Development Co-operation Profiles

Canada

Introduction

Canada's development co-operation seeks to eradicate poverty and build a more peaceful, inclusive and prosperous world. It believes promoting gender equality and empowering women and girls is the most effective approach to achieving this goal. Canada channelled its bilateral official development assistance (ODA) mainly through multilateral organisations as earmarked funding and the public sector. This was driven by its commitment to supporting Ukraine, Canada's largest ODA recipient in 2022. Canada's total ODA (USD 8.1 billion, preliminary data) increased in 2023, representing 0.38% of gross national income (GNI).

Find the methodological notes behind the profile here.

Policy

Guided by its Feminist International Assistance Policy, Canada's six priority action areas are: 1) gender equality, which is critical to achieving the others; 2) human dignity (health and nutrition, education, gender-responsive humanitarian action); 3) growth that works for everyone; 4) environment and climate action; 5) inclusive governance; and 6) peace and security. Canada's Official Development Assistance Accountability Act states that all Canadian official development assistance abroad is provided with a central focus on poverty reduction and in a manner that is consistent with Canadian values, Canadian foreign policy, the principles of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, sustainable development and democracy promotion and that promotes international human rights standards. Global Affairs Canada (GAC) is also focused on improving how Canada delivers international assistance by making it more effective and locally led.

Canada continues to pursue a multi-track approach towards strategic engagement with multilateral partners, including bilateral meetings, strategic dialogues, and regular participation in governing boards and executive committees.

Poverty and inequality reduction focus

Canada recognises that in addition to addressing multidimensional poverty, gender inequality intersects with other dimensions of exclusion, discrimination and marginalisation. Canada's Feminist International Assistance Policy anchors gender equality as the overarching, cross-cutting objective of Canadian ODA through a human rights-based approach. Promoting gender equality and empowering women and girls is seen as the most effective approach to eradicating poverty. Innovative tools, such as GAC's programme assessment process, support Canada's emphasis on gender-based inequalities. Canada's feminist evaluation methodology aims to explore power relations and focus on the systemic or structural causes of inequalities and discrimination. According to findings from the Development Assistance Committee's (DAC) survey on poverty and inequalities and internal CoP-PI analysis, other dimensions of poverty and inequalities such as disabilities, human dignity, human rights, LGBTQ2I+ communities and indigenous issues are considered or targeted in GAC's policies, programming and processes, within a policy framework focused on gender equality.

Findings from OECD-DAC reviews

The 2021 OECD-DAC mid-term review found that the Feminist International Assistance Policy provides clear direction to Canada and its partners. In response to the 14 recommendations in the 2018 DAC Peer Review, Canada has increased financial delegations, broadened engagement with civil society organisations (CSOs) and is addressing remaining amalgamation challenges. The review encouraged Canada to articulate its views on a modern understanding of development effectiveness, contribute to the DAC discussion on effective multilateral engagement, be more systematic in analysing domestic policies with spillover effects on developing countries, streamline application processes and reporting, and continue to undertake efforts to increase its international assistance to 2030. The next OECD-DAC peer review of Canada is planned for 2025. Learn more about Canada's 2021 mid-term review [DCD/DAC/AR(2024)3/4].

ODA allocation overview

Canada provided USD 8.1 billion (preliminary data) of ODA in 2023 (USD 8.3 billion in constant terms), representing 0.38% of GNI.1 This was an increase of 5.5% in real terms in volume and an increase in the share of GNI from 2022. Canada's ODA volume and its share of GNI have risen significantly since 2020. While the government has no specific plan to move towards the United Nations target of 0.7% ODA/GNI, the Minister of International Development is tasked with increasing Canada's international development assistance every year towards 2030 to realise the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Within Canada's ODA portfolio in 2022, 71.9% was provided in the form of grants and 28.1% in the form of non-grants.2

In 2023, Canada ranked 7th among Development Assistance Committee (DAC) members in terms of ODA volume and 14th among DAC member countries when ODA is taken as a share of GNI. In 2022, Canada screened all activities against the DAC gender equality policy marker and committed the highest share among DAC members of screened bilateral allocable aid to gender equality and women's empowerment. It also ranked fifth in gross bilateral ODA disbursements to fragile contexts given to the humanitarian pillar of the HDP nexus. The increase of in-donor refugee costs in 2022 means that shares of bilateral ODA allocated to other areas may have decreased from 2021 to 2022, even if absolute volumes have not.

