CANADEM

CANADEM, with start-up assistance and funding from the Government of Canada, supports Canada's determination to strengthen the activities of international organizations, working to advance the universal principles of the UN Charter, international peace & security, human rights and the responsibility to protect. This includes the UN, OSCE, other inter-governmental organizations, and of course non-governmental partners.

CANADEM believes that individuals are the key elements of international organizations. Only with the right individuals working together as teams can organizations and missions fully achieve their goals. Identifying those skilled individuals is crucial, and every other nation has a duty to put forward their best.

CANADEM is driven by its core vocation to assist international organizations identify and engage skilled individuals. This indirectly assists our registrants find their international niche and achieve their fullest potential in the struggle to advance human rights, democracy, rule of law, good governance, and the multitude of other manifestations of international peace and security
Our Vision

Remain the world’s pre-eminent open roster of international experts, with Canadian and international partners actively supporting and using the roster as a common resource.

Draw from the world’s diversity to strengthen CANADEM's reputation as an internationally recognized roster of multi-ethnic and multi talented experts by recruiting from an expanded number of countries.

Ensure our services increase in quality and value by developing further innovative and cost-effective ways to respond to international demand and promote Canadian expertise.

Strengthen our recognition by international agencies as a model international roster that can be emulated by member states looking to channel their best national experts into those multilateral organizations.

Become a common deployment agency for relevant government departments, NGOs, and international agencies by putting experts into the field in rapid and inexpensive ways.

CANADEM’s Roster has recruited and placed over 2500 experts in UN agencies, multilateral organizations, national governments, NGOs and private businesses in more than 70 countries.

CANADEM has also placed and deployed over 1200 election observers with the OSCE, European Union and Elections Canada, in addition to placing observers with the Commonwealth Secretariat and OAS.

The Roster contains sectoral experts speaking over 65 different languages, including all official UN languages, most major world languages and many local or tribal dialects.

Also included within CANADEM's Roster is our International Roster, which contains nearly 4,000 experts and specialists with nationalities other than Canadian.

CANADEM GPS runs the International Career Advancement Placement (ICAP) Program, an internship/volunteer program that places Canadian graduates, mid career individuals, and Global Citizens in UN field mission around the world. CANADEM GPS has been sending Canadians to field missions for more than 11 years, working on policy development, law, governance, refugee, IDP, HIV and AIDS, post conflict, human rights, environmental and poverty reduction.

UN recruiting officers emphasize previous field experience as a prerequisite for UN employment, even placing it above graduate-level degrees in many cases. Many other NGOs are requiring this as well. Funded placements are becoming harder to find and highly competitive. Unfortunately, this entangles many bright and capable young Canadians or mid career individuals in that all too familiar catch 22: "You need experience to get experience." We can assist you!

The ICAP Program breaks down these barriers. It provides you with hands-on, in-country experience for a period of 6 months that will prove to prospective employers that you have what it takes to be an effective field operator. This program enables its participants to kick start their careers in all areas of international peace and development operations, and 90 % of participants find relevant and gainful follow-on work with the host agency or with other organizations operating in the region as a result of the networking opportunities that arise through the placement.