ABSTRACT
The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) is an agency of the government of Canada mandated to support sustainable development activities that aim to reduce poverty and contribute to a more secure, equitable, and prosperous world. CIDA has its own minister, the Minister of Internal Cooperation, and operates as an independent ministry under the aegis of the Foreign Affairs Department. CIDA will also need to keep itself open to new forms of partnership. Canada is part of the British Commonwealth and also a part of the Francophonie; people are a Pacific Rim country, and people also maintain a North-South relationship. CIDA often is involved in projects with other donors. Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) may enable people to continue with their familiar projects—more efficiently—but it also will allow people to contemplate aid work that hitherto may have been impossible. Use of ICT is another driver that is essential to the new context of development agencies.