 

Notes: Data on official development assistance (ODA) volumes (figure above) are in constant 2022 prices. Data for 2023 are preliminary. See the methodological notes for further details.

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Canada is committed to several international targets and Development Assistance Committee standards and recommendations. Learn more about DAC recommendations.

Performance against commitments and DAC recommendations

Description	Target	2021	2022	2023, preliminary
ODA as a share of GNI (%)	0.7	0.32	0.37	0.38
Total ODA to least developed countries as a share of GNI (%)	0.15-0.20	0.09	0.10
Share of untied ODA covered by the DAC Recommendation	100	100	100
Share of untied ODA (All sectors and countries beyond the scope of the Untying Recommendation) (%)		99.4	99
Grant element of total ODA (%)	>86	93.8	71.7

Note: ODA: official development assistance; GNI: gross national income; DAC: Development Assistance Committee. This table only includes information about ODA data-related DAC recommendations.

Canada provided a higher share of its ODA bilaterally in 2022. Gross bilateral ODA was 76.4% of total ODA disbursements. Fifty-nine per cent of gross bilateral ODA was channelled through multilateral organisations (earmarked contributions). Canada allocated 23.6% of the total ODA as core contributions to multilateral organisations.

 

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ODA for Ukraine

In 2023, Canada provided USD 2 billion (preliminary data) of net bilateral ODA to Ukraine to respond to the impacts of Russia's war of aggression, an 8.6% decrease from 2022 in real terms. USD 27.7 million of the amount was allocated to humanitarian assistance in 2023, an 86.9% decrease from 2022.

 

Note: The amount reported in 2023 is an estimate, based on preliminary figures reported to the OECD and published in April 2024.

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ODA to and through the multilateral system

In 2022, Canada provided USD 6.4 billion of gross ODA to the multilateral system, an increase of 59.5% in real terms from 2021. Of this, USD 2.2 billion was core multilateral ODA, while USD 4.2 billion was non-core contributions earmarked for a specific country, region, theme or purpose. Project-type funding earmarked for a specific theme and/or country accounted for 55.6% of Canada's non-core contributions, and 44.4% was programmatic funding (to pooled funds and specific-purpose programmes and funds).

 

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Forty-eight per cent of Canada's total contributions to multilateral organisations in 2022 were allocated to the World Bank and the UN system.

 

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The United Nations (UN) system received 27.7% of Canada's multilateral contributions, of which USD 1.5 billion (83.7%) represented earmarked contributions. Out of a total volume of USD 1.8 billion to the UN system, the top three UN recipients of Canada's support (core and earmarked contributions) were the WFP (USD 448.6 million), UNICEF (USD 355.2 million) and the WHO (USD 127.3 million).

 

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See the section Geographic, sectoral and thematic focus of ODA for the breakdown of bilateral allocations, including ODA earmarked through the multilateral development system. Learn more about multilateral development finance.

Bilateral ODA

In 2022, Canada's bilateral spending increased compared to the previous year. It provided USD 7.1 billion of gross bilateral ODA (which includes earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations). This represented an increase of 38.7% in real terms from 2021.

In 2022, country programmable aid was 14.6% of Canada's gross bilateral ODA, compared to the DAC country average of 42%. In-donor refugee costs were USD 923.4 million in 2022, an increase of 93% in real terms over 2021, and represented 13% of Canada's total gross bilateral ODA.

Canada disbursed USD 7.2 million for triangular co-operation in 2022. Canada is a member of the Global Partnership Initiative (GPI) on Effective Triangular Co-operation. Its regional priority is Africa, with a focus on agriculture, forestry, and fishing. Learn more about triangular co-operation.

 

Note: NGO: non-governmental organisation.

