Devpolicy news: New government & aid | Global public goods | PNG Budget Forum - Devpolicy Blog from the Development Policy Centre

The new government’s aid bombshell

The Coalition’s announcement less than 48 hours before the election that it would be holding aid flat after inflation at slightly below last year’s level came as a surprise to many, including us.

The decision brings to an end a decade of aid expansion. We’ve focused particularly on the decision to cut $656 million from this year’s budget, below last year’s level even before inflation. Within-year cuts of this magnitude are unprecedented; Robin Davies argues that cuts of this order within the current year will take the aid program from expansion to crisis. Stephen Howes suggests that with some parts of the aid program committed or protected, other parts will have to be cut by up to 20% on average.

Over time, we’ll be examining the longer-term implications of this shift. Ben Day has started this discussion arguing that Australia is now embarking on an aid course charted by New Zealand, Canada and the Netherlands, all of whom have cut aid and redefined its objective in more commercial terms.

We’ve compiled the links to our analysis and our comments in the media here.

Global solutions: Are international organisations up to the challenge of providing global public goods for development?
Wednesday 18 September
Barton Theatre, Level 1, JG Crawford Building 132, Lennox Crossing, ANU

This seminar is part of our research into the role of development financing in providing international public goods, and puts the spotlight on international organisations. Three speakers (brief bios here) will provide complementary perspectives. Warren Evans, formerly the World Bank’s sector director for the environment and climate change, will talk about the financing and management reforms needed for the World Bank to play a more effective role in addressing climate change and providing other global goods. James Moody, co-author of The Sixth Wave: How to Succeed in a Resource-Limited World, will argue for more effective institutional arrangements to support innovation and the dissemination of knowledge for development. Professor Patrick Weller of Griffith University will present findings emerging from his ongoing work on the governance of international organisations, illustrating how the informal dynamics of strategic decision-making both limit and create opportunities for reform. The discussion will be chaired by Robin Davies.

PNG’s lost decade? The next PNG budget forum
Thursday 19 September
Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea

Our next budget forum jointly organised with PNG’s National Research Institute (NRI) will be held on Thursday, 19 September at NRI. The forum will be the first time we present the preliminary results of our 2012 Promoting Effective Public Expenditure (PEPE) survey of over 200 schools and nearly 150 health facilities across eight provinces in PNG. The PEPE survey builds on a similar survey conducted in 2002 by visiting the same schools and health facilities to enable direct facility level comparisons of changes in school enrolments, patient visits, condition of infrastructure, drug availability, textbooks, facility funding, and more.

At the forum we will analyse whether and where improvements have been made to basic education and health service provision in PNG over the last decade. National and provincial government representatives will also comment on the PEPE survey findings. For more information contact Colin Wiltshire or Andrew Mako.

Stakeholder survey closes with 358 responses

The Australian aid stakeholder survey has now closed. The first phase of our survey, launched in the middle of June, was a closed survey targeting pre-identified members of the development contractor and Australian NGO communities. We received a total of 105 responses – a respectable 73% of our sample frame.

The second phase of our survey, launched in the middle of July, was a public survey where all other interested stakeholders were welcome to participate. We received a total of 243 responses.

That brings our total responses to 358, making this one of the largest such surveys worldwide. Thanks to all who took part; we look forward to sharing the results with you.

Registration open for 2014 Australasian Aid and International Development Policy Workshop
13-14 February, 2014
Australian National University

In February 2014 the Development Policy Centre, together with the Asia Foundation, will host the first Australasian Aid and International Development Policy Workshop. The convenors of this multidisciplinary workshop welcome papers on a range of topics relating to aid effectiveness, the political economy of aid, aid from non-traditional donors, international public goods, the international development architecture, international climate change policy, and migration and trade.

Abstracts should be submitted to devpolicy@anu.edu.au. Submissions are