Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you very much. Good afternoon, everyone. I think all of us know that COVID-19 outbreaks are devastating in every context, but they will not be anywhere more profound than for the two billion people who are living in fragile and conflict-affected settings around the world.

Foreign Affairs committee  It is on English. I can turn it off, if you'd like.

Foreign Affairs committee  Should I start again, or should I carry on?

Foreign Affairs committee  Will I still have my five minutes?

Foreign Affairs committee  Okay, thank you. Thanks, everyone. I apologize for the technology glitches at the start. Thank you for having us today. COVID-19 outbreaks are devastating in every context at this time, but nowhere will they be more profound than for the two billion people who are living in fr

Foreign Affairs committee  Canadian NGOs have pivoted to respond to this pandemic. Thanks to flexibility from Global Affairs Canada and other donors, we are adapting our existing programs to respond. We have replaced cash-for-work programs with unconditional cash transfers through cellphones. We're providi

Foreign Affairs committee  I'm going to ask my colleague Maxime Michel to answer that. She's our head of humanitarian and resilience programs.

Foreign Affairs committee  Who was the question for?

Foreign Affairs committee  I'm so sorry; I didn't hear the first part of your question. Maxime, would you answer that, please?

Foreign Affairs committee  No, we have not.

Foreign Affairs committee  I think we would work very quickly. We'd be able to pivot very quickly with some of the concept notes we already have in the pipeline to do some pretty life-saving and transformative work, even with just some top-up from that $400 million. We would be able to do some work in Su

Foreign Affairs committee  I'll give you a concrete example. I was on the phone this morning, for a good chunk of time actually, with a woman named Ruth, who works for CARE in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. I asked Ruth what the impact of COVID has been in Cox's. She runs the gender-based violence and the gender

Foreign Affairs committee  Maxime, do you want to lead off on that?

Foreign Affairs committee  When we look at those troubling statistics around femicide, female genital mutilation and access to family planning, to contraceptives and to safe birthing situations, I think that globally we have made remarkable progress over the last 10, 15 or 20 years. Globally, virtually eve

Foreign Affairs committee  Sure. I think I'm going to really mirror what my colleagues from the Red Cross have said. Quite frankly, our job over time, in any country and in any context, is to work ourselves out of a job there. Our job is to build local infrastructure, local capacity and local leadership c