Key Findings of the Auditor General of Canada

• There were significant weaknesses in the way Global Affairs Canada (GAC) managed project information. The department was not effectively monitoring its funded projects or reporting on them.
• The annual reports to Parliament on international assistance captured outputs for only around half of GAC’s funded projects. This was insufficient to accurately reflect outcomes rapports.
• GAC did not meet two out of three of Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy spending commitments.^[1]

Summary of the Committee’s Recommendations and Timelines

Table 1—Summary of the Committee’s Recommendations and Timelines

Introduction

About This Report

On 27 March 2023, the reports of the Auditor General of Canada were tabled in the House of Commons and referred to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Accounts (the Committee) for study,^[2] one of which was “International Assistance in Support of Gender Equality—Global Affairs Canada.” This report summarizes the OAG report and sets out the Committee’s recommendations to GAC.

Audit Parameters

The key audit parameters of the OAG performance audit are summarized in Table 2.

Table 2—Audit Parameters

Source: Office of the Auditor General of Canada, International Assistance in support of gender equality—Global Affairs Canada, Report 4 of the 2023 Reports of the Auditor General of Canada, About the Audit and para. 4.8.

Background

In 2017, Canada, led by GAC, launched Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy, which applies to all of the department’s international assistance spending. Under the policy, the department committed to funding projects that improve gender equality and the conditions of the world’s poorest and most marginalized populations. Women and girls are disproportionately affected by factors such as poverty, population growth, and climate change.^[3]

Meeting of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts

On 20 April 2023, the Committee held a meeting on the OAG report with the following in attendance:

• OAG – Karen Hogan, Auditor General of Canada; Martin Dompierre, Assistant Auditor General; and Susan Robertson, Director
• GAC – Christopher MacLennan, Deputy Minister, International Development; Patricia Peña, Assistant Deputy Minister, Partnerships for Development Innovation; and Natalie Lalonde, Chief Audit Executive, Office of the Chief Audit Executive^[4]

Findings and Recommendations

A.    Monitoring and Reporting of Outcomes

The OAG found that “Global Affairs Canada did not comprehensively monitor or report outcomes against policy goals.”^[5]

1.     Information Management

During the audit, department officials stated that some international assistance project documents were too difficult to locate and not available to audit for the following reasons:

• Staff did not consistently use the department’s data repositories to manage project-level information.
• There were no standardized procedures for storing and maintaining project information.
• Some of the required information had been stored on computers of staff who had since left the department, so officials were unable to find it.^[6]

The OAG followed up repeatedly with the department and received documents over a period of four months, but the department did not provide all of the required information.^[7] Annex A contains additional information on this issue.

During the audit, it was highly problematic that critical information, such as project progress reports, could not be readily found. The department could not use that information to monitor overall progress toward gender equality outcomes. It also could not demonstrate that it was assessing the impact of its spending or using the information that would otherwise be recorded in key documents to make decisions about many of the projects it was responsible for managing.^[8]

Consequently, the OAG made the following recommendation:

Global Affairs Canada should take immediate action to invest in its information management systems and practices, including relevant training, so that the department has a comprehensive and reliable approach for storing, retrieving, and using its project information.^[9]

Christopher MacLennan, Deputy Minister, International Development, explained how the department was planning to address this recommendation:

On the first recommendation, regarding GAC’s information management system, I have tasked the department with immediately putting in place interim measures for a single project documents database to store and manage all project documents. At the same time, the department will integrate the findings from this report into our larger, ongoing overhaul of our grants and contributions management system. This major transformation project, launched one year ago, will allow GAC to automate and streamline its business processes and systems to give us better information for decision-making and improve the impact of Canada’s international assistance.^[10]

GAC’s action plan sets out four measures to address this recommendation along with timelines:

• Immediately increase awareness of the recently created Project Documents Database, which enables project leads to centralize links to key documents, such as funding agreements, evaluations and reports; track the use of this Database and adjust accordingly. Expected completion date: 31 May 2023.
• Conduct a review of the training curriculum for all staff working on international assistance to support the implementation of the new grants and contributions management system. Expected completion date: 31 December 2024.
• Develop a training plan for all staff working on international assistance to support the implementation of the new grants and contributions management system, as part of the Grants and Contributions Transformation Initiative. Expected completion date: 30 June 2026.^[11]
• Implement a new grants and contributions management system that will facilitate the storage and retrieval of project documentation. This will help ensure that oversight, handover follow-up and due diligence efforts are easily accessible and better documented. Expected completion date: 31 December 2026.

