AidWatch Canada is a small not-for-profit Canadian organization devoted to the conduct and dissemination of independent research and analysis of current trends in aid and development cooperation and their implications for Canadian aid policies and practices.
Recent papers by AidWatch Canada can be found below under the following headings:
1. Reflections on Future Directions for ODA
2. Current Trends in Canadian ODAÂ
3. Canadian CSOs and the Triple Nexus
4. International Climate Finance
5. TOSSD: Measuring financing flows to the SDGs
6. CSO Enabling Environment and Civic Space
7. Canadian Commitments to Financing Agricultural Development
Recent Papers
1. Reflections on Future Directions for ODA (August 2025)
Over the past several months, I have been reflecting on the implications of the current landscape for ODA and development cooperation.Â
ODA is being greatly diminished in terms of major cuts in aid resources, but also in an expansion of its substantive purposes. Our collective focus as CSOs for ODA has been as a concessional resource for reducing poverty and inequalities, and in this regard the current metric has become increasingly hard to defend. Â
The paper summarized the current landscape for ODA, as I understand it, and suggests that this is a moment for far-reaching measures for safeguarding ODA as a transparent resource exclusively devoted to reducing poverty reduction and inequalities. It then examines possible reforms for the metric going forward through seven considerations for future directions.Â
These are personal reflections rooted in my own experiences in debates and dialogue with CSO colleagues and my involvement in processes at the OECD DAC. By no means, do they have “all the answers”. They are intended to contribute to a discussion among CSO colleagues as we contemplate the current landscape and future directions for ODA. Responses, alternatives or additions are most welcome
Brian Tomlinson, Reflections on the Current Crisis, August 2025
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2. Current Trends in Canadian ODA
Trends in Canadian ODA, January 2025     The Canadian Aid Trends Briefing Notes, authored by Brian Tomlinson as a partnership between AidWatch Canada and Cooperation Canada, dives into four key areas: overall trends, changing priorities, tackling poverty and channels for delivering Canadian ODA. The report aims to provide data, evidence and analysis on Canadian aid trends to bolster the international cooperation community’s advocacy on Canadian ODA. The four Briefing Notes can be found here.
3. Canadian CSOs and the Triple Nexus
Molly den Heyer and Brian Tomlinson, October 2024. Canadian CSOs and the Triple Nexus:Â A review of Canadian CSO experiences in Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus programming in fragile and conflict-affected countries, a Report commissioned by the Canadian Triple Nexus Working Group, and supported by Acted Canada, CARE Canada, Cooperation Canada, Canadian Foodgrains Bank and the Mennonite Central Committee.
Powerpoint Presentation of Findings
4. International Climate Finance
Brian Tomlinson, 2021. International Climate Finance and Development Effectiveness: Reflections on climate finance and development cooperation, Â Â Discussion Paper, July 2021.
Link to Analysis of Canadian International Climate Finance
See an updated analysis and Briefing Notes on Canadian climate finance prepared for the Canadian CSO Coalition on Climate Change and Development (C4D), here.
5. TOSSD:Â Measuring Financing Flows to the SDGs
The International Forum on TOSSD has developed a new metric, Total Official Support for Sustainable Development (TOSSD). It is intended to be a comprehensive measure of official resources dedicated to the achieving Agenda 2030 and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals for developing countries. There are now four years of TOSSD data from which it is possible to analyze the extent and quality of financing for Agenda 2030. AidWatch Canada, in partnership with ActionAid Italy and Oxfam International, has analyzed this data for 2019 to 2021 in a series of five Briefing Papers.