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In 2022, Canada channelled its bilateral ODA (59.4%) mainly through multilateral organisations as earmarked funding and the public sector. Technical co-operation made up 8.6% of gross ODA in 2022.

 

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Civil society organisations

In 2022, civil society organisations received USD 1.1 billion of gross bilateral ODA, of which 7.2% was directed to developing country-based CSOs. Overall, two per cent of gross bilateral ODA was allocated to CSOs as core contributions and 13.3% was channelled through CSOs to implement projects initiated by the donor (earmarked funding). From 2021 to 2022, the combined core and earmarked contributions for CSOs decreased as a share of bilateral ODA, from 20.8% to 14.9%. Learn more about the DAC Recommendation on Enabling Civil Society in Development Co-operation and Humanitarian Aid.

 

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Geographic, sectoral and thematic focus of ODA

In 2022, Canada's bilateral ODA was primarily focused on ODA-eligible countries in Europe. USD 2.3 billion was allocated to ODA-eligible countries in Europe (of which 96.8% for Ukraine) and USD 1.9 billion to Africa, accounting respectively for 32% and 26.7% of gross bilateral ODA. USD 926.2 million was allocated to Asia. Europe was also the main regional recipient of Canada's earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations. Following the Russian aggression of Ukraine, Canada committed its ongoing and unwavering support for Ukraine, making it the largest recipient country for 2022.

Bilateral ODA by recipient country

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In 2022, 43.4% of gross bilateral ODA went to Canada's top 10 recipients, generally in line with Canada's focus on fragile contexts. The share of gross bilateral ODA not allocated by country was 37.6%, of which 34.4% consisted of expenditures for processing and hosting refugees in provider countries.

 

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In 2022, Canada allocated 0.10% of its GNI to the least developed countries (LDCs). This is in line with the DAC country average of 0.08%. Canada allocated the highest share of gross bilateral ODA (37.5%) to lower middle-income countries in 2022, noting that 37.6% was unallocated by income group. Least developed countries (LDCs) received 18.9% of Canada' gross bilateral ODA (USD 1.3 billion). Additionally, Canada allocated 9% of gross bilateral ODA to land-locked developing countries in 2022, equal to USD 642.1 million.

 

Note: LDC: least developed country; LIC: low-income country; LMIC: lower middle-income country; UMIC: upper middle-income country; MADCTs: more advanced developing countries and territories.

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Fragile contexts

Support to fragile contexts reached USD 1.7 billion in 2022, representing 23.8% of Canada's gross bilateral ODA. Thirty-five per cent of this ODA was provided in the form of humanitarian assistance, as in 2021, while 12.8% was allocated to peace, decreasing from 15.2% in 2021. Four per cent went to conflict prevention, a subset of contributions to peace, representing an increase from 3.3% in 2021. Learn more about support to fragile contexts on the States of Fragility platform.

 

Note: HDP: humanitarian-development-peace. The chart represents only gross bilateral official development assistance that is allocated by country.

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Sectors

In 2022, the largest focus of Canada's bilateral ODA was 'other' sectors. Investments in this area accounted for 45.8% of bilateral ODA commitments (USD 3.3 billion), including unallocated/unspecified (USD 1.8 billion), refugees in donor countries (USD 923.4 million) and administrative costs of donors (USD 323.6 million). ODA for social infrastructure and services totalled USD 1.7 billion, focusing on health and population (USD 1 billion), which accounted for 13.8% of gross bilateral ODA and increased by 70.8% in real terms from 2019. Humanitarian assistance amounted to USD 1 billion (14.2% of bilateral ODA). Earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations also focused on other sectors and social sectors in 2022.

 

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ODA for COVID-19

In 2022, Canada disbursed USD 825.9 million in ODA for the COVID-19 response, down from USD 1.7 billion in 2021. Regarding COVID-19 vaccines, Canada provided USD 107.9 million in ODA for donations of doses to developing countries in 2022, up 24% from USD 87 million in 2021. All COVID-19 vaccines accounted for donations of doses from domestic supply in 2022.

