Residents of San Clemente, Peru, gather their midday allotment of soup. The system of providing food through a network of neighborhood "comedors," or common pots, with staples provided by relief agencies such as Caritas Peru (affiliated with Development and Peace through Caritas International), continued to be the main source of meals for thousands of families nearly two months after a 2007 earthquake. Development and Peace is waiting to find out if their funding request through the Canadian International Development Agency will be approved. Photo by Patricia Zapor / CNS.Catholic charity expects to hear from Treasury Board of Canada Dec. 1
By Michael Swan
The Catholic Register
TORONTO (CCN)--The countdown is on to a Dec. 1 D-Day for the next five years of funding for the Canadian bishops’ international development agency.
The Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace has been quietly working the past two years on its proposal to spend almost $50 million of Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) money over the next five years. Development and Peace has been combining CIDA funding with donations almost since the organization was founded in 1967.
Ten million dollars per year amounts to less than a third of one per cent of CIDA’s annual international assistance budget of just under $3.6 billion. However, Development and Peace’s request was large enough to trigger a Treasury Board review. Though CIDA has already approved the proposal, the final word will come from the Treasury Board of Canada Dec. 1.
“It’s consistent with what we’ve received in previous years,” said Development and Peace executive director Michael Casey.
Five-year agreements are relatively new in the history of Development and Peace’s partnership with CIDA. The organization is just winding up its first five-year agreement. Previous agreements have run three years.
More than half of Development and Peace’s funding comes from donations, most of it raised during Lenten fundraising drives including Share Lent and ShareLife.
“So far all our indications on it are positive. Our proposal (to CIDA) has been very thoroughly prepared and very thoroughly vetted. It’s now a policy-level decision more than anything else. We’ll see what happens,” said Casey.
