E-Newsletter, January 2010, Volume 1, Number 3
What We Do
Matching Canadian expertise with international democratic development needs
Deployment for Democratic Development (DDD), launched in May 2007, is funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and implemented by the Institute of Public Administration of Canada (IPAC) in collaboration with Rights & Democracy (International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development). DDD serves the democratic development needs of CIDA branches and their local partners. We recruit and send Canadian democratic development experts to Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East in response to requests for assistance from CIDA partner countries.
Click here to learn more about what we do
New Publications on Democratic Development and Gender Mainstreaming
The Challenges for Democratic Development
In this paper, Razmik Panossian, DDD Team Member and Director of Planning, Policy, and Programmes at Rights & Democracy, provides an overview of the challenges of democratic development in the coming few years and links them to DDD initiatives.
Click here to read the complete paper
What is Gender Mainstreaming?
This backgrounder, written by DDD team member and Rights & Democracy Women’s Rights Programme Officer, Isabelle Solon Helal, defines one of the cross-cutting objectives of DDD initiatives, that is to bring gender into the mainstream by making it a consideration at all levels and in all activities. Several DDD initiatives incorporate a gender mainstreaming approach, either directly or indirectly, including the project to reform the Ethiopian criminal justice system so that it is more accessible, transparent and equitable for all Ethiopians and the project on gender budgeting analysis in Ukraine that reveals how budget measures can have a very different impact on men and women.
Click here to read the complete backgrounder
News from the Field
Since its launch in 2007, DDD has completed 14 initiatives with another 23 currently in progress in 20 different countries around the world on issues such as:
- Procurement
- Strategic planning
- Budget analysis and gender budgeting
- Microfinancing
- Food security
- Government decentralization
- Results-based management
- Code of ethics for public officials
- Criminal justice system reforms
- Foreign affairs policy
- Election monitoring
- Media governance
Here are a few samples of DDD initiatives around the world:
East African Community: Ensuring Transparent Procurement Procedures
DDD collaborated with the EAC to produce effective and transparent procurement policies and processes, with a manual, supporting documentation and training. A risk-based audit framework was also put in place to help identify, assess and manage the risks inherent in procurement and in corporate governance generally. For more information: visit www.democraticdevelopment.ca/EastAfricanCommunity.
Bolivia: Supporting the National Electoral Court (Corte Nacional Electoral)
DDD supported Bolivia’s Corte Nacional Electoral in its efforts to effectively manage the registration data of all eligible electors for the upcoming national elections. Following a needs assessment mission in 2008, which identified the need for an updated national electoral registry, DDD recruited an electoral administration expert and IT specialist to help implement a Biometrics Register of Electors. For more information: www.democraticdevelopment.ca/Bolivia.
Burkina Faso: Promoting the Microfinance Sector
Microfinancial institutions are community-based lending groups that provide a range of key services to improve financial and business development services for low-income communities in developing countries. DDD sent a Canadian expert, Guy Vaillancourt, and others from Développement international Desjardins to work with the Association of Professional Microfinance Institutions of Burkina Faso (APIM-BF), which brings together 55 microfinancial institutions from across the country. APIM-BF has been working since 2002 to develop Burkina Faso’s national strategy on microfinance and seeks to strengthen its capacity as a sustainable, credible, and demand-driven institution so that it may not only assume its role in implementing the national strategy, but also address the needs of women and ultimately support the larger struggle to combat poverty. For more information: visit www.democraticdevelopment.ca/BurkinaFaso.
Haiti: Strengthening the National Ministry of Education and Professional Training (MENFP)
About 500,000 children in Haiti still do not have access to school. Haiti’s National Education and Professional Training Ministry (MENFP) has neither the means nor the institutional capacity to guarantee access to basic education for all, as enshrined in the 1987 Constitution. To help MENFP better deliver quality educational services and assume its role as regulator of Haiti’s education system, DDD will work with the MENFP in preparing a strategic five-year framework for capacity building. For more information: http://www.eduhaiti.gouv.ht/
El Salvador: International Conference on Ethics in Democracy
DDD enabled eleven Canadian experts to participate in an international conference on ethics in democracy held in San Salvador from November 11 to 13, 2009. Hosted by the Canadian Embassy in collaboration with Rights & Democracy and local partners, including the National Foundation for Development (FUNDE), the conference provided space for regional thematic specialists, academics, civil society organizations, businesses and politicians from 10 countries to discuss democratic practices relevant to the Mesoamerican context. Razmik Panossian, Director of Programmes, Policy and Planning at Rights & Democracy and a member of the DDD team, presented a paper entitled "Transitional Justice and Human Rights: Dealing with Impunity." For more information, visit:
Canada organizes International Conference on Ethics in Democracy in El Salvador
Spotlight on our Canadian Experts
Plaza de Armas in Piura, Peru
Carlos Salazar: Strengthening Peru’s Decentralization Process
DDD expert Carlos Salazar has more than 25 years of experience working in local governance, regional urban planning, government reform and strategic planning. Based in Toronto, he has contributed to projects in India, China, Philippines, Paraguay, Cuba, Jamaica, Costa Rica, Mexico and Peru. He is currently working with DDD in Peru to strengthen the Region of Piura’s capacity to deliver better services to its communities. His work with DDD has been recognized as a major contribution to CIDA’s local governance program in Peru. Carlos Salazar is Adjunct Professor of Local Government at Laurentian University and works as a manager of community planning in the Greater Toronto Area. For more information: visit www.democraticdevelopment.ca/Peru
“It is really exciting to be able to contribute to the decentralization process in Peru. Our colleagues in the Region of Piura face the same challenges we do, balancing short and long term goals within a highly political environment with limited resources; they approach their challenges with energy and enthusiasm, and above all, with the belief that they are building a better country, and they are.”
Carlos Salazar
