Description

The Conference Fund provides funding to events that support CIDA’s programming priorities. The fund reimburses expenses, such as registration, travel, accommodation, meals, incidentals, and visa fees, incurred to bring eligible delegates to the conference. Expenses are reimbursed according to the limits set by Treasury Board Secretariat.

The Conference Fund will support up to:

• 20% of total conference costs, to a maximum of $250,000; or
• 33% of total conference costs, when these are equal to, or less than, $150,000.

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Applicant eligibility
Only organizations may apply for funding towards a conference. Applicant organizations must be:

• legally constituted Canadian, foreign, or international organizations (including government departments);
• financially viable; and
• in the public, voluntary, or private sectors.

• multilateral organizations, such as those of the United Nations, World Bank, etc., that already receive funds from the Canadian government; and
• organizations already receiving funding from CIDA for a program or project that is directly related to the subject of the conference.

Event Eligibility

Eligible events include:

• conferences;
• workshops;
• seminars;
• congresses;
• fora;
• summits; and
• colloquiums.

• events that focus on issues specific to only one country eligible for CIDA assistance;
• events that have been funded in the past through the Conference Fund;
• events already directly funded through other CIDA sources, including Canadian missions;
• events held under the auspices of multilateral organizations;
• annual general assemblies;
• cultural events;
• academic courses or training;
• commercial events, such as trade fairs; and
• general training or instructional programs.

Delegate Eligibility

The Conference Fund provides support for organizations to invite delegates to conferences. Delegates may not apply to the Fund directly: the conference organizers must apply on their behalf. Proposed delegates must be citizens of Countries and Territories Eligible for Canadian Development Assistance. Canadian citizens are not eligible for delegate support.

Requests for funding will be assessed against a list of criteria, including:

• the organization’s capacity to undertake and manage the proposed conference;
• the extent to which the conference will:
  • advance capacity building in developing countries and countries in transition;
  • support one or more of CIDA’s programming priorities;
  • address gender-related issues;
  • contribute to sharing and transferring knowledge on sustainable development; and
  • build awareness of sustainable development;
• the relevance of the proposed delegates to the subject of the conference; and
• gender balance in selecting proposed delegates to be funded.

• reviewing the proposals to ensure they meet the eligibility criteria;
• assigning the eligible proposals to a project officer, who sends the proposals to:
• relevant subject and geographic experts at CIDA, a communications advisor, and a financial advisor; and
• officials at Canada’s overseas missions, CIDA’s regional offices in Canada, and other Canadian departments as required; and
• presenting eligible proposals to an internal CIDA advisory committee for a recommendation.

Proposals can be sent any time during the year, but must be received at least two months before the start date of a conference.

Along with other information, explained in full in the Conference Secretariat Proposal Submission Guide, each proposal package must include:

• Right of Set-Off Declaration form (included in the Proposal Submission Guide);
• Anti-Corruption Declaration form;
• a copy of the applicant organization’s certificate of incorporation and by-laws; and
• audited financial statements from the applicant organization's past two fiscal periods.

• the organization's federal Business Number or a copy of its notice of registration with the Canada Revenue Agency as a charity; and
• the organization’s status regarding the GST and, if applicable, its registration number.