Public Accounts committee  Thank you. As I mentioned in my opening remarks, sir, I personally feel—and it shows with other donor agencies—that if you're able to focus on fewer things, you can have much more clarity around the results you're trying to achieve. It just concentrates the effort inside the agency.

Public Accounts committee  There have been a number of steps, starting with geographic focus, as we just discussed. There has also been a thematic focus, which are the three thematic priorities Minister Oda has laid out. Beyond those thematics, which are understandably fairly broad, we have zeroed in on some core elements that we think will have the greatest impact in terms of need.

Public Accounts committee  One of the findings by the Auditor General was that the agency had a strong understanding of aid effectiveness principles, but they didn't see concrete direction from the leadership of the organization so there would be clear and consistent and coherent guidance to staff. We have now put that in place.

Public Accounts committee  Maybe I can distinguish a couple of different issues. As the Auditor General has said, and as the audit says, a policy decision on what priorities a government wants to bring to its development assistance is a decision of the government. This government chose to focus its assistance so as to increase its impact.

Public Accounts committee  I believe CIDA actually does consult very adequately and well in the field. In fact, I would take in part from what the Auditor General's report says that CIDA is well thought of in the field. That means we work well with the partner countries, with groups in the countries, and with the recipient government.

Public Accounts committee  Maybe I'll answer it in a couple of ways, Chair. In terms of setting our priorities, in terms of setting what we are going to do in a country, we would have consultations. For example, we had extensive consultations last summer before we developed our thematic priorities. We consulted in Canada with a great number, a cross-section of Canadians, we consulted in our countries, and we consulted with other partners, other donor agencies.

Public Accounts committee  The government has just announced 20 countries of focus, and there were three criteria used to select them. The first one, as you would expect, is need and whether or not there was significant need in a country, from a poverty reduction point of view, in terms of both absolute poverty and relative poverty, and whether or not the country was particularly vulnerable, for example, due to natural disasters.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you. On the basis of specific initiatives, each CIDA initiative--a project or a program-based approach--would have a clear statement of objectives it's trying to achieve. It would have a results framework, and it would be designed to achieve those results. There would be ongoing monitoring of the project while it's under way.

Public Accounts committee  Just to answer your first question, I was appointed the president of CIDA on July 1, 2008, so I've been there for 16 months. David joined me in May 2009. As the Auditor General's report notes, CIDA's work that they reviewed--and they did field visits--was highly regarded. We have a very strong results-based management system in CIDA, so I believe the work on the ground was still garnering very strong results.

Public Accounts committee  I can't speak for all of the different moments, and this goes back through, as you would of course remember, a number of governments. Governments have a policy decision where they can decide what it is they wish to focus on. I believe that at all times the agency has been transparent about what its priorities were.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Thank you for the opportunity to discuss Chapter 8 of the 2009 Fall Report of the Auditor General of Canada as it relates to the Canadian International Development Agency, CIDA. Aid effectiveness is a priority of the Government of Canada, and CIDA has an agenda that delivers on the government's commitment to ensure that Canada's development assistance yields concrete results.