CIDA's Three Sides of the Brain

I've had the privilege of talking with a number of CIDA people - past and present - and a curious, perhaps troubling, trend is emerging. It's that I've had great trouble locating the "future" CIDA people. They used to be abundant, streaming in from various universities, other government departments, research centres and from the foreign fields themselves. I knew some over the years who possessed a high degree of competence and who saw CIDA as a logical extension for their humanitarian urges.There's a reason for this, I think, and it has to do with how the Agency thinks ... and dreams. We've all heard of how our brains have a left and right side that are separate and yet coordinate together to develop personality and skills, intuition and logic. CIDA's brain possessed an equal distribution. There were the left-side ones, who applied themselves in all ways logical. They were detail oriented, believed in science-based research and who favoured phrases like "outcomes" and "best practices". Balancing such qualified staff were the "right-siders." Big picture oriented, their imaginations thought outside the box in ways that were both philosophical and perceptive. They discerned that numbers and statistics were important, yet they were risk-takers, willing to challenge the unknown or the unsure. Both sides dreamed of a better world and coordinated with their diverse strengths to enhance Canada's role within it.But something has happened. To the effective emotional and logical sides has been added a third component and it is this part of CIDA brain trust that appears to be killing off highly qualified future recruits. I refer to the "ideological" side of CIDA's existence, the kind where the political overrules the professional. It was always present but in these past few years has become dominant. A political agenda has driven the Agency to doubt and insecurity.Over the course of decades, despite its lack of a legislated mandate, CIDA nevertheless established a reputation around the world as a solid actor, who took its role as the compassionate arm of a respected middle power seriously, and who tackled gender inequality, poverty and environmental challenges seriously. It largely trusted its partners and funded them as though they were "venture" groups, the kind that would break out of pre-patterned molds to lead in new directions. Though tossed from pillar to post, it fought through all that worked against it and became a favoured humanitarian and trade-facilitating broker worldwide.An historic lack of unqualified support for CIDA has now let to an ideological takeover of sorts. Under the Harper government, more money has been given to the Agency, yet it can no longer fulfill its historical sense of purpose. The Conservatives have a political agenda and it has seriously crippled the spirits of CIDA employees. Where they once made attempts at transparency, everything is now hidden. Where they worked with ambassadors, these diplomats are now at sea as to CIDA's purposes. News conferences are given with statistics but no rationale. When CIDA signed on to the Millennium Development Goals and their importance for Africa, it took the role seriously. Now the Agency has moved its key efforts half a world away, making it virtually impossible to meet its targets for helping the poorest of the poor. While the present government likes to boast of being one of the top 10 donors in certain nations, it no longer talks of the kind of development aid that stays and makes a difference over decades.Though CIDA managers sought to "catch the wave" of supporting new mosquito net programs, political operatives ignored that desire and left CIDA on the wrong side of where the public was. There are too many such instances to mention here, but they have largely stilted the two historic sides of CIDA's brain. The Agency no longer retains the ability for its professionals to mark out their own trail. Political ideology has done to CIDA what it's done to Canada's environmental goals or its aboriginal long-term partnerships. That's why CIDA has lost its ability to attract the best, though many talented professionals remain. The most qualified refuse to put on ideological blinders and so they move elsewhere - to the government's, and the world's, great loss.