Global Affairs Canada

The Canadian International Food Security Research Fund (CIFSRF) supports applied research projects that address food security challenges in the developing world. It is jointly funded, coordinated, and implemented in collaboration with the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and uses the combined expertise of both organizations to maximize the impact of the projects funded. Through investments in applied research, the CIFSRF contributes to the development of more productive, sustainable, and gender-sensitive agricultural techniques for women subsistence farmers, with the ultimate goal of making food sources more secure and accessible, and the food produced more nutritious, for poor households. Women and girls are particularly targeted by this project since they face the heaviest burden of chronic hunger and malnutrition in developing countries. The objectives of the CIFSRF are: (1) to increase food security in developing countries by funding applied research in agricultural development and nutrition; (2) to apply Canadian science and technology expertise in collaboration with developing country partners to address food security; (3) to use research results to inform food security policies and programs; and (4) to identify innovations and scale up the most promising research from both Phase I and Phase II of the Fund to help meet future global food demand. Phase II focuses geographically on the 20 countries already targeted under Phase I as well as all other official development assistance-eligible countries in Africa. Project activities for phase II include: (1) developing farming methods that can better withstand the effects of climate change; (2) developing environmentally sustainable gender-sensitive, farmer-led research models for breeding and distribution of new crops or underutilized traditional crops and consumption of sufficient, safe and nutritious food; (3) improving family-based aquaculture; (4) decreasing domestic animal losses through development of vaccines; and (5) reducing post-harvest losses through adaptable and affordable technologies. Partnership is an important aspect of the CIFSRF and all the research projects funded are jointly conducted by Canadian and developing country-based organizations, such as academic institutions, private sector organizations, civil society organizations, or research institutions. These partnerships harness Canada's expertise in agriculture and nutritional science and combine it with first-hand knowledge and expertise in developing countries, to maximize the benefit for development activities.

The Canada Fund for Local Initiatives (CFLI) supports small projects proposed and implemented by local organizations in Bhutan, India and Nepal. The CFLI contributes to the overall goal of reducing poverty by providing funding for small projects that offer direct social, economic or technical assistance to local populations. The CFLI retains the same broad themes set out since 2016, which align closely with the six pillars of the Feminist International Assistance Policy. This allows flexibility to respond to and focus on themes relevant to local needs. The six thematic priorities include: (1) contributing to inclusive governance, including diversity and LGBTQ2, democracy, human rights and the rule of law; (2) contributing to gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls; (3) contributing to peace and security, with a focus on conflict prevention and building peace; (4) contributing to growth that works for everyone, including women’s economic rights, decent jobs and entrepreneurship, investing in the poorest and most vulnerable, and safeguarding economic gains; (5) contributing to environment and climate action, focusing on adaptation, mitigation and water management; and (6) contributing to human dignity, covering health, education and nutrition.

The Canada Fund for Local Initiatives (CFLI) supports small projects proposed and implemented by local organizations in Bhutan, India and Nepal. The CFLI contributes to the overall goal of reducing poverty by providing funding for small projects that offer direct social, economic or technical assistance to local populations. The CFLI retains the same broad themes set out since 2016, which align closely with the six pillars of the Feminist International Assistance Policy. This allows flexibility to respond to and focus on themes relevant to local needs. The six thematic priorities include: (1) contributing to inclusive governance, including diversity and LGBTQ2, democracy, human rights and the rule of law; (2) contributing to gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls; (3) contributing to peace and security, with a focus on conflict prevention and building peace; (4) contributing to growth that works for everyone, including women’s economic rights, decent jobs and entrepreneurship, investing in the poorest and most vulnerable, and safeguarding economic gains; (5) contributing to environment and climate action, focusing on adaptation, mitigation and water management; and (6) contributing to human dignity, covering health, education and nutrition.

This project aims to reduce threats posed to migrants by criminal networks engaging in migrant smuggling from South Asia and Africa through Latin America to the United States and Canada. Project activities include: (1) delivering six training workshops to criminal justice practitioners in countries along the transnational smuggling routes leading to Canada to detect, investigate and prosecute migrant smuggling in a gender-informed manner; (2) providing ongoing mentoring and advisory services to selected practitioners handling migrant smuggling cases in investigating and collecting evidence; (3) holding two trans-regional meetings and/or conferences to take stock of trends, patterns and challenges in addressing migrant smuggling; and (4) producing an Assessment Report on trends and patterns of transcontinental migrant smuggling. This project is implemented by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime with the support of Canadian governmental agencies such as the Canada Border Services Agency and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

The Canada Fund for Local Initiatives (CFLI) supports small projects proposed and implemented by local organizations in India, Bhutan and Nepal. The CFLI contributes to the overall goal of reducing poverty by providing funding for small projects that offer direct social, economic or technical assistance to local populations. The CFLI retains the same broad themes set out since 2016, which align closely with the six pillars of the Feminist International Assistance Policy. This allows flexibility to respond to and focus on themes relevant to local needs. The six thematic priorities include: (1) contributing to inclusive governance, including diversity and LGBTQ2, democracy, human rights and the rule of law; (2) contributing to gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls; (3) contributing to peace and security, with a focus on conflict prevention and building peace; (4) contributing to growth that works for everyone, including women’s economic rights, decent jobs and entrepreneurship, investing in the poorest and most vulnerable, and safeguarding economic gains; (5) contributing to environment and climate action, focusing on adaptation, mitigation and water management; and (6) contributing to human dignity, covering health, education and nutrition.

The Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP) seeks to address the underfunding of country and regional agriculture and food security strategic investment plans by focusing on longer-term investments in developing countries. The GAFSP provides grants (public sector window), and loans and equity investments (private sector window) to developing countries. CIDA’s support to the GAFSP helps to improve the income and food security of poor people in developing countries through more and better country-led public and private sector investments, thereby contributing to the achievement of the first Millennium Development Goal to cut hunger and poverty in half by 2015. The GAFSP, established in April 2010, enables participating developing countries to help raise agricultural productivity, links farmers to markets, strengthens the technical capacity of institutions to plan and develop appropriate agricultural policies, reduces risk and vulnerability of the most vulnerable populations, and improves non-farm rural livelihoods. The GAFSP Public Sector Window projects are expected to improve the lives of approximately 7.5 million beneficiaries, raising total incomes by an estimated US $100 million per year. 60 countries are eligible to receive GAFSP funding through a competitive process.