The International Assistance Innovation Program (IAIP)

The International Assistance Innovation Program (IAIP) provides funding to private sector initiatives that contribute to economic growth and other development objectives to help reduce poverty.

The private sector, which includes businesses of all sizes and financial institutions, plays an important role in growing economies and reducing poverty in developing countries. They do this by creating jobs and providing goods and services. Attracting private sector investment in developing countries can be challenging due to investment risks like currency fluctuations, instability or lack of financial support to grow businesses.

Through the IAIP, Canada with other private and public partners encourages investment in developing countries. We do this by reducing some of the key financial risks investors may face. This encourages private investors to invest in development projects that they would not have otherwise.

Approach

The International Assistance Innovation Program (IAIP) uses finance tools like low-interest or longer-term loans, called repayable contributions. These help lower the risks of investing in developing countries. This encourages private investors to invest in projects that they would not have otherwise.

This funding is provided with the conditions that funding:

Be repaid to the Government of Canada
Have clear development results

By using a portion of Canada’s development funding to invest alongside the private sector, Canada can:

Mobilize additional funding for international development
Show a return on investment for Canadians

The IAIP also has limited traditional grant funding to complement Canada’s repayable contributions. We use this for technical assistance.

Find out more:

We are not currently seeking applications
IAIP does not accept unsolicited proposals
Learn about our International Assistance funding process

Criteria

Investments made through the International Assistance Innovation Program (IAIP) must:

Have clear international development outcomes in countries eligible for
Mobilize additional public or private funding
Integrate gender equality and climate considerations in investments, such as the
Support investments in multiple countries, rather than single country investments
Be repaid to Canada

Partners

The International Assistance Innovation Program (IAIP) works primarily with private sector organizations. The IAIP may also partner with not-for-profit organizations, development banks and local financial institutions.

Program objectives

The International Assistance Innovation Program (IAIP) (2024/25- 2028/29) objectives are to:

Mobilize additional capital for sustainable economic growth and impact, by engaging with institutional investors.
Deepen the impact and reach of Canada’s blended finance and support investments that build local markets. This would include reaching those that are financially underserved, such as women entrepreneurs and smallholder farmers.
Leverage Canada’s international assistance resources for greater development impact.

Portfolio and results

The International Assistance Innovation Program (IAIP) does not target specific sectors or regions.

As of June 2025, IAIP investments have supported investments in Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean in areas such as:

climate-smart agriculture and infrastructure
financing for small and medium-sized enterprises
gender-lens investing

IAIP investments have:

reached over 4.8 million people
led to 27+ million greenhouse gas emissions reduced, which is equivalent to 7.5 million cars removed from the street in a year.

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