Mr. Speaker, in response to (a), among the organizations funded by Partnerships with Canadians Branch, PWCB, four organizations have not had their program applications approved and one organization has seen its program support reduced from the level of its previous program agreement.
In response to (b), the Canadian Bureau for International Education, MATCH International Centre (MATCH) and KAIROS (Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives) have had their program renewal or extension applications turned down. Program support for Alternatives Inc. was reduced to cover only its programming in Afghanistan, Iraq and Haiti.
In response to (c), the total cumulative amount of the proposals that were turned down or reduced is approximately $21.7 million over five years. This represents approximately 0.02% of PWCB expected grants and contributions over the next five years.
In response to (d), partnership proposals are assessed on their merits. Funding is allocated to high value initiatives.
In response to (e), MATCH is the only organization that CIDA has funded that focuses on “women's advocacy". Discussions leading to the decision to end funding for this group focused on the increasing dependency of the organization on CIDA funding and its diminishing capacity to effectively deliver and report on projects. CIDA and MATCH met twice, on April 15 and on July 8, 2010, to discuss funding. In addition, a letter from CIDA to MATCH was sent on April 30, 2010 explaining the decision not to extend the current MATCH program.