I will question one term you used, which is “Canadian projects”.
That term is indicative of the kind of aid relationship that we have had with the continent. These shouldn't be “our” projects.
We currently have a system that requires Canadian organizations to decide what needs to happen in a community, and then they hire community groups to implement the projects that the Canadian organizations have designed. That's required of us as Canadian charities. That's just starting to shift. However, through Global Affairs Canada, that's still the process that's in place.
That means that these are not African solutions to African problems; they're the solutions of people sitting in Toronto or Ottawa who come up with these solutions or use experiences from other countries.
Yes, absolutely, we need to be investing more in local grassroots community-led work, but that work needs to be led by those organizations, with the support of Canadian organizations, in true partnership.