that result in changed behaviours, which is why we will recommit to these values and principles each year and take stock of our progress.

Key outcomes include:

• Shared values and principles: GAC embodies the values of taking smart risks, transparency, shared accountability, well-being, excellence, service, equity, diversity and inclusion, effective resource management and collaboration
• Equity, diversity and inclusion: GAC employees are representative of Canada in all its diversity and actively contribute to an inclusive and equitable organizational culture at all levels
• Collaboration and knowledge-sharing: GAC is a learning organization that systematically shares knowledge across the department, learning from and building on its experiences, networks and expertise
• Official languages: GAC’s official-languages capacity is increased across the department and the use of both official languages is equally promoted

Our people: Becoming an employer of choice, in Canada and abroad

Our people: summary chart

Throughout the transformation, we will keep a central focus on our most important asset, our people. We will support all levels and categories of employees to contribute their full potential and have meaningful careers. We will achieve this by building competencies and investing in long-term career development with an emphasis on equity, diversity, inclusion, reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples and official languages. We will also invest in the renewal of our foreign service and position Canada as a competitive employer for our locally engaged staff around the world. We will ensure we have the right people in the right place at the right time—with the right skills to deliver on Canada’s international priorities. This will mean having a hard look at how we manage human resources, re-evaluating our processes and adopting innovative and efficient digital-first solutions.

Key outcomes include:

• GAC is an employer of choice: GAC attracts, nurtures and retains talent, in Canada and abroad, by being a competitive employer, prioritizing career development and learning and investing in the renewal of its workforce
• A more agile service model: GAC’s human resources processes are modernized to streamline operations, improve efficiency and create surge capacity
• Supporting deployment abroad: Employees and their families posted abroad are supported effectively
• Strengthening the role of heads of mission (HOM): The HOM’s role is strengthened through recognition that a HOM is the chief executive officer of Canadian missions abroad

Our global presence: Increasing our influence and engagement where it matters most

Our global presence: summary chart

To get our job done as an integrated and influential foreign ministry that draws on its unique assets, we need to be present in the world in the right places and at the right level. This is more important than ever in an emerging multipolar context where Canada needs to maintain and nurture alliances and develop new partnerships. Strengthening our presence on the ground is required to promote and protect Canada’s strategic interests where they matter most. We are developing tools and governance to ensure we can make agile decisions to more easily adjust our footprint as events dictate and use innovative ways to maximize our presence abroad. We will expand our influence in multilateral organizations and countries of strategic importance to Canada, rooted in data-driven approaches about where we can have the most impact for Canadians. We will also strengthen and expand our communications and public diplomacy function rooted in Canada’s values, culture and people-to-people ties.  

 Key outcomes include:

• Presence abroad: Canada has the right level of representation abroad to continue to increase its global influence, defend its national interests, and provide quality services to Canadians
• Presence in multilateral organizations: GAC has increased influence in multilateral organizations to advance Canada’s national interests, including through innovative means
• Communications, advocacy and public diplomacy: GAC effectively connects with Canadians and foreign audiences through strengthened communication, advocacy and public diplomacy  

Our policy: Leveraging our strengths to advance Canada’s national interests

Our policy: summary chart

GAC will systematically increase and strengthen its engagement with academics, civil society and other stakeholders to render our strategic policies and activities more informed and effective. We will seek to reinforce our approaches and capacities to support integrated, whole-of-government responses to issues of national interest that impact all Canadians, including climate change, energy, critical minerals, supply chain monitoring, emerging technologies, and the full range of protracted and overlapping global crises that occur more and more frequently.  

Key outcomes include:

• Open policy function: GAC is openly engaging external partners and policy experts across Canada and around the world and is focused on global challenges of the future
• Cyber and digital leadership: GAC plays a lead role as part of whole-of-government efforts to shape global norms on emerging and disruptive technologies
• Climate change, green transition and critical minerals: GAC leverages its unique global assets to work with partners in delivering whole-of-government approaches to climate change, the green transition and critical minerals
• Crisis response: GAC effectively leads whole-of-government responses to global crises, built on its well-established consular and humanitarian capacities

Our processes and tools: Building a high-performing organization

Our processes and tools: summary chart

We will place a heavy emphasis on increasing our efficiency, so that over time we can focus our people and resources on higher-value activities for Canadians. Better managing our workload will contribute to improving the well-being of our teams and increase our effectiveness. In September 2023, we are launching a red-tape review and action plan spanning the entire department. The exercise will focus on reducing burdensome processes and workloads at headquarters and at our missions abroad, taking advantage of a range of new technologies to empower our people to focus on what matters most. Building on existing efforts, we will modernize our IM/IT and digital services, enhance data literacy and knowledge management, and transform the tools and processes that underpin the delivery of Canada’s international assistance programs. We will also explore options to ensure GAC’s instruments provide the required flexibility to operate globally in an efficient manner. Leveraging new and emerging technologies, reducing risk-aversion and streamlining how we work are central to the goal of operationalizing modern tools and processes fit for a 21st-century foreign ministry. 

Key outcomes include:

• Red tape: GAC is working efficiently, taking smart risks and focusing on the highest value work for Canadians
• Grants and contributions (Gs&Cs): GAC has a modernized set of tools and processes, maximizing efficiencies, partnerships and value for Canadians
• IM/IT backbone: GAC has a solid IM/IT foundation and infrastructure that is secure and reliable, enabling a resilient and secure digital base
• Tools and systems: GAC’s platforms are modern, innovative, interconnected and responsive to the emerging needs of the department, and the department has the behaviours and practices needed to use tools and systems effectively to share and manage knowledge
• Digital skills: GAC employees are empowered with the right tools and training to innovate, optimize and improve their work through increased digital and data literacy
• Data insights: GAC is fully harnessing data for complex analysis, decision-making and policy-making 

Enabling the transformation: Commitment, prudence and accountability 

GAC’s transformation exercise comes at a time when the Government of Canada is refocusing its spending. The implementation plan has been developed with this in mind, by adopting many approaches that are cost-neutral or that can be fully assumed with existing resources. We will apply this mindset and discipline, including an approach where savings and efficiencies will be reinvested to support and ensure the sustainability of GAC’s transformation as well as fostering a culture of reallocation. Progress will be made on a number of fronts with existing levels of resources, and we will engage GAC staff and partners in the near future on these key initiatives. However, additional resources will be required to ensure full implementation of some deliverables. Exact sources for these, including via internal reallocations, remain to be fully confirmed and work to identify those will be part of the next steps. This rolling 3-year implementation plan will remain evergreen and will be updated regularly to add new initiatives and ideas, to show progress on existing ones, and to ensure transparency and accountability.

Transformation Implementation Plan summary charts