Document(s) 7 of 7

Corporate Milestones:

1970: The IDRC Act is passed unanimously in the House of Commons. The inaugural Board of Governors meeting is held in October, chaired by former Canadian Prime Minister, the Right Honourable Lester B. Pearson. IDRC’s first president is renowned agricultural economist W. David Hopper.

1971: IDRC’s first regional office opens in Singapore to serve Southeast Asia and the Pacific.

1970s: IDRC plays a major role in the creation of several centres that make up the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), a network of international research centres devoted to increasing food production in developing countries.

1973: Louis Rasminsky, former Governor of the Bank of Canada, is appointed Chair of the Board of Governors.

1973: Regional offices are established in Bogotá, Colombia, and Dakar, Senegal, to serve Latin America and the Caribbean and West and Central Africa, respectively. The regional office for Latin America later moves to Montevideo, Uruguay.

1974: A regional office opens in Beirut, Lebanon, to serve the Middle East and North Africa.  the office moves to Cairo, Egypt, in 1976.

1975: A regional office opens in Nairobi, Kenya, to serve Eastern and Southern Africa.

1977: Maurice Strong, former president of CIDA, is appointed Chair of the Board of Governors.

1978: Ivan Head, former senior policy advisor to Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, is appointed president of IDRC.

1980: IDRC’s Cooperative Program, to promote closer collaboration between Canadian and developing-country research institutions, is established as a result of the UN Conference on Science and Technology for Development.

1981: The Office of Planning and Evaluation is created to systematically assess and use lessons learned from IDRC’s program of research support.

1981: The Hon. Donald S. Macdonald, former Minister of Finance, is appointed Chair of IDRC’s Board of Governors.

1982: IDRC launches the Doctoral Research Awards program to help Canadian graduate students undertake their thesis research in the field of international development.

1983: The Fellowships and Awards Division is created to increase national research capabilities in the South and to provide support to young Canadians working on the problems of developing countries.

1985: Janet M. Wardlaw, former Dean, College of Family and Consumer Studies, University of Guelph, is appointed Chair of the Board of Governors.

1986: IDRC convenes an ad hoc Committee on South Africa to reassess the Centre’s role in South Africa. In 1988, the Centre decides to extend its support to “projects and activities that have the potential to inform the debate on the process of change.”

1987: The Women in Development Unit is created to support the integration of women into development and to act as a resource for gender research.

1988: IDRC becomes the official repository for the Brundtland Commission’s documents. Sustainable development is integrated into all aspects of the Centre`s work.

1988: IDRC receives the first ever Twenty-First Century Award given by the US scientific research society Sigma Xi for its “perceptive, imaginative, and generous modus operandi.”

1991: Keith A. Bezanson is appointed president of IDRC. Dr Bezanson served as Canadian ambassador to Peru and Bolivia.

1991: The Board of Governors approves a four-year corporate strategy “Empowerment through Knowledge.”

1991: A special unit is created at IDRC with a mission to deepen linkages between researchers in the South and the Canadian research community.

1992: The Centre opens a regional office in Johannesburg, South Africa. IDRC’s work with the democratic movement in South Africa from 1991 to 1995 becomes the basis for national policies on the environment, health systems, urban issues, trade and industrial strategies, and science and technology. The Regional Office for Southern Africa closed in 2001. 

1992: At the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, IDRC is designated an implementing agency for Agenda 21. The Centre’s first Corporate Program Framework reflects this appointment and articulates new directions in research, planning, dissemination, and decision-making.

1992: The Hon. Flora MacDonald, former Secretary of State for External Affairs, is appointed Chair of the Board of Governors.

1996: IDRC establishes the Partnership and Business Development Office.

1997: Gordon S. Smith, former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, is appointed Chair of IDRC’s Board of Governors.

1997: IDRC approves its second Corporate Program Framework (1997–2000) and introduces program initiatives — multidisciplinary research teams that address specific issues — as its main programing modality.

1997: The Government of Canada appoints Maureen O’Neil as IDRC president. Ms O’Neil was formerly Chair of the Board of the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development, President of The North–South Institute, and Deputy Minister of Citizenship for the Government of Ontario.

1997: IDRC launches Acacia, its biggest program of research support, to assess whether information and communication technologies can help communities in Africa gain control over their social and economic development.

2000: IDRC approves its Corporate Strategy and Program Framework 2000–2005.

2000: A Digital Opportunity Task Force (DOT Force) was launched by the G8 at its Kyushu-Okinawa Summit Meeting in July 2000. The DOT Force is intended as a vehicle for the G8 to develop concrete steps to help bridge the international digital divide. IDRC President Maureen O’Neil is appointed a member of the DOT Force.

2001: IDRC signs an agreement with the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade to host the secretariat for the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty. Its seminal report, The Responsibility to Protect, is a significant contribution to the continuing debate on the role of the broader community of states in protecting citizens from avoidable catastrophe — whether mass murder or starvation.

2001: IDRC launches an exploration — “Research on Knowledge Systems” (RoKS) — into the ways that knowledge fosters social and economic development, and its key influence on organizational performance.

2001: At the April Summit of the Americas, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien announces the creation of the Institute for Connectivity in the Americas, to be housed at IDRC.

2003: The Canadian government launches Connectivity Africa, a program to improve access to ICTs in Africa. IDRC and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa are chosen to implement the program.

2005: The IDRC Board of Governors approves a new Corporate Strategy and Program Framework 2005–2010.

Further reading

Document(s) 7 of 7