Introduction

Background

4.1 The goal of Canada’s international assistance, overall, is to eradicate poverty and build a more peaceful, inclusive, and prosperous world. Canada provides financial resources to support economic, environmental, social, and political development in other countries.

4.2 From 1 April 2017 to 31 March 2021, Global Affairs Canada’s international assistance averaged $5.2 billion per fiscal year and was spent on the following types of assistance:

• humanitarian assistance in response to emergencies
• multilateral assistance to organizations that pool development money from multiple donors, such as the United Nations
• bilateral assistance to individual organizations in support of specific projects

4.3 The department provided an average of $3.5 billion per year from 1 April 2017 to 31 March 2022 as bilateral development assistance in low- and middle-income countries (Exhibit 4.1). For this type of assistance, the donor controls funding and other aspects of the projects directly, and recipient organizations deliver them. This audit looked only at bilateral development assistance.

4.4 Global aid organizations, such as the United Nations Children’s Fund, have integrated gender equality^{Definition 1} into their programs in response to evidence that women and girls can be powerful agents of change in their communities when they have equal opportunities to succeed.

4.5 In 2017, Canada, led by Global Affairs Canada, launched Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy, which applies to all of the department’s international assistance spending. Under the policy, the department committed to funding projects that improve gender equality and the conditions of the world’s poorest and most marginalized populations. Women and girls are disproportionately affected by factors such as poverty, population growth, and climate change.

4.6 In 2022, the Organisation for Economic Co‑operation and Development ranked Canada and Iceland first for the percentage of international assistance that contributes to gender equality. Other donors that spend a high percentage of integrated funding for gender equality include Sweden, Ireland, Belgium, and the Netherlands. While Germany, Mexico, Spain, and France have feminist foreign policies, currently only Canada has a feminist international assistance policy.

4.7 Global Affairs Canada administers international assistance, including bilateral funding, to ensure that it meets the commitments set out in Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy, such as addressing inequality and eradicating poverty around the world.

Focus of the audit

4.8 This audit focused on whether Global Affairs Canada implemented Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy by funding projects that supported gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls in low- and middle-income countries and by demonstrating that the projects were generating expected outcomes.

4.9 We examined the department’s project files to determine whether it selected projects that integrated gender in accordance with policy goals, including the core priority of gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. We also examined whether the department ensured that recipient organizations reported on outcomes for gender equality and how the department managed and reported its overall outcomes. We did not audit recipient organizations to determine how they spent the project funding they received.

4.10 This audit is important because supporting gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls is consistent with values promoted by the Government of Canada, such as global citizenship, equity, environmental sustainability, human rights, and ethnic and cultural diversity.

4.11 More details about the audit objective, scope, approach, and criteria, including additional details about the file sampling approach, are in About the Audit at the end of this report.

Findings and Recommendations

Global Affairs Canada did not comprehensively monitor or report outcomes against policy goals

4.12 This finding matters because Canadians and Parliament expect Global Affairs Canada to demonstrate that the implementation of Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy has improved the circumstances of people who would benefit most from the international assistance that Canada provides.

4.13 Under the Official Development Assistance Accountability Act, Global Affairs Canada reports to Parliament annually on Canada’s international assistance activities. Under the Treasury Board’s Policy on Results and the department’s own results-based management policy, the department must report on progress toward policy goals.

Significant weaknesses in information management

4.14 We found significant weaknesses in the way Global Affairs Canada managed project information. We selected a sample from the 619 projects launched after 1 April 2017 for which the department had at least 1 year of reporting. We required documentation to determine whether, and to what extent, projects generated gender equality outcomes.

4.15 To conduct our work, we required Global Affairs Canada to provide key documents for the sample of projects. The department did not initially provide all the required documents. Following an internal audit from 2021 that found similar issues, department officials stated that some project documents were too difficult to locate and not available to audit for the following reasons:

• Staff did not consistently use the department’s data repositories to manage project-level information.
• There were no standardized procedures for storing and maintaining project information.
• Some of the required information had been stored on computers of staff who had since left the department, so officials were unable to find the required information.

4.16 We followed up repeatedly with the department. We received documents over a period of 4 months, but the department did not provide all of the required information (Exhibit 4.2).

