AidWatch Canada is a small not-for-profit Canadian organization devoted to the conduct and dissemination of independent research and analysis of current trends in aid and development cooperation and their implications for Canadian aid policies and practices.

Recent papers by AidWatch Canada are listed below.  AidWatch Canada’s research and analysis is profiled under three main headings:

Canadian Aid Trends (Updated January 2018)

Global Aid Trends  (Updated April 2017)

CSOs in Development Cooperation  (Updated November 2017)

Links to a comprehensive set of resources produced by AidWatch Canada’s Executive Director can be found in the Resources page.

Recent Papers

Current Trends in Canadian ODA

Brian Tomlinson, 2024.  A Preliminary Analysis of 2022/23 Canadian ODA, based on GAC’s Preliminary data (December 2023) in the Historical Projects Data Set.

Brian Tomlinson, 2023. 2023 Canadian Aid Trends   A scoping study commissioned and prepared for Cooperation Canada on main trends in Canadian ODA from 2015/16 to 2021/22.  This paper provides a statistical disaggregation of the International Assistance Envelope as well as main trends in the volume of Canadian ODA, its main components, delivery channels and areas of ODA quality.  Its analysis and conclusions are the sole responsibility of the author.

Highlights of the Report can be found here.

The Equality Fund has recently published a Report, Follow the Money, October 2023, which is an important quantitative review of Canada’s international assistance investments in gender equality, consistent with Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy.

 

International Climate Finance

Brian Tomlinson, 2021. International Climate Finance and Development Effectiveness: Reflections on climate finance and development cooperation,    Discussion Paper, July 2021.

 

Canadian Climate Finance

See an annual analysis of Canadian climate finance prepared for the Canadian CSO Coalition on Climate Change and Development (C4D), here.

 

Measuring Financing Flows to the SDGs

An International TOSSD Task Force has developed a new metric, Total Official Support for Sustainable Development (TOSSD).  It is intended to be a comprehensive measure of official resources dedicated to the achieving Agenda 2030 and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals in developing countries.  There are now three years of TOSSD data from which it is possible to analyze the extent and quality of financing for Agenda 2030.  AidWatch Canada, in partnership with ActionAid Italy and Oxfam International, has analyzed this data in a series of five Briefing Papers.

Briefing Paper One:  Trends in Official Support for Agenda 2030: An overview of TOSSD data, 2019 to 2021, July 2023

Briefing Paper Two:  Achieving Agenda 2030: Trends in the Allocation of TOSSD Resources towards leaving no one behind, September 2023

Briefing Paper Three: Trends in Official Support for Agenda 2030: Support for International Public Goods (Pillar Two):  Issues and challenges, November 2023.

Briefing Paper Four: Trends in Official Support for Agenda 2030: Trends in TOSSD Provider Profiles, 2019 to 2021, November 2023

Briefing Paper Five: Trends in Official Support for Agenda 2030: A Recipient Perspective – What’s different in TOSSD for Recipient Countries, December 2023.

 

Previous TOSSD Research Papers

Brian Tomlinson, June 2022. TOSSD Data for 2020: An overview of key trends in the data in support of sustainable development.  A report prepared for ActionAid International Italia ONLUS.  This report provides a detailed analysis of TOSSD data for 2022, with comparisons with 2019 data.

Brian Tomlinson, February 2022. Analyzing European Union Institutions’ Flows for Total Offical Support for Sustainable Development (TOSSD): Allocations, additionality, and relevance to developing country partners. Actionaid Italy, Oxfam International and AidWatch Canada.  As the EU Institutions are one of the largest reporters to TOSSD, a better understanding of its submissions can offer key insights on the general trends and issues arising from the first reporting round.

Brian Tomlinson, March 2021. Total Official Support for Sustainable Development (TOSSD): Game changer or mirage?, Oxfam International, Action Aid and AidWatch Canada.  Total Official Support for Sustainable Development, or TOSSD is a new statistical metric that is meant to capture a broad range of global flows of public money in support of sustainable development.  Metrics matter.  This discussion paper sheds light on how TOSSD works in practice as well as on its ambitions, shortcomings and the contending political perspectives on this new metric. The paper emphasizes that TOSSD could significantly shape the future of development finance.

Powerpoint Summary

Brian Tomlinson, 2021.  Total Official Support for Sustainable Development: An  overview of 2019 data, June 2021.

 

CSO Enabling Environment and Civic Space

CSO Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation, April 2023.  International Civil Society Organizations’ Development Effectiveness: Reflections on progress in equitable partnerships, solidarity, and accountability.  Implications of the Istanbul Principles and the DAC Recommendation on Enabling Civil Society for ICSOs, a Working Paper authored by Chilande Kuloba-Warria, Warande Advisory, Kenya, with Brian Tomlinson, AidWatch Canada as researcher.

