Foreign Affairs Committee on Aug. 8th, 2011

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Thank you.

We're going to move to this side of the table. Ms. Brown, you have seven minutes.

[Lois Brown, Conservative, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Salewicz, for that update.

I think it's important that we note for the record that Canada has really stepped up to the plate on this crisis. Some were calling on Canada to donate perhaps $10 million, but we have compounded that: $50 million is coming, on top of the more than $22 million that we had already given to East Africa. I think it's important that Canadians recognize that we are very concerned about this situation. There isn't one of us who hasn't seen these images on television and isn't heartbroken by some of the things we have seen.

I know Canadians are very generous. I was at an event last Friday night with the Somali Canadian community here in Ottawa, a fundraiser for the community in Somalia. There was tremendous generosity there, and as Canada has said that we will match this dollar for dollar, we know this generosity--every dollar--is going to be able to save a life.

I want to ask you to elaborate on some of the partnerships we've developed and some of the trusted partners we know we're working with. I know we've received tremendous congratulations on the work we've done. The Canadian Somali Congress has applauded the Government of Canada. The United Church of Canada has congratulated the federal government. UNICEF is pleased with the action taken by the Government of Canada. Oxfam welcomed the announcement, and the Foodgrains Bank. Those are some of the partners we're working with, but could you elaborate on these partnerships we've developed? What is our sense of confidence in the work they are doing, and how are we seeing this money flow through to get food into the hands and the mouths of these very vulnerable people who are experiencing such devastation?

[Stephen Salewicz]

Thank you for that question.

As you said, we work with very experienced partners. Indeed, for humanitarian assistance in the midst of a crisis, the last thing you need is someone with the best of intentions but without the experience or capacity to respond, so our efforts are always targeted at trying to find the partners who have the experience and the capacity to respond in a given situation.

You mentioned a number of organizations, and I think all of them are indeed experienced partners. WFP is one of the more important partners for CIDA and is the largest humanitarian partner we have within CIDA. As I mentioned already, there is an allocation of $25 million for food aid. Because of their very significant logistical network, this organization has tremendous capacity in the field to respond to the needs of individuals, to get out into what we call the deep field, the places most organizations can't get to, with the food that's required to respond to the needs of these people.

That said, no organization can actually respond effectively when faced with the kind of conflict that's going on in southern Somalia. Access is very difficult, but since these organizations have the experience and are trusted within the local communities, they have some measure or capacity to try to increase that access to some extent.

You mentioned CFGB, another very strong partner that has another large network on the ground to respond to the very particular needs of this situation.

UNICEF and NGOs such as Oxfam and World Vision have been funded by us in the past or are receiving funding right now. For instance, I can mention that right now Oxfam and MSF are receiving money from us for ongoing programming in Ethiopia. In Somalia we have partnerships with Oxfam and World Vision to deliver a variety of activities, including water and sanitation support and medical services. These are the kinds of things that were required in advance of the crisis, which has been building over time, and they continue to be delivered to the population in need.

As for other partners, I think UNICEF is going to be critical going forward as we look at the particular needs of the population. Right now therapeutic feeding--actually getting to the acutely malnourished--is of critical importance. The children who have been affected by this crisis of course need support, and UNICEF is well placed to provide the kind of therapeutic feeding and the kind of emergency food response and medical intervention that will help them going foward.

[Lois Brown, Conservative, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

Could you confirm that date for us? You said September 6 was the date. I thought it was by September 16 that Canadians could make a contribution that the government would match dollar for dollar. Would you confirm that date for us, Mr. Salewicz?

[Stephen Salewicz]

Sure. Let me just look through my paperwork. It's my first day back from a month's vacation.

Yes, it is September 16; thank you. That's when the program itself comes to an end, and it's going to take at least another couple of weeks before we get the data together on how much has been contributed.

[Lois Brown, Conservative, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

Could you tell us which organizations are accepting contributions at this point?

[Stephen Salewicz]

There is the Canadian Humanitarian Coalition, made up of a number of organizations such as CARE Canada and Oxfam Canada. There is also World Vision, and UNICEF Canada. We also have ACF Canada, Action contre la Faim. MSF is also working diligently. There's a large list. As I suggested, the Canadian Red Cross is obviously collecting money for the Red Cross movement.

Typically we see hundreds of organizations in the midst of collecting funds, and often they'll direct them to their preferred agency over the course of the coming weeks.

[Lois Brown, Conservative, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Thank you.

We'll finish our second round this afternoon with Mr. LeBlanc.

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Beauséjour, NB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, gentlemen, for the presentation.

I want to thank the chair and members of the government for putting together on short notice what I think is at least an important first step in understanding what Canadians and the Government of Canada can do to support people in this region. We've all watched with horror some of the images and the context of the famine that's going on. You're right to refer to it as a regional problem; it's not simply a Somalian question.

I am a big fan of the work that CIDA does. I've been lucky enough to see in projects in countries in almost every part of the world some great people working for CIDA, with local partners in many cases doing terrific things, and often with very small amounts of money, in the most vulnerable and difficult circumstances, so Ms. Brown is right to highlight the commitment of the government. It was a robust commitment. I am hoping that we as a committee can look at this issue again in the fall and try to make Canadians understand, as Ms. Brown did in her question, precisely what can be done in a very tangible way to support the work not only of your agency but also of other Canadian NGOs and international partners.

By way of a question, obviously there is much short-term urgency to this, and the focus of your efforts is on famine relief and getting food to those affected and the vulnerable populations in the region. Not to take away from the urgency of the short-term immediate crisis, are we or other international partners also doing any work on trying to support these populations in the longer-term needs of the region on issues such as food security?

Second, could you offer some comments on the current state of the Somali government? Is the government really in any position to provide security or access to aid groups or international organizations trying to reach its population? Do you see the Somali government as being at all effective, or is it simply irrelevant? There is the threat, as you noted in your briefing note, from some of the paramilitary and terrorist groups that have previously been a huge impediment to getting food to those in great need.

[Philip Baker, Acting Regional Director General, Southern and Eastern Africa, Canadian International Development Agency]

First of all, let me introduce myself. I'm Philip Baker. I work at CIDA as a regional director general for southern and eastern Africa. I had the honour of accompanying Minister Oda to Somalia for the visit to Nairobi and the camps on the border on July 22. We had the Nairobi sessions the day before. It was a very illuminating visit.

In general I just want to say a couple of quick things with regard to the longer term. I've worked in a lot of places in Africa, but besides what we see on the ground, even before you get on the ground, as you are arriving, just seeing the intense drought conditions as you are flying into the camp areas hits you like a brick.

We saw every aspect of the camp from reception right through to long-term settlement within the camps, camps that have been there for a long time. I can speak to the notion of the confidence we have in the partners. Of what we saw, things were incredibly well organized, even in the incredibly busy camp at Dadaab. People have been there for a long time, and coordination is the watchword. That's where you have to be on top of your game.

Stephen is the expert on humanitarian assistance. I have a bit more of the longer-term perspective, having been able to wander through the camps and see all aspects--even gender-based violence--and to look at what can be done about those things.

The short-term immediate work is under way. It is very strong, and we have a high level of confidence in what we are seeing. As for the longer term, that also touches on earlier questions about regional stability. As you can imagine, there's a very large international community, and we all work in various places that we have to focus on. It's like a division of labour, if you like, when you look at a large area like sub-Saharan Africa and this region. It's an unstable, challenging region. Canada, through CIDA, is heavily involved in Ethiopia, which is experiencing a large portion of the drought effects. We are very engaged in Kenya, and as you have seen, the security question makes it much more of a challenge to be deeply engaged as a development agency in Somalia.

However, when you look at the regional efforts that are possible and that are under way, there are quite a few. You spoke about food security. There are also the issues of agricultural growth as well as nutrition for women, children, and youth, all of which we are busily engaged in.

If you look at our programming in Ethiopia, we're having great effect on all three of those fronts. There's a massive program into which we're putting $140 million over five years. It's a program called the “Productive Safety Net Programme”, and it will allow for a way to close the gap on food and security such that you can help numerous people in many of the drought-affected regions to buy time in order to put longer-term programs in place. Those include things like programs for agricultural growth. Some of the biggest climate change adaptation programming you see in Africa is under way in Ethiopia right now, allowing us to stabilize land that has been degraded and make it productive.

There are millions of kilometres--and I have seen these myself--of hand-built stone walls that terrace the actual landscape in Ethiopia in some of these incredibly affected regions. These allow you to come in and redevelop that land for agricultural purposes and allow families to sustain themselves and also go on to a little bit more growth that can contribute to their neighbours in terms of markets and sharing and selling their produce.

You also have things like nutrition programs. Of the money for women and children's health programming announced by the government at Muskoka, $50 million will be going to Ethiopia to support three million children and pregnant and lactating women to enhance their nutrition and allow them to be more productive and to focus on taking that land further so that they can both sustain themselves and perhaps generate enough to provide a small income for the family and pull themselves out of food insecurity.

These programs are under way, and some of our programming can be done elsewhere. As I said, it's not always just Canada. The British are also very involved in Somalia, for example. You can look at a sharing of that kind of effort across the region, and we stay closely coordinated with other donors.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Thank you very much.

Thank you to all the witnesses for being here today.

To all the members who came back in the middle of the summer, it was nice seeing you, but I hope I don't see you again until September.

I hope the rest of your summer is good.

The meeting is adjourned.