2023/24 Briefing Papers on TOSSD Data
Financing the SDGs: What can we learn from the new statistical metric, Total Official Support for Sustainable Development (TOSSD)?  A Summary of TOSSD Data, Challenges and Issues for the International Forum on TOSSD, Brian Tomlinson, AidWatch Canada, with ActionAid Italy and Oxfam International, March 2024
Briefing Paper One:Â Trends in Official Support for Agenda 2030: An overview of TOSSD data, 2019 to 2021, Brian Tomlinson, AidWatch Canada, with ActionAid Italy and Oxfam International, July 2023
Briefing Paper Two:Â Achieving Agenda 2030: Trends in the Allocation of TOSSD Resources towards leaving no one behind, Brian Tomlinson, AidWatch Canada, with ActionAid Italy and Oxfam International, September 2023
Briefing Paper Three: Trends in Official Support for Agenda 2030: Support for International Public Goods (Pillar Two):Â Issues and challenges, Brian Tomlinson, AidWatch Canada, with ActionAid Italy and Oxfam International, November 2023
Briefing Paper Four: Trends in Official Support for Agenda 2030: Trends in TOSSD Provider Profiles, 2019 to 2021, Brian Tomlinson, AidWatch Canada, with ActionAid Italy and Oxfam International, November 2023
Briefing Paper Five: Trends in Official Support for Agenda 2030: A Recipient Perspective – What’s different in TOSSD for Recipient Countries, Brian Tomlinson, AidWatch Canada, with ActionAid Italy and Oxfam International, December 2023
Previous TOSSD Research Papers
Brian Tomlinson, June 2022. TOSSD Data for 2020: An overview of key trends in the data in support of sustainable development. A report prepared for ActionAid International Italia ONLUS. This report provides a detailed analysis of TOSSD data for 2022, with comparisons with 2019 data.
Brian Tomlinson, February 2022. Analyzing European Union Institutions’ Flows for Total Offical Support for Sustainable Development (TOSSD): Allocations, additionality, and relevance to developing country partners. Actionaid Italy, Oxfam International and AidWatch Canada. As the EU Institutions are one of the largest reporters to TOSSD, a better understanding of its submissions can offer key insights on the general trends and issues arising from the first reporting round.
Brian Tomlinson, March 2021. Total Official Support for Sustainable Development (TOSSD): Game changer or mirage?, Oxfam International, Action Aid and AidWatch Canada. Total Official Support for Sustainable Development, or TOSSD is a new statistical metric that is meant to capture a broad range of global flows of public money in support of sustainable development. Metrics matter. This discussion paper sheds light on how TOSSD works in practice as well as on its ambitions, shortcomings and the contending political perspectives on this new metric. The paper emphasizes that TOSSD could significantly shape the future of development finance.
Brian Tomlinson, 2021. Total Official Support for Sustainable Development: An overview of 2019 data, June 2021.
6. CSO Enabling Environment and Civic Space
A Civil Society Action Agenda for Enabling Civil Society, April 2026
From Commitment to Capability: An Evidence-Backed Action Agenda for Implementing the DAC Recommendation on Enabling Civil Society, 2026 to 2031
Long Version: English   French   Spanish
Short Version: English   French   Spanish
This Action Agenda has been developed by participants in the CSO DAC Working Group for the implementation of the DAC Recommendation on Enabling Civil Society. For more information contact Brian Tomlinson at brian.t.tomlinson@gmail.com.Â
Brian Tomlinson and Nikhil Dutta, January 2026. A Five-Year Review of the DAC Recommendation on Enabling Civil Society: A Summary of Findings from the DAC CSO Survey.  This paper summarizes the responses from a detailed survey of CSOs on the progress by DAC Members over the past five years in implementing the DAC Recommendation on Enabling Civil Society. It highlights progress, obstacles and proposals for deepening implementation going forward. It is a contribution to the five year review by the DAC Members, which will result in a DAC report in July 2026.
Brian Tomlinson, September 2025. Whole-of-Society or Whole-of-Government? What the GPEDC 4th Monitoring Round tells us about the inclusion of civil society    A paper prepared for Civil Society Partnership for Development Effectiveness, May 2025, updated with more country reports in September 2025.
An analysis of results from 25 partner country monitoring reports, comparing results in 2024/25 to the Third Monitoring Round results in 2018.
A Profile of United States ODA in Support of Civil Society Organizations
In light of recent actions by the US Administration to pause all ODA, this profile provides an overview of current US support for Civil Society Organizations, derived from the OECD DAC Creditor Reporting System, 2023 (the most recent data available).
Brian Tomlinson, A Summary Profile of ODA for CSOs by the United States, February 2025.
INGOs and Locally Led Development
CSO Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation, April 2023. International Civil Society Organizations’ Development Effectiveness: Reflections on progress in equitable partnerships, solidarity, and accountability. Implications of the Istanbul Principles and the DAC Recommendation on Enabling Civil Society for ICSOs, a Working Paper authored by Chilande Kuloba-Warria, Warande Advisory, Kenya, with Brian Tomlinson, AidWatch Canada as researcher.
