CIDA's programming in Zambia and Zimbabwe: a retrospective look through the 'lens' of human resources development
Mundy, K.
Canadian Journal of Development Studies 16(3): 433-454
1995
ISSN/ISBN: 0225-5189 DOI: 10.1080/02255189.1995.9669613Document Number: 578120
In 1987 the Canadian government introduced a strategy which placed human resource development at the centre of Canada's international development activities. This sector now includes education and training activities, institutional support and management projects, and programmes which focus on the transfer of skills and knowledge through the use of Canadian technical expertise. Upwards of 25% of CIDA's budget has been devoted to the human resources development sector over the past five years. The paper examines how successful CIDAs realization of human resources development has been. Two bilateral aid programmes, in Zambia and Zimbabwe are examined over the past ten years. Overall CIDA has not had for many years the will or the analytic capacity to move beyond a paradigm of human resources development which went into place during the early 1980s. This paradigm ignores entirely the role which basic learning opportunities play in the development of sustainable, equitable human societies, concentrating on markets and globalization, human resources development at the tertiary level, supporting the development of national governments.