About the evaluation
- The Office of Audit and Evaluation at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada conducted an evaluation of the Canadian Agricultural Strategic Priorities Program (CASPP) to assess its relevance, design, delivery and performance (efficiency and effectiveness).
- Program activities for fiscal year 2019-20 to 2022-23 were evaluated using multiple lines of evidence including a review of program documents, project files and literature; key informant interviews; and analyses of administrative and financial data.
Canadian Agricultural Strategic Priorities Program summary
- The Program’s objectives are to facilitate the Canadian agricultural sector's ability to seize opportunities, to respond to new and emerging issues and to find and assess solutions to new and ongoing challenges to competitiveness.
- CASPP is, on average, a $10 million per year program of non-repayable and repayable contribution funding.
- The Program falls under the department’s Science and Innovation core responsibility.
What we found
Relevance
- CASPP provides needed support for the Canadian agriculture and agri-food sector by focusing on national or sector-wide strategic priorities. AAFC has no other mechanism for addressing unforeseen and urgent national issues affecting the sector as they arise.
- Program objectives are well-aligned with departmental and federal priorities to strategically support the sector.
- Duplication risk is reduced through CASPP’s pre-screening procedure. Program activities complement, not overlap, other AAFC programming.
Design and delivery
- CASPP’s design enables the sector to capitalize on opportunities to remain competitive. However, the Program’s Emerging Issues priority area may not support AAFC’s intended policy objectives.
- Although awareness of CASPP with sector stakeholders is adequate, understanding of accessibility for, and benefit to, underrepresented and marginalized groups is limited.
Performance
- Variance in planned versus actual spending stabilized over the evaluation period. Standard operating procedures are in place to ensure the Program is administered efficiently.
- The quality and methodology used for reporting on CASPP performance data is lacking and, in some cases, important data is absent from the Program’s performance database.
- The Program developed and implemented tools, strategies and partnerships that address multiple sector priorities. Knowledge gained, best practices and lessons learned from projects are currently not shared between program recipients or other stakeholders.
Recommendations
Recommendation 1: The Assistant Deputy Minister Programs Branch, working with the Assistant Deputy Minister Strategic Policy Branch, should review the policy priorities of the Canadian Agricultural Strategic Priorities Program and the associated terms and conditions.
Recommendation 2: The Assistant Deputy Minister, Programs Branch should review the Canadian Agricultural Strategic Priorities Program’s performance indicators to ensure that they are clearly defined, relevant and measurable.
Recommendation 3: The Assistant Deputy Minister, Programs Branch should conduct analysis of the Canadian Agricultural Strategic Priorities Program based on Gender-based Analysis Plus principles.
Recommendation 4: The Assistant Deputy Minister, Programs Branch, working with the Assistant Deputy Minister Public Affairs Branch, should consider how to leverage best practices and success stories reported by individual recipients and assess options for sharing information with internal and external stakeholders.
Management response
Management agrees with the evaluation recommendations and has developed an action plan to address them by March 2025.