 

A Literature Review

Brian Tomlinson, 2020. Literature Review, Prepared for a Scoping Study of National Platforms’ Experiences in Promoting an Enabling Environment, Commissioned by Forus, which is a global network empowering civil society for effective social change, bringing together 69 National NGO Platforms and 7 Regional Coalitions of CSOs.

 

Civil Society Reflections on Progress in Achieving Development Effectiveness: Inclusion, accountability and transparency

A Report prepared by Brian Tomlinson, AidWatch Canada, for the CSO Partnership for Effective Development (CPDE) as a contribution to the 2018/19 Third Monitoring Exercise by the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation, June 2019

Main Report

Annex One: Countries participating in GPEDC Monitoring / CPDE Monitoring

Annex Two:  GPEDC 2018 Monitoring Framework

Annex Three: Detailed analysis of Indicator Two Questions (CSO Enabling Environment)

Annex Four: Analysis of CSO, Government and Development Partner Responses to Indicator Two

Annex Five: Methodological issues for Indicator Two

Annex Six: CIVICUS civic space country designation definitions

Annex Seven:  Bertelsmann Transformative Index, Indicator details

Annex Eight:  V-Dem indicator details

Annex Nine:  Other data sources

Annex Ten: The Belgrade Call to Action (see below)

 

Belgrade Call to Action on Closing Civic Space

AidWatch Canada has been working through the Civil Society Partnership for Effective Development, along with CIVICUS, Action for Sustainable Development and the Balkan Civil Society Development Network to organize a Civil Society Summit on closing civic space and attacks on human rights defenders in increasing numbers of countries around the world. 

On April 8th, 2019 the Summit launched an urgent Call to Action for Member States of the United Nations to address these issues in the context of the international community’s commitment to Agenda 2030.

Belgrade Call to Action  A Civil Society Call to Stand Together to Defend Civic Space, Human Rights Defenders and Peoples’ Voices for a Just and Sustainable World.  Organizations wishing to endorse this Call to Action can send their organization’s name, country, and contact e-mail address to brian.t.tomlinson@gmail.com.

Action Agenda:  Positive Measures by Governments to Enable Civic Space towards Maximizing Civil Society Contributions to the SDGs

 

Canada’s Commitments to Financing Agricultural Development

Brian Tomlinson, May 2021. Canadian investments in agriculture, An Update on Trends in Canada’s Aid Commitments and Disbursements, 2010/11 to 2019/20. A report commissioned by the Canadian Foodgrains Bank.

Brian Tomlinson, 2020.  Investing in Agriculture and Food Security, Trends in Global Affairs Canada’s Commitments and Disbursements, 2007/08 to 2018/19,  Updated with 2018/19 data, April 2020. A research report prepared for the Canadian Food Security Policy Group.

 

Reality of Aid 2018

Brian Tomlinson, September, 2018.  Trends in the Reality of Aid, 2018: Growing diversions of ODA and diminished resources for the SDGs.  This paper is a chapter from the 2018 Global Reality of Aid Report.  An abridged version of the Report, which includes the chapter, can be downloaded here.

Brian Tomlinson, Notes for a Presentation on The Changing Faces of Aid: Challenges in financing the SDGs, A presentation for the Center for the Study of Security and Development and International Development Studies, Dalhousie University, October 31, 2018.  This presentation is based on the aid trends chapter for the 2018 Reality of Aid Report, above.

 

Other Recent Publications

Brian Tomlinson, 2017.  Implementing a Human Rights Based Approach: Lessons from the experience of providers’ international assistance, AidWatch Canada, August 2017.  See also the full report in which this paper is published, CSO Partnership for Development Effectiveness, Policy Research on the Implementation of a Human Rights Based Approach in Development Partnerships, IBON Institute, January 2018.

Brian Tomlinson, 2017. Reflections on Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy, AidWatch Canada, June 2017.

Brian Tomlinson, 2017. An Enabling Environment for Canadian CSOs: Appropriate Donor Funding Mechanisms for Effective CSO Partnerships, A Discussion Paper, AidWatch Canada, February 2017.

Bena, Farida, with Brian Tomlinson, 2017. The outcome of the 2cd High Level Meeting of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation and why it matters, January 2017.

Inter-Council Network, 2016. Small and Medium Size Civil Society Organizations as Development Actors: A review of evidence, A Report prepared for the Inter-Council Network by Brian Tomlinson, AidWatch Canada, April 2016.