The Committee is concerned that the department expects to take three years to implement its new grants and contributions management system; it therefore recommends:

Recommendation 1—On Information Management

That Global Affairs Canada present the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Accounts:

• 1)      by 31 January 2024, with a progress report on the use of the new Project Documents Database;
• 2)      by 31 December 2024, with a report on the review of training taken by employees working in international assistance and an initial progress report on the development of the new grants and contributions management system; and
• 3)      by 30 April 2024, with a report indicating whether the department is still on track to develop its employee training plan in support of implementing the new grants and contributions management system as planned, and a second progress report on the development of this new system.

The Committee also strongly encourages Global Affairs Canada to expedite implementation of its grants and contributions management system.

2.     Tracking of Departmental Outcomes

According to the OAG, GAC “established indicators to monitor progress toward achieving policy goals. However … 24 of 26 of the department’s policy indicators did not measure outcomes. An example of this was the number of people reached with nutritional support, which is not an outcome but an output. An outcome would be improved health status or increased life expectancy. The department’s reports contained information that accurately represented some of the department’s work but did not capture the full range of outcomes.”^[12]

Karen Hogan, Auditor General of Canada, explained what the problem is in the following way:

Global Affairs Canada also needs to address how it measures longer-term outcomes. We found that the department focused on short-term outputs, with only 2 of 26 policy indicators measuring outcomes. An example of this was a project to build washrooms and handwashing stations in schools to make them more welcoming for girls who might otherwise miss class when they are menstruating. The department did not track this project’s outcomes, such as whether school attendance and completion rates improved for girls over the long term.^[13]

The OAG assessed 60 projects to determine whether the department demonstrated that it tracked policy indicators and found that the department only used 35 of these projects to report on policy goals. According to the OAG, “reporting that omits almost half of the projects is incomplete.”^[14] Annex B contains more information on these 60 projects.

Furthermore, the Treasury Board’s Policy on Results requires that management measure and evaluate departmental progress toward its policy goals so that it can improve programs, policies, and services. GAC’s senior management did not, and were unable to, review the complete impact of programming. Without a full account of project outcomes, senior management could not respond to evolving conditions and make changes to improve policy implementation. Sound information management and improved monitoring and evaluation of projects against policy goals would enable senior management to make evidence-based decisions to improve outcomes for women and girls.^[15]

Consequently, the OAG made the following recommendation:

Global Affairs Canada should adjust its performance indicators to measure both outputs and outcomes so that it fully reports on the impact of funding against policy goals and priorities to improve gender equality and outcomes for women and girls.^[16]

In its action plan, GAC sets out three measures to address this recommendation:

• Include in the Terms of Reference of the International Assistance Operations Committee, semi-annual discussions focused on high-level review of international assistance policy-level outcomes (e.g., reviews of new policy-level results frameworks, early input into departmental international assistance reporting, reviews aggregate data from annual reporting exercises). Expected completion date: May 30, 2023.
• Identify options for better public reporting on results and to better equip policy-level monitoring and decision-making with outcome-level results information, including a review of GAC’s approach to Key Performance Indicators for [International Assistance]. Expected completion date: March 31, 2024.
• As part of the [Grants and Contributions] Transformation initiative, implement a new results-based management information system that will facilitate the gathering, aggregation, utilization and publication of results information for decision-making, learning and public accountability. Expected completion date: December 31, 2026.^[17]

The Committee already indicated in the preceding section that it expects the new information management system to be completed earlier than 31 December 2026. Regarding the new approach to key performance indicators, it therefore recommends:

Recommendation 2—On the Tracking of Departmental Outcomes

That, by 31 March 2024, Global Affairs Canada present the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Accounts with a report on its new international assistance performance indicators; these indicators should measure not only outputs, but also outcomes.

