The 2009 Annual Conference of the Canadian Association of International Development Consultants: 

"Effective Development: Defining, Measuring, Learning"

November 22, 23 & 24 ~ Residence Inn by Marriott, 161 Laurier Ave W ~ Ottawa ON 

Register at http://www.caidc-rccdi.ca/e/conference09.cfm

CAIDC is also pleased to offer its registrants discounts on Airfare and Accommodations! For more details, please visit:

http://www.caidc-rccdi.ca/e/TravelAccommodation2009.cfm  

Be sure to book soon! CAIDC can only guarantee a room up until Oct.29!

Highlights: Here are some examples of what participants can expect to see at the 2009 Conference...

Keynote Address: Effective Development and the Tyranny of Results-Based Management

Speaker: Ian Smillie, architect and former leader of the Kimberley Process, a process for halting traffic in conflict diamonds.

Ian Smillie will examine the issue of effective development in the context of two recent publications that have caught the public eye: Dambisa Moya's controversial Dead Aid and Paul Collier's The Bottom Billion. He will examine the ever-changing set of nostrums for development assistance against the demand for results in a business that is fraught with unknowns and risk. And he will use examples from his recent book, Freedom from Want: The Remarkable Story of BRAC, to show what can be accomplished when common sense and tenacity prevail. 

Panel Name: Economic Growth: Necessary but Not Simple

Speakers: Dr. Mary Lynch, Pr. Yaigadeesen Samy, Dr. Asif Chida, Rapporter for the UN High Level Panel (Madeleine Albright, Hernando de Soto, et al) on Legal Empowerment of the Poor and a CIDA policy spokesperson (TBC).

Researchers and policymakers have long believed that the development of viable markets and real economic opportunities is critical for economic growth. Popular discussion regarding these assumptions have broadened over the years to cover a wide range of factors including the effects of governance and the enabling environment, one country’s growth beyond its borders, achieving the right balance between private and public sector deployment, fragile states' prospects for growth and aid effectiveness. This panel will discuss key themes facing policymakers in both developed and developing countries when designing interventions to bolster economic growth. What appears to be working in different situations, where true progress can be found and where we should be looking in order to improve the success of our interventions are all areas of the conference's theme this panel hopes to explore.

Session Name: Gender Roundtable: How do I Measure Thee? Let me Count the Ways...

Presenters: Nidhi Tandon, Dorienne Rowan-Campbell, Emily Wilson, Karen Craggs-Milne, Dana Stefov

The roundtable presentations will cover a range of examples and perspectives on the ways in which gender differentials, impacts and outcomes can be measured and monitored through the project cycle. Each brief presentation will highlight a core message and methodology and the examples can be revisited in greater detail through questions and discussions. Presentations include using a Gender Audit as a tool for measuring and tracking women's empowerment and gender equality in organizations and programs, increasing social sustainability through participatory approaches in design and monitoring with examples from the education sector, adapting participatory techniques for project development in the organic farming and the forestry sectors using Jamaica as an example and a civil society response to the evaluation of the implementation of CIDA's 1999 Policy on Gender Equality.

And much, much more!

A panel on the role of Canadian policy in promoting effective development led by Patrick Johnston, former CEO of the Walter and Gordon Duncan Foundation and including Paul Dewar, MP Ottawa Centre (NDP) and Hon. Dr. Keith Martin, MP Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca (Liberal).

Marc-André Fredette, Director, Performance Management at CIDA will discuss recent trends in Monitoring and Evaluation with Barbara Levine, IPDET, Fred Carden, Director, Evaluation Unit, IDRC & Heather Buchanan, CES.

Diana McLean, renowned food security analyst, will lead a panel on Food Security which includes Sheri Arnott, co-chair of the Food Security Policy Group as well as Senior Policy Advisor, Food and Nutrition, World Vision Canada.

Amitav Rath will discuss Climate Change with Simon Carter, Program Manager, Climate Change Adaptation in Africa, IDRC and Pr. Michael Brklacich, chair of the Department of Geography and Environment, Carleton University.

In addition to all this, Mark Lusignan, Director General, Contract Management Division, CIDA will present new contracting issues, Leigh Wolfrom, Deputy Director, International Trade Portfolio and Strategic Analysis, DFAIT will explain how the government will implement its "engagement strategy" to help Canadians access non-CIDA contracting opportunities and also, Bruce Branch and Keith Phillips, from QLBS will present a workshop on Using ICT Tools and Best Practices in Monitoring and Evaluation. 

More information available online at: http://caidc-rccdi.ca/e/conference09.cfm.

For more information on the conference and CAIDC, please refer to our web site: http://www.caidc-rccdi.ca or contact Steven Synyshyn at (613) 244-1049 or caidcrccdi@gmail.com.

CONFERENCE 2009 HOME PAGE