I wasn't aware of either the project or the CIDA announcement. On the other hand, I am somewhat aware of CIDA's previous project and of the $15 million paid to the joint project for the Fight Against Sexual Violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
That CIDA project has come up against a major problem because the fight against sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is currently completely centralized in UN institutions, particularly the UN Development Program, the UNDP. The UNDP is subject to accountability rules by the funding agencies. It is also subject to a number of criteria for the selection of field-based non-governmental organizations which will provide judicial assistance services, but especially psychosocial and medical assistance services.
As a result of these quite strict accountability criteria, UNDP and the UN organizations have had to choose, on a priority basis, to work with international non-government organizations. They have only worked with an extremely limited number of Congolese non-governmental organizations, which are in fact becoming service providers. The problem with this approach is that the voice of women's organizations that take care of victims in the field does not reach the ears of those responsible for designing programs and policies.
So when we talk about Resolution 1325, that's precisely what we're talking about. When we ask the organizations to take women's needs into account in the matter of reconstruction and peace, it's precisely that process we're talking about. They are in the best position to talk about the reality of sexual violence, to talk about the problems they encounter in the field and about the needs they identify. They are also in the best position to set necessary intervention priorities. This is precisely one of the problems involved in implementing the prescriptions of Resolution 1325.