3.     Gender-Based Analysis Plus

The OAG found that, in its project document analyses, “the department integrated gender equality, following its internal guidance for consistency and accuracy … the gender equality assessments contained sufficient detail to establish that the projects … met the department’s standards for gender integration.”^[18]

However, the “gender equality assessment process for projects did not consistently include analysis of intersecting identify factors, apart from age. Without integrating factors such as location or family status into the gender equality assessments, it was not clear how the department assessed the degree to which projects were designed to deliver inclusive programming.”^[19]

Consequently, the OAG made the following recommendation:

Global Affairs Canada should consider identity factors beyond age in its project-level gender equality assessments to support inclusive programming.^[20]

According to its action plan, the department is planning to take the following measures in response to this recommendation:

• Increase awareness for project planning staff of the requirement and available tools to consider intersectionality in gender equality assessments including through information sessions, in line with 2020 guidance. Expected completion date: 31 May 2023.
• Taking into account how intersecting identity factors are addressed in other aspects of project planning (e.g., human rights analysis, description of beneficiaries) and compliance with Government of Canada gender-based analysis plus guidelines, conduct a review of:
• • best practices and challenges in the consideration of intersecting identity factors in project-level gender equality assessments; and
  • external best practices in considering intersecting identity factors in the delivery of gender equality results. Expected completion date: 31 October 2023.
• Based on the findings from the above review, carry out necessary adjustments of existing gender equality, human rights and project management guidance, tools, training and processes, and elaborate new resources, if required, to enhance the consideration of identity factors beyond age in project-level gender equality assessments. Expected completion date: 30 January 2024.^[21]

During the hearing, Christopher MacLennan explained the following:

As I mentioned, the policy was launched in 2017. Between 2017 and 2020, we absolutely recognized exactly the issue that the Auditor General has pointed out here.

In 2020, significant changes were made to our approach to doing gender-based analysis, and that’s when the plus was added. We added those criteria of, as I’ve said, ethnicity, race, religion and age, these intersecting things that may contribute to increased vulnerability and that should be integrated into the way that projects are designed and rolled out.

The 10 projects that the Auditor General looked at were all approved prior to 2020, so they were all approved prior to the change that was made in the department in 2020.

What we’re going to do, though, is launch immediately a review to verify that the changes we made in 2020 respond to the findings that the Auditor General had of projects that existed prior to 2020, and, if changes are necessary, if we need to change procedures, if we need to change training, for example, or if we need to change the guidance documents that our project officers use, then we’ll undertake that.^[22]

Therefore, the Committee recommends:

Recommendation 3—On Gender-Based Analysis Plus

That, by 31 January 2024, Global Affairs Canada present the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Accounts with a report on the adjustments of existing guidance, tools, training and processes to enhance the consideration of identity factors beyond age in project-level assessments.

B.    Achievement of Commitments

In 2017–2018, the department committed to spend:

• 80% of bilateral funding for gender-integrated projects;
• 15% of bilateral funding for gender-targeted projects; and
• 50% of bilateral funding for projects in sub‑Saharan Africa.^[23]

In 2021–2022, only the first commitment was achieved (89%); however, the second (10%) and third (48%) were not.^[24] The OAG did not make a recommendation in this area. During the hearing, Christopher MacLennan provided the following explanation of the department’s inability to achieve all of the commitments:

I can assure you that those three commitments are tracked very regularly. We’ve been tracking them since the moment the policy was launched.

The degree of change from 2017, quite honestly, is quite significant. As an example, the commitment with respect to gender equality-focused programming moved from our baseline of 3% in 2015–16 to a total of 12% in 2021. It had actually gone to 14% in 2019–20.

We track it on a regular basis throughout the year and the change over time was quite significant for that one. On sub-Saharan Africa, we reached a high of 49%, which is just shy of actually achieving the target that was made.

I can let the committee know that the department regularly manages its budget against a long number of programming commitments and spending commitments. That’s normal. It’s gone on for as long as I’ve worked in international assistance, which is numerous years now and through numerous governments. The difficulty with a percentage target, however, is that we don’t always control the denominator. What took place with COVID-19, followed by the invasion of Ukraine, fundamentally changed the denominator.

Ukraine and other crises are not in sub-Saharan Africa, so Canada ramping up its efforts to respond to those crises obviously had a negative impact on the percentage total going to sub-Saharan Africa. For COVID-19, the nature of the investments we made were fundamentally about immediately procuring and distributing vaccines. That doesn’t lend itself to being a GE3, as it’s called. As a result, our ability to hit that target was diminished.^[25]

Conclusion

Global Affairs Canada was unable to demonstrate how Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy contributed to improving gender equality in low- and middle-income countries. Significant weaknesses in its information management practices prevented it from assessing outcomes and reporting completely to Parliament and Canadians.

Consequently, the Committee has made three recommendations to ensure that the Office of the Auditor General’s recommendations are properly followed, and that the department provide evidence of this to the Committee through progress reports. These recommendations concern information management, the tracking of departmental outcomes and gender-based analysis plus.