4.17 We examined documents for 50 projects for which we had complete information. We considered a project file complete if we received documents that included project objectives, a departmental gender assessment, and evidence of departmental monitoring. We found that project officers followed processes to monitor projects to determine whether milestones and activities were completed as outlined in project documentation. However, while individual project files included useful information, because of the weaknesses in information management practices noted in paragraph 4.15, this information was not being rolled up and used at the departmental level.

4.18 During our audit, it was highly problematic that critical information, such as project progress reports, could not be readily found. The department could not use that information to monitor overall progress toward gender equality outcomes. It also could not demonstrate that it was assessing the impact of its spending or using the information that would otherwise be recorded in key documents to make decisions about many of the projects it was responsible for managing.

4.19 Global Affairs Canada should take immediate action to invest in its information management systems and practices, including relevant training, so that the department has a comprehensive and reliable approach for storing, retrieving, and using its project information.

The department’s response. Agreed.

See Recommendations and Responses at the end of this report for detailed responses.

Departmental outcomes not tracked

4.20 Indicators are used to measure project activities and outcomes. Project activities generate outputs in the short term, while in the long term, outcome information is used to measure whether a situation has changed. Outcomes can be challenging to measure for a variety of reasons, including the time needed for change to happen.

4.21 For example, in many countries, girls often miss school during menstruation because of a lack of hygiene facilities. One project we examined had the goal of making gender-sensitive infrastructure improvements to make schools more welcoming to girls and young women. Global Affairs Canada tracked improvements in communities where funds were used to build separate bathrooms and hand washing stations. However, the department did not capture outcomes such as improvements in school attendance for girls, which is one of the policy measures for tracking success.

4.22 Global Affairs Canada established indicators to monitor progress toward achieving policy goals. However, we found that 24 of 26 of the department’s policy indicators did not measure outcomes. An example of this was the number of people reached with nutritional support, which is not an outcome but an output. An outcome would be improved health status or increased life expectancy. The department’s reports contained information that accurately represented some of the department’s work but did not capture the full range of outcomes.

4.23 We assessed 60 projects to determine whether the department demonstrated that it tracked policy indicators. We found that the department only used 35 of these projects to report on policy goals. In our opinion, reporting that omits almost half of the projects is incomplete.

4.24 In 2015, Canada adopted the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and committed to advancing the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals in Canada and abroad. Progress against many of these goals is advanced by international assistance activities. The department mapped the policy indicators to the related Sustainable Development Goals so that it could measure project contributions toward each goal. Specifically, Goal 1 relates to poverty reduction and Goal 5 relates to gender equality.

4.25 Because the department was not using its policy indicators to capture outcomes for many of the projects, it was also not tracking contributions to Sustainable Development Goals. As a result, the department missed an opportunity to demonstrate the value of international assistance.

4.26 The Treasury Board’s Policy on Results requires that management measure and evaluate departmental progress toward its policy goals so that it can improve programs, policies, and services. We reviewed documents from relevant senior management committees from June 2017 to September 2022, and we did not find evidence that senior managers regularly reviewed gender equality outcomes or progress on policy goals.

4.27 This meant that senior management did not, and were unable to, review the complete impact of programming. Without a full account of project outcomes, senior management could not respond to evolving conditions and make changes to improve policy implementation. Sound information management and improved monitoring and evaluation of projects against policy goals would enable senior management to make evidence-based decisions to improve outcomes for women and girls.

4.28 Global Affairs Canada should adjust its performance indicators to measure both outputs and outcomes so that it fully reports on the impact of funding against policy goals and priorities to improve gender equality and outcomes for women and girls.

The department’s response. Agreed.

See Recommendations and Responses at the end of this report for detailed responses.

Gender-based analysis principles applied

4.29 Gender-based analysis plus (GBA Plus) is an analytical process used to assess systemic inequalities and determine how gender and other diverse identity factors could have an impact on a person’s ability to access programs and services. Gender-based analysis was originally conceived to reveal and address the inequalities experienced by women and girls in the implementation of policies, programs, and initiatives. Gender-based analysis “plus” emerged with the recognition that other factors such as age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, and geography also require analysis, because they can intersect with sex and gender identity and reinforce gender inequalities. The Government of Canada expects that GBA Plus be used to inform decision making by highlighting how different identity factors can have an impact on the design and delivery of policy, programs, and initiatives where a single lens does not adequately meet the needs of the intended recipients.

4.30 As a means to align project design with the gender equality goals in the policy, and as part of its approach to implementing GBA Plus, Global Affairs Canada completed gender assessments for projects under consideration. The main purpose of these assessments was to determine the extent to which gender was integrated into the projects and ensure that spending was being tracked appropriately.