Gender equality

In the period 2021-22, Canada committed 77.2% of its screened bilateral allocable aid to gender equality and women's empowerment, as either a principal or significant objective (down from 87.7% in 2019-20), compared with the 2021-22 DAC average of 43.3%. This is equal to USD 4 billion of bilateral ODA in support of gender equality. Unpacking the gender equality data further:

• The share of screened bilateral allocable aid committed to gender equality and women's empowerment as a principal objective was 10% in 2021-22, compared with the DAC average of 3.9%.

• Canada includes gender equality objectives in 98.4% of its ODA for humanitarian aid, above the 2021-22 DAC average of 17%.

• Canada screens virtually all its bilateral allocable aid activities against the DAC gender equality policy marker (100% in 2021-22).

• Canada committed USD 77.8 million of ODA to end violence against women and girls and USD 62.7 million to support women's rights organisations and movements and government institutions in 2021-22.

Learn more about Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women and Girls: DAC Guidance for Development Partners and the DAC Recommendation on Ending Sexual Exploitation in Development Co-operation.

 

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Environment

In 2021-22, Canada committed 30.6% of its total bilateral allocable aid (USD 1.7 billion) in support of the environment and the Rio Conventions (the DAC average was 35.1%), up from 26.6% in 2019-20. Unpacking the environmental data further:

• Fifteen per cent of screened bilateral allocable aid focused on environmental issues as a principal objective, compared with the DAC average of 11%.

• Seventeen per cent of total bilateral allocable aid (USD 936.4 million) focused on climate change overall, up from 16.6% in 2019-20 (the DAC average was 30.5%). Canada had a greater focus on mitigation (17.1%) than on adaptation (9.4%) in 2021-22.

• Five per cent of screened bilateral allocable aid (USD 209.8 million) focused on biodiversity overall, up from 3% in 2019-20 (the DAC average was 7.2%).

Learn more about the DAC Declaration on Aligning Development Co-operation with the Goals of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change [DAC/CHAIR(2021)1/FINAL].

 

Note: In this figure, the category climate includes climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation efforts.

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Performance against environment and Rio Markers, 2021-2022

Marker	Constant 2022 USD million	% of bilateral allocable
Environment	1 660.8	30.6
Rio markers:
Biodiversity	209.8	4.8
Desertification	128.1	2.9
Climate change mitigation only	426.1	7.8
Climate change adaptation only	182.7	3.4
Both climate change mitigation and adaptation	327.6	6

Note: Individual Rio Markers should not be added up as this can result in double counting.

The OECD initiative Sustainable Oceans for All shows that Canada committed USD 62.5 million in support of the conservation and sustainable use of the ocean in 2022, USD 48.9 million more than in 2021. The 2022 value is equivalent to 1% of Canada's bilateral allocable aid.

Other cross-cutting sectors and themes

In 2022, Canada also:

• Committed USD 5.2 million of bilateral ODA to the mobilisation of domestic resources in developing countries, amounting to 0.1% of its bilateral allocable aid. Canada generally seeks exemptions for the payment of local tax and customs duties for ODA-funded goods and services. It does not have a general policy and makes information available on the OECD Digital Transparency Hub on the Tax Treatment of ODA.

• Committed USD 1.2 billion (19.5% of its bilateral allocable aid) to promote aid for trade and improve developing countries' trade performance and integration into the world economy.

• Committed USD 226.8 million (3.7% of its bilateral allocable aid) to address the immediate or underlying determinants of malnutrition in developing countries across a variety of sectors, such as health, agriculture, forestry, fishing and population policies/programmes and reproductive health.

• Committed USD 188.8 million (3.1% of its bilateral allocable aid) to development co-operation projects and programmes that promote the inclusion and empowerment of persons with disabilities.

Mobilised private finance

Canada uses leveraging mechanisms to mobilise private finance for sustainable development. In 2022, Canada's FinDev Canada and Global Affairs Canada mobilised USD 42.6 million from the private sector through direct investment in companies and special purpose vehicles, guarantees, simple co-financing, shares in collective investment vehicles and syndicated loans. This constituted an 86.4% decrease compared to 2021.

