CIDA to raise Kandahar profile

This should help at home and in winning Afghan good will; let's hope things are done effectively and efficiently (to the extent possible):

The government's overseas aid agency is overhauling the way it doles out development dollars in Afghanistan to make it quicker, more effective and better able to boost Canada's brand in Kandahar.

Plans are underway for a "signature" Canadian aid project in Kandahar, civilian staff in the region will be increased to 35 from 10, and officials on the ground will have more independence from slow-moving Ottawa bureaucrats to sign off on development work, said International Development Minister Bev Oda.

The agency was rapped in last month's report on the country's Afghan mission.

Former Liberal foreign minister John Manley said Canadian International Development Agency staff were cloistered behind the heavy walls of military bases and given only 15 per cent of Canada's total aid budget to respond independently to pressing needs.

Half of Canadian aid goes to multilateral agencies like the World Bank while 35 per cent goes to the Afghan government, with some of that lost to corrupt officials and institutions.

CIDA has had chronic difficulties displaying the results of Canadian tax dollars to visiting journalists and parliamentarians since officials accompanied the military south to Kandahar province.

Yet there is political pressure on the government to shift the Afghan mission toward development, reconstruction and training Afghanistan's military and police, issues that fall squarely in CIDA's court.

This week's budget earmarked an extra $100 million for the war-torn country, much of which will go to training efforts. Some of that money, and much of the other $180 million in next year's Afghanistan-bound aid, will be for more traditional development work, like digging irrigation ditches, paving roads and education.

Oda said Canada is actively searching for a "signature" aid project – an initiative recommended by Manley that can be "readily identifiable as supported by Canada."

"We are doing our due diligence currently to look at the most appropriate project, one that will make a significant difference in the lives of the Afghan people," she told reporters in a briefing yesterday.

Oda said any work must meet the standards of being effective and helping increase the capacity of local Afghans. Security takes a priority over aid, she said...

The key over the long run is for the Afghans to set their own priorities, to take charge of as much development work as possible, and to build their own "capacities"--both governmental and in civilian tasks more generally. And the work must be done throughout the country. That's why it makes sense for the great majority of our aid to go through the Afghan government and international organizations. But doing more ourselves at Kandahar specifically, with more Canadian civilian boots on the ground, also makes sense up to a point.