Public Accounts Committee on Dec. 13th, 2016

[Chandra Arya, Liberal, Nepean, ON]

For all the joint activities, the money comes to you, and you manage it.

[Jean Lebel]

Yes, and we have a governance structuring order to provide representation of every partner at the table.

[Chandra Arya, Liberal, Nepean, ON]

How frequently do you use Canadian consultants or Canadian small businesses in executing these projects?

[Jean Lebel]

It's very limited, because we don't work with consultants. Research relies on the capacity of researchers who are in the field, and our money goes to the researchers. We bring consultants in sometimes for very specific issues, but most of our work is based on building up the capacity of researchers. We do it often through joint programs with Canadian institutions, but we are not a consultancy-based organization. We are a research-based organization.

[Chandra Arya, Liberal, Nepean, ON]

I understand you're a research-based organization, but whenever somebody does research, we need to monitor and evaluate how that research has been done, and we have consultants, small businesses, in Canada that have expertise and have worked extensively in this field with CIDA for so many years.

[Jean Lebel]

Well, you know, this is something we are doing.

A project can be evaluated in various ways. At the project level, we are providing support for self-evaluation as well as funding evaluation with expertise that is present at the national level in these countries, expertise that IDRC has built. When it comes to large programs, we often bid for external firms to do external reviews, and we often work with evaluation companies based in Canada.

[Chandra Arya, Liberal, Nepean, ON]

I still don't understand.

Seventy-two percent of your staff is in Ottawa. You want to build up the expertise of researchers in various countries. How does it happen? What do the people do here in Ottawa?

[Jean Lebel]

They travel around the world to deliver the services. They use technology in order to meet with people on a very regular basis, and they provide capacity at the technical level to guide the research, and at the networking level to make those connections—south-south, north-south, and south-north. They are also responsible for monitoring whether the project gets completed according to the project objectives.

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, David Christopherson]

You have a minute and a half.

[Chandra Arya, Liberal, Nepean, ON]

Okay.

Coming back to India, how much has IDRC spent in India in the last five to 10 years?

[Jean Lebel]

I could not answer that specifically now, but I will provide you with the answer.

[Chandra Arya, Liberal, Nepean, ON]

You mentioned rape, and how rape is getting checked at the police stations, etc.

What is your role in changing the culture of the 1.2 billion population there?

[Jean Lebel]

It's not our role to change the country. Our role is to fund the research that brings evidence that other things can be done. Then it's for the Indian researchers and the public authorities to take that information and move it the way they want in order to correct the situation.

[Chandra Arya, Liberal, Nepean, ON]

In your opinion, India still needs funding from organizations like yours?

[Jean Lebel]

India still needs funding from organizations like ours.

[Chandra Arya, Liberal, Nepean, ON]

That's where I have to disagree.

My colleague has a question.

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, David Christopherson]

You still have a minute if you want it.

[Chandra Arya, Liberal, Nepean, ON]

Okay, thank you so much.

[Jean Lebel]

May I add to my answer?

I'll give you an example of why we still need to provide support. Small millet is a cereal that was almost eliminated in India after the green revolution and introduction of dwarf wheat and maize. About four or five years ago, we started working on new crops that are more tolerant to heat stress and water stress. Small millet became one of the cereals that showed not only good yield under these conditions, but also proved to be more nutritious from a protein standpoint than maize and rice together. We helped the Indian agricultural researchers in Bangalore to put together a program to reintroduce millet. The Government of India has put $60 million on the table to bring small millet to the national level. We provided only small funding. The Indian government is providing it. We have provided an incentive to look at this.

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, David Christopherson]

Go ahead, for a quick follow-up.

[Chandra Arya, Liberal, Nepean, ON]

I'm from Bangalore. I know the organizations. I don't know this particular organization, but trust me, whatever you are putting in there, the Government of India is capable of doing that. I think our money should be diverted to the more deserving countries in Africa and other parts of Asia.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, David Christopherson]

You're very welcome.

[Jean Lebel]

The research from India is now being used in Africa.

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, David Christopherson]

Thank you.

We have an opportunity for Mr. Harvey, for a full five minutes, if he wishes.

[TJ Harvey, Liberal, Tobique—Mactaquac, NB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I won't need the full five, but I want to make a couple of comments.

Following up on Mr. McColeman's starting comment on the chair appearing before the committee, I just want to clarify that I don't think any of us here believe that you shouldn't be here today. It was just that normally we would like to have both here at the same time.