 

Note: CIV: collective investment vehicle; SPV: special purpose vehicle.

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A share of 83.4% targeted middle-income countries, while 3.4% went to LDCs and other low-income countries (LICs) in 2021-22, noting that 13.2% was unallocated by income.

 

Note: LDC: least developed country; LIC: low-income country; LMIC: lower middle-income country; UMIC: upper middle-income country; MADCTs: more advanced developing countries and territories.

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Mobilised private finance by Canada in 2021-22 related mainly to activities in banking and financial Services (43.3%), as its top sector. Furthermore, 43.5% of Canada's total mobilised private finance over this period was for climate action.

Private sector instruments

In 2022, Canada's FinDev Canada extended USD 155.1 million in the form of private sector instruments (PSI) to developing countries. Of this, loans represented 79.5%, whereas equities accounted for 16.6%. Other private sector instruments included bonds and preferred equities.

 

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In 2022, USD 3 million (1.9%) of Canada's private sector instruments were allocated to the LDCs and other LICs, while a majority (64.6%) went to middle-income countries and UMICs in particular (62.6%). Moreover, USD 52 million was unallocated by income. Canada's private sector instruments mostly supported projects in banking and financial services (88.2%) and agriculture, forestry and fishing (6.6%).

 

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Effectiveness of development co-operation

The Global Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation monitoring exercise tracks the implementation of the effectiveness commitments. Following the reform of the exercise over 2020-22, the 4th global monitoring round (2023-26) is underway. Information on partner countries' participation in the exercise, as well as their progress, is available at the Global Dashboard. Canada's results from the 2016 and 2018 monitoring rounds can be found here.

To help improve the transparency of development co-operation, the OECD provides regular feedback to members on the overall quality of their statistical reporting and works with each member to ensure the data meets high-quality standards before they are published. Regarding DAC/CRS reporting to the OECD, Canada's reporting in 2022 was on time, with some areas to improve in terms of completeness and accuracy of the data.

Total official support for sustainable development

Total official support for sustainable development (TOSSD) is an international statistical standard that monitors all official and officially supported resources for financing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in developing countries, as well as for addressing global challenges. It provides a broad measure of development finance with the objective of increasing transparency and accountability of all external support that developing countries receive. In 2022, activities reported by Canada as TOSSD totalled USD 10.9 billion, up from USD 6.9 billion in 2021, and Canada's TOSSD activities mostly targeted SDG 16 Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels and SDG 5 Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. Activity-level data on TOSSD by recipient are available at https://tossd.online.

Institutional set-up

GAC leads Canada's development co-operation efforts. It provides bilateral ODA, institutional support to multilateral organisations, humanitarian assistance, and support for security and stabilisation in fragile and conflict-affected countries. Finance Canada manages Canada's relationship with the World Bank Group, the International Monetary Fund, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and multilateral and bilateral debt relief. The International Development Research Centre invests in knowledge, innovation and solutions to improve lives and livelihoods in developing countries. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada and the provinces and territories support refugees arriving in Canada. An additional 16 federal departments support development co-operation.

GAC is undertaking a reorganisation as well as a series of actions to support a highly skilled and diverse workforce to deliver Canada's international assistance.

 

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In line with Canada's Policy for Civil Society Partnerships for International Assistance Policy, GAC regularly consults and engages stakeholders through formal and ad hoc mechanisms on sectors (e.g. health, education) and topics such as aid effectiveness, grants and contributions transformation, nexus, and innovation. Important mechanisms for consulting stakeholders are thematic working groups, such as on aid effectiveness or civil society policy. CSOs active in development co-operation, humanitarian assistance and global citizenship education are co-ordinated under the umbrella body Cooperation Canada.

Quality and oversight

Internal systems and processes help ensure the effective delivery of Canada's development co-operation. Select features are shown in the table below.

