Thank you.
Since 2000 there have been a number of re-evaluations and reflections on what actually leads to effective assistance that actually can garner the strongest results. I think there's a strong evidence base to show that short-term individual projects do not build sustainable results.
Beginning with the Rome conference, the Paris Declaration, and then in 2008 with the Accra Agenda for Action, there has been a strong focus on a number of key principles, and all donor countries are working to align with them as best as possible. That would include, first and foremost, that a country needs to take ownership for the issue and have a plan to address its poverty reduction requirements and its goals in a particular sector. Without that you can't really galvanize and coalesce your assistance efforts.
For donor countries like Canada, there's a strong recommendation that we be more harmonized and more aligned and coordinated on the ground. That leads to an effort towards what we call program-based approaches, which is where you work together as a donor community with the country in question to try to support them, whether it's in their health sector, their education plan, or their economic agenda. That's meant to avoid the individual project scattergun approach that has led to some failed efforts in the past.
I think the section you're referring to shows that all countries over the last number of years—beginning with Canada, with the Auditor General looking at the policy of the Government of Canada since 2002—have been trying to do better at this. In our aid effectiveness agenda, in which we have talked about greater focus, more decentralization, more alignment, we're taking it up to another level.