4.31 Given the delays in receiving project documentation, we selected only 10 projects for in‑depth analysis of gender integration. In performing our analysis, we referred to the department’s guidance, which set expectations for rating consistency and accuracy. The guidance also required an assessment of GBA Plus related to project impacts, expected outcomes, and the skills and training of project staff and volunteers.

4.32 We found that the department integrated gender equality, following its internal guidance for consistency and accuracy. We also found that the gender equality assessments contained sufficient detail to establish that the projects we reviewed met the department’s standards for gender integration.

4.33 However, we found that the department’s gender equality assessment process for projects did not consistently include analysis of intersecting identify factors, apart from age. Without integrating factors such as location or family status into the gender equality assessments, it was not clear how the department assessed the degree to which projects were designed to deliver inclusive programming.

4.34 Global Affairs Canada should consider identity factors beyond age in its project-level gender equality assessments to support inclusive programming.

The department’s response. Agreed.

See Recommendations and Responses at the end of this report for detailed responses.

The department did not meet 2 out of 3 spending commitments

4.35 This finding matters because the commitments were designed to increase the benefits of international assistance by reducing gender inequality and empowering women and girls.

4.36 In Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy, Global Affairs Canada set 3 commitments to allocate bilateral development spending for projects in low- and middle-income countries (Exhibit 4.3):

• 80% for projects that integrate gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls
• 15% for projects that target gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls
• 50% to sub‑Saharan African countries

When the department spends more than 85% on gender-integrated projects, less than 15% of total bilateral assistance is available for the other gender commitment. Although the 50% commitment is not specifically related to gender, project spending in sub‑Saharan Africa can yield the greatest benefit in terms of reducing poverty and advancing gender equality.

4.37 When projects are funded bilaterally, the department selects individual projects on the basis of policy goals, such as the integration of gender equality. In addition, recipient organizations are required to report on progress, and the department uses that information to assess outcomes.

4.38 The department’s annual international assistance from 1 April 2017 to 31 March 2022 averaged $5.2 billion. Over the same period, the department’s annual bilateral development spending averaged $3.5 billion.

4.39 Departmental spending in the 2020–21 and 2021–22 fiscal years was affected by world events. During this time, the department reallocated money to respond to needs emerging from the coronavirus disease (COVID‑19)^{Definition 2} pandemic and the invasion of Ukraine; these reallocations had an impact on the department’s ability to meet spending targets.

Only 1 commitment met

4.40 We found that Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy included commitments on how funding should be spent but had no goals related to specific improvements in the circumstances of those who benefit from the funding.

4.41 Global Affairs Canada met only 1 of the 3 spending commitments in the policy. We reviewed data from the department’s financial management system. We calculated the proportion of funding that the department provided to bilaterally funded projects from 1 April 2016 to 31 March 2022. We found that the department did not meet its commitments to spend

• 15% of its assistance on gender-targeted projects
• 50% of bilateral funding for sub‑Saharan Africa (Exhibit 4.4)

Projects that target gender, the 15% commitment, are critical to meeting policy goals. Academic research shows that projects that directly support the empowerment of women and girls have a stronger impact on gender equality outcomes than projects that integrate gender, the 80% commitment.

4.42 The department did meet the 80% commitment and increased the proportion of spending year over year during the period of the audit:

• It consistently exceeded its 80% gender-integrated spending commitment, reaching a high of 90% in the 2018–19 fiscal year.
• It increased the percentage of spending on gender-targeted projects, from 2% in the 2016–17 fiscal year to a high of 14% in the 2019–20 fiscal year.
• It increased the proportion of funding to sub‑Saharan Africa from 35% in the 2016–17 fiscal year to a high of 49% in the 2017–18 fiscal year.

4.43 Exceeding the 80% commitment for projects integrating gender into project design and delivery means that the amount of funding available for projects that directly target the empowerment of women and girls is reduced. We found that gender-integrated projects had a wide variety of approaches, from large proportions of the activities focused on women and girls, to simple gender-based data collection.

Conclusion

4.44 We concluded that Global Affairs Canada was unable to demonstrate how Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy contributed to improving gender equality in low- and middle-income countries. Significant weaknesses in Global Affairs Canada’s information management practices prevented it from assessing outcomes and reporting completely to Parliament and Canadians.