A Literature Review
Brian Tomlinson, 2020. Literature Review, Prepared for a Scoping Study of National Platforms’ Experiences in Promoting an Enabling Environment, Commissioned by Forus, which is a global network empowering civil society for effective social change, bringing together 69 National NGO Platforms and 7 Regional Coalitions of CSOs.
Civil Society Reflections on Progress in Achieving Development Effectiveness: Inclusion, accountability and transparency
A Report prepared by Brian Tomlinson, AidWatch Canada, for the CSO Partnership for Effective Development (CPDE) as a contribution to the 2018/19 Third Monitoring Exercise by the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation, June 2019
Main Report; Â Annex One: Countries participating in GPEDC Monitoring / CPDE Monitoring;Â Annex Two:Â GPEDC 2018 Monitoring Framework;Â Annex Three: Detailed analysis of Indicator Two Questions (CSO Enabling Environment);Â Annex Four: Analysis of CSO, Government and Development Partner Responses to Indicator Two;Â Annex Five: Methodological issues for Indicator Two;Â Annex Six: CIVICUS civic space country designation; Â definitions;Â Annex Seven:Â Bertelsmann Transformative Index, Indicator details; Â Annex Eight:Â V-Dem indicator details;Â Annex Nine:Â Other data sources;Â Annex Ten: The Belgrade Call to Action (see below)
Belgrade Call to Action on Closing Civic Space
AidWatch Canada has been working through the Civil Society Partnership for Effective Development, along with CIVICUS, Action for Sustainable Development and the Balkan Civil Society Development Network to organize a Civil Society Summit on closing civic space and attacks on human rights defenders in increasing numbers of countries around the world.Â
On April 8th, 2019 the Summit launched an urgent Call to Action for Member States of the United Nations to address these issues in the context of the international community’s commitment to Agenda 2030.
Belgrade Call to Action A Civil Society Call to Stand Together to Defend Civic Space, Human Rights Defenders and Peoples’ Voices for a Just and Sustainable World. Organizations wishing to endorse this Call to Action can send their organization’s name, country, and contact e-mail address to brian.t.tomlinson@gmail.com.
Action Agenda:Â Positive Measures by Governments to Enable Civic Space towards Maximizing Civil Society Contributions to the SDGs
7. Canada’s Commitments to Financing Agricultural Development
Brian Tomlinson, May 2021. Canadian investments in agriculture, An Update on Trends in Canada’s Aid Commitments and Disbursements, 2010/11 to 2019/20. A report commissioned by the Canadian Foodgrains Bank.
Brian Tomlinson, 2020. Investing in Agriculture and Food Security, Trends in Global Affairs Canada’s Commitments and Disbursements, 2007/08 to 2018/19, Updated with 2018/19 data, April 2020. A research report prepared for the Canadian Food Security Policy Group.
Reality of Aid 2018
Brian Tomlinson, September, 2018. Trends in the Reality of Aid, 2018: Growing diversions of ODA and diminished resources for the SDGs. This paper is a chapter from the 2018 Global Reality of Aid Report. An abridged version of the Report, which includes the chapter, can be downloaded here.
Brian Tomlinson, Notes for a Presentation on The Changing Faces of Aid: Challenges in financing the SDGs, A presentation for the Center for the Study of Security and Development and International Development Studies, Dalhousie University, October 31, 2018. This presentation is based on the aid trends chapter for the 2018 Reality of Aid Report, above.
Other Recent Publications
Brian Tomlinson, 2017. Implementing a Human Rights Based Approach: Lessons from the experience of providers’ international assistance, AidWatch Canada, August 2017. See also the full report in which this paper is published, CSO Partnership for Development Effectiveness, Policy Research on the Implementation of a Human Rights Based Approach in Development Partnerships, IBON Institute, January 2018.
Brian Tomlinson, 2017. Reflections on Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy, AidWatch Canada, June 2017.
Brian Tomlinson, 2017. An Enabling Environment for Canadian CSOs: Appropriate Donor Funding Mechanisms for Effective CSO Partnerships, A Discussion Paper, AidWatch Canada, February 2017.
Bena, Farida, with Brian Tomlinson, 2017. The outcome of the 2cd High Level Meeting of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation and why it matters, January 2017.
Inter-Council Network, 2016. Small and Medium Size Civil Society Organizations as Development Actors: A review of evidence, A Report prepared for the Inter-Council Network by Brian Tomlinson, AidWatch Canada, April 2016.