Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I would like to say a couple of things. First, culturally appropriate, capacity-building training that is community-driven with community engagement is always the best way to go. Again, if the results are to be sustainable and successful, it has to happen. I think that, when one

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'll leave it there then. Thanks.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes. I think it's a very good point. I'd like to add that the Indian Act is a clear problem. You could pick any issue to talk about today, and the Indian Act is going to be a problem. While that is being looked at, dismantled, whatever, I would like to see communities being set u

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you very much. To put it briefly, I believe that a key to success is having community ownership, engagement, and involvement in the recovery plan. I think carte blanche control of that by outside consultants or whoever, or outside resources, if it's not a partnership with

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  From a financial perspective, that investment from the federal government has to be there. For long-term, sustainable solutions, that investment needs to be there, so it's professionals coming in who can work with the communities to help unlock the potential, to plan for the futu

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you also to the honourable members of the standing committee for inviting us here today. We're delighted to participate in the review of the default prevention and management policy and to provide our point of view. It's an honour to be on the panel

Foreign Affairs committee  My short answer is no. My longer answer is that I look at it from the perspective of the individual clients within the country we're working in. For example, about a year ago we finished a six-year program with the partnership branch, and we started a new one. We graduated one

Foreign Affairs committee  We're talking about development. If there is a circumstance in which aid is needed, I think that is more straightforward. It is delivered. When you're talking about development efforts, I think that engagement and commitment from local clients is key. It makes the difference be

Foreign Affairs committee  Ideally, we would use local expertise to identify solutions we could scale up. The other way it can be done is seeing the local potential. It might be at an earlier stage, when the structure isn't there. We might come in and help build the structure, such as a co-operative to bri

Foreign Affairs committee  Our direct program is organized on business fundamentals, mentorship, and business coaching. We work with local microfinance organizations to build local capacity so that loans are available to owner-operators.

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes.

Foreign Affairs committee  I think it's not about the number of countries but about having the flexibility to assess the level of readiness in a country or a region and then to deploy resources in that area. For example, we work in five countries in West Africa, but we work in agribusiness with an organi

Foreign Affairs committee  From CESO's perspective, it goes to the interconnectiveness between economic autonomy and the power of choice, in this case to invest in education. I'll give you an example. In Tanzania we work with the Tanzanian Federation of Cooperatives, which is the national organization tha

Foreign Affairs committee  On the first question, as an example of a holistic approach, I'll go back to the national context, as it illustrates it well. I talked about working with Mushkegowuk Council, a group of first nations, on their ability to strengthen their governance structures. Very frequently i

Foreign Affairs committee  I think there are areas in which Canada has a competitive advantage. A focus on those areas will lead to greater impact, and CESO does focus on them. We talked today about limited resources and having to maximize what we can do with limited resources. When I look at those Canad