Features of Canada's systems for quality and oversight

Quality assurance	Federal departments and agencies report on their performance through the annual Departmental Results Report to Parliament and annually to the Treasury Board Secretariat against its Management Accountability Framework. The Audit Committee and Performance Measurement and Evaluation Committee provide oversight and accountability within GAC. A Deputy Minister-led International Assistance Operations Committee was instituted in 2022 and helps to address governance issues such as international assistance budget planning and oversight, policy commitments and results.
Risk management	GAC implements an Enterprise Risk Management Strategy to address corporate risk and enhance coherence with programme and project-level risk management. At the project level, it uses a risk management tool designed to evaluate, mitigate, monitor and manage fiduciary risks of investments. GAC is developing a modern information management and technology system for risk management.
Innovation and adaptation	Canada's Approach to Innovation in International Assistance guidance emphasises the need for more inclusive, locally led, scalable innovations.
Results management	A Results-based Management Centre of Excellence in GAC develops guidance, tools and training. It provides advisory support at project, programme/portfolio and corporate levels with performance management advisors. The Architecture for Results of International Assistance provides a practical structure and approach for aligning outcomes and strategic indicators, facilitating results assessment and reporting. Many portfolio-level results frameworks are in place across GAC's IA programs. The new IMIT system for all GAC grants and contributions will include functionalities that support RBM at project, program/portfolio and corporate levels.
Evaluation	In GAC, dedicated services undertake corporate evaluations and support corporate and decentralised evaluations. All corporate evaluations and management responses are published, and GAC aims to make other evaluations available internally in 2023. It has a rolling 5-year Departmental Evaluations Plan as well as integrated feminist research practice into evaluation approaches. Learn more about Canada's evaluation system. Visit the DAC Evaluation Resource Centre for evaluations of Canada's development co-operation.
Knowledge management and learning	In GAC, the Evaluation Services and Learning Division supports the sharing and amplification of evaluation knowledge to all stakeholders, in line with the objectives of each evaluation's learning and influence plan.
Communication and transparency	GAC follows the Government of Canada's general Policy on Communications and Federal Identity. It also has an International Assistance Ethical Storytelling Guide (not publicly available) to assist employees and contractors in developing narratives centred on partnership, inclusion and respect.

Additional resources

2021 OECD-DAC mid-term review of Canada: DCD/DAC/AR(2024)3/4

2018 OECD-DAC peer review of Canada: https://www.oecd.org/canada/oecd-development-co-operation-peer-reviews-canada-2018-9789264303560-en.htm

Global Affairs Canada (2021), Departmental Results Report, 2020-2021: https://www.international.gc.ca/transparency-transparence/assets/pdfs/departmental-results-reports-rapport-resultats-ministeriels/2020-2021-en.pdf

Government of Canada: Global issues and international assistance: https://www.international.gc.ca/world-monde/issues_development-enjeux_developpement/index.aspx?lang=eng

Government of Canada (2008), Official Development Assistance Accountability Act, S.C. 2008, c. 17.: https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/O-2.8/FullText.html

Government of Canada: Statistical Report on International Assistance, Fiscal Year 2020-2021: https://www.international.gc.ca/transparency-transparence/assets/pdfs/international-assistance-report-stat-rapport-aide-internationale/2020-2021-en.pdf

Government of Canada: Report to Parliament on the Government of Canada's international assistance 2020-2021: https://www.international.gc.ca/transparency-transparence/international-assistance-report-rapport-aide-internationale/2020-2021-toc-tdm.aspx?lang=eng

International Development Research Centre: https://www.idrc.ca/en

CSO umbrella organisation Cooperation Canada: https://cooperation.ca/

Canada's practices on the Development Co-operation TIPs · Tools Insights Practices learning platform: https://www.oecd.org/development-cooperation-learning?tag-key+partner=canada#search

Member of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) since 1960.

The methodological notes provide further details on the definitions and statistical methodologies applied, including the grant-equivalent methodology, core and earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations, country programmable aid, channels of delivery, bilateral ODA unspecified/unallocated, bilateral allocable aid, the gender equality policy marker, and the environment markers.

Notes

← 1.  DAC members adopted the grant-equivalent methodology starting from their reporting of 2018 data as a more accurate way to count the donor effort in development loans. See the methodological notes for further details.

← 2.  Non-grants include sovereign loans, multilateral loans, equity investment and loans to the private sector.