Trade-Development Nexus, April 2026
Brian Tomlinson, 2026. Developing a Trade-Development Nexus in Canadian ODA: A Background Paper on Issues and Approaches, April 2026, AidWatch Canada.
This paper has been written by Brian Tomlinson and commissioned by Cooperation Canada as a background paper to inform policy positioning on the trade development nexus. The author assumes full responsibility for its content.
Brian Tomlinson, 2026. Presentation to the AFKFC – IDRC Shared Futures Roundtable: International Development and Mutual Economic Partnerships, September 29, 2026.
Trends in Canadian ODA, April 2026
Brian Tomlinson, April 2026. New Data for Trends in DAC ODA for 2025 and Canadian ODA, 2024/25.
Trends in Canadian ODA, January 2025
Brian Tomlinson and Darron Seller-Peritz, 2025. Unpacking the Dynamics of Canadian Aid Commitments: Reflections on recent trends and issues from 2015/16 to 2023/24 January 2025
A summary paper drawing key findings and observations from the four Briefing Notes on major trends and directions in Canadian ODA in the context of polycrisis, a climate emergency, and rising foreign policy interests in Canadian ODA.
Summary Powerpoint Presentation, January 2025
Briefing Notes on Canadian ODA Trends, July 2026
The four thematic Briefing Notes have been developed in late 2024, and revised / updated in July/August 2026, by AidWatch Canada with the support of Cooperation Canada. They are based on aid data from Global Affairs Canada up to 2024/25.
A one page quick reference guide to the main metrics and trends that define Canadian ODA.
Briefing Notes Table of Contents, Forthcoming
Briefing Note One: Overall Trends in Canadian ODA: What are key factors affecting its volume and allocations? July 2026
This Briefing Note focuses on 1) The relationship between the International Assistance Envelope and Canadian ODA, 2) The main trends in the volume of Canadian ODA, 3) Canada’s ODA performance in relation to other donors, and 4) Canadian official flows beyond ODA in support of sustainable development (TOSSD). It is accompanied by relevant tables and charts on aid levels between 2015/16 and 2023/24.
Cooperation Canada, Overall Trends in Canadian ODA, Highlights
Briefing Note Two, Forthcoming
Section One: Introduction and Summary, Forthcoming
Section Two: Aid as a catalyst for mobilizing private sector development finance, Forthcoming
Section Three: Canadian aid pivots towards “mutually beneficial economic partnerships”, Forthcoming
Section Four:Â Increasing Global Public Goods in Canadian ODA, Forthcoming
Section Five:Â Canadian aid to Ukraine, Forthcoming
Section Six:Â Humanitarian Assistance in Canadian ODA, Forthcoming
Section Seven: Strengthening support for Canadian global citizenship education and public engagement in development cooperation, Forthcoming
In the context of increasing levels of global poverty, vulnerability and inequalities, and multiple current agendas for ODA, this Briefing Note sets out the rationale for tracking ODA dedicated to directly addressing poverty and inequalities. It describes the components for this metric and applies it to Canadian ODA between 2020/21 and 2024/25.
Cooperation Canada, Tracking ODA for Reducing Poverty and Inequalities, Highlights
Briefing Note Four: Channels for Delivering Canadian ODA: Disaggregating Canadian aid flows through multilaterals and CSOs, Forthcoming
Other Resources
The paper and information below have been superseded by the scoping study and Briefing Papers above, undertaken by AidWatch Canada with the support and collaboration of Cooperation Canada.
Brian Tomlinson, 2023. Canadian Official Development Assistance and the International Assistance Envelope. Trends in Canadian ODA, 2015/16 to 2021/22. A scoping study commissioned and prepared for Cooperation Canada. This paper provides a statistical disaggregation of the International Assistance Envelope as well as main trends in the volume of Canadian ODA, its main components, delivery channels and areas of ODA quality. Its analysis and conclusions are the sole responsibility of the author.
Earlier information on Canadian aid trends can be found below. The first page below describes the overall disbursement amounts and performance of Canadian ODA. The second page provides some overall trends in the allocation of Canadian ODA to geographic regions and to “priority countries.”
Topics:
Trends in Total Canadian ODA Disbursement: Totals and Performance
Updated April 2021.
1. Recent annual disbursements in Canadian ODA
2. Recent cuts to Canadian ODA
3. Calculating “Real Canadian ODA”
4. Canadian ODA Performance
5. A Ten Year Plan to Achieve the UN ODA Target of 0.7% of Canada’s GNI
6. Historical trends in Canadian ODA Performance
Trends in the Allocation and Priorities for Canadian ODA
Updated January 2018
1. Commitment to Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment: Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy
1.1Â How can progress be measured for the Policy commitments?
1.2 What is the Government’s starting point?
2. Regional Distribution of Country-Allocated Canadian ODAÂ
2.1Â Trends in Regional Allocations of Canadian ODA
2.2Â Trends in aid devoted to long term development programming
2.3Â Trends in GAC multi-country regional programming
2.4Â A commitment to double aid to Africa between 2003 and 2008
3. Disbursements of Canadian ODA by Delivery Channel
3.1Â Global Affairs Canada ODA by Delivery Channel
3.2Â GAC ODA: Delivery Channels by Geographic Region
4. Disbursements of Canadian ODA to Priority Countries
4.1 Overview of Priority Countries
4.2Â Targeting the 25 Priority Countries
5. Sector Allocation of Canadian ODA
5.1Â Introduction
5.2Â Trends in Poverty-Focused GAC ODA
5.3Â Trends for Specific Sectors