Poste - Canadian Coalition for the Rights of Children

C A N A D I A N C O A L I T I O N F O R T H E R I G H T S O F C H I L D R E N
cooperation, as was recommended to Canada by the UN
Committee on the Rights of the Child in 1995. There is
no clear relationship between CIDA’s strategy for children
and the general principles of the Convention, nor are there
specific development objectives related to the promotion
and protection of children’s rights and the participation of
children in development programs.
Canadian NGOs have expressed concern about a lack of
awareness by CIDA staff of the Convention and the central
role of children in sustainable development. At annual
meetings of representatives of CIDA and NGOs, children’s
issues are addressed only in peripheral ways.
This concern has been echoed in an independent
consultant’s report recently commissioned by CIDA.
...children [should] be brought into the centre
of development planning, implementation,
monitoring and evaluation. Children have the
right to participate in development; in fact they
are already participating in many unrecognized
ways. Without children’s needs, interests and
rights being taken into consideration in
development thinking and practices and without
children’s involvement in the development
process, sustainable development is not
possible. 11
CIDA hopes to work with NGOs to document program
examples of children’s direct participation in development
planning, implementation and evaluation. 12 This could be a
first step towards developing a comprehensive strategy to
bring children to the centre of Canada’s development
programs.
CIDA Programming in Support
of Children
As part of Canada’s commitment to implement the Plan of
Action resulting from the World Summit for Children,
CIDA recently began publishing annual reports of
disbursements to programs and projects with a perceived
impact on children. This is defined as:
• Programming with a direct impact on children
occurs when children are directly included in the target
group.
• Programming with an indirect impact occurs when
children, though not targeted directly, receive a
20
significant benefit; programs in which women constitute
over 50 percent of the target group are considered as
having an indirect impact on children. 13
CIDA annual reports for 1995-96 and 1996-97 indicate
that direct programming for children was strongest in the
area of basic human needs, particularly immunization and
the elimination of iodine deficiency. Programs and projects
with indirect impacts on children tended to be directed
towards poverty reduction, community and capacity
development and support for the role and status of
women. 14
In 1996-97, CIDA estimates it spent $580.98 million in
support of children, including program disbursements by
all CIDA branches and Canada Funds for Local
Initiatives. 15
Branch spending for children can be summarized as
follows:
Bilateral (country-to-country) Aid:
• $159.98 million (27.5 percent of bilateral program
spending);
• programs include child and maternal health,
immunization, basic education, micronutrient
deficiencies, institutional capacity-building in favour of
the UNCRC and special protection for children. 16
Multilateral Programs:
• $368.1 million (estimated as 25 percent of total
branch spending, except for International Humanitarian
Assistance, the Food Aid Centre and UNICEF
spending, which are calculated as 100 percent);
• CIDA estimates that 58 percent of Multilateral
Branch spending affecting children was spent through
the Food Aid Centre. 17
Canadian Partnership Branch: 18
• $52.8 million (or 18.8 percent of total branch
spending);
• projects relate to child labour, street children,
primary health care, water and sanitation, community
development and strengthening the role of women. 19
While CIDA estimates that it spent $580.98 million on
programs in support of children in 1996-97, less than half
($238.4 million) was actually allocated to programs that
were specifically targeted to children. The remaining
$342.58 million went to programs perceived to have an
indirect but significant benefit for children.