We have always done that. We have always prioritized. In fact, that is why we exist. We exist to try to decolonize aid and aid approaches in the sense that we work with local partners, they design the programs, they run the programs and implement the programs. We have either local or regional actors at all levels of our organization, including at the country director level, and they are the ones who are implementing those efforts. This means that during the COVID pandemic we have been somewhat more resilient in terms of our field approaches. We have strong robust local networks and those programs have been able to continue, whereas organizations that have a large reliance on an external expatriate infrastructure obviously have seen some of their activities curtailed as a result of the pandemic.
We believe very strongly that the best kind of humanitarian efforts invest in local capacity and make it possible for those communities to then rebuild and to do it on their own terms and with the priorities that they have identified. Our focus is always education, access to justice and economic development, and they're the ones who are driving that.
Again, it speaks to how Canada runs its aid programs. If we want to move the dial forward, we have to move beyond short-term, short-sighted interventions. We have to think about the structural challenges that children are facing in these contexts, and have a long-term view of the problems of war and poverty and abuse and exploitation, and commit for longer periods of time to see that kind of transformational change realized.