I would like to think that the ODA Accountability Act is integral to everything that CIDA does, but we've done a number of access to information requests over the past three years to get a better sense of how CIDA has both interpreted the act and implemented it. It's unfortunate that we had to use access to information, but it has been very difficult to get a sense from bureaucrats in the government of how it's being implemented.
I think CIDA has interpreted the act by saying, “We already do this. We already promote poverty eradication. We already promote human rights. We already consult with the poor”, but they haven't actually developed any mechanisms to evaluate or really translate that into its core practice.
For example, at the end of CIDA's sustainable economic growth strategy it says that all program activities within this strategy are compliant with the ODA Accountability Act. We submitted an access to information request to establish how CIDA had come to this conclusion. The access to information request turned up no documentation, meaning that while CIDA asserted it was compliant with the act, it actually hadn't developed any tools to evaluate or assess this, or determine how programs were truly going to be compliant with the act.
I think the principles of the act are maybe integral to CIDA's practice, but it's hard to get officials to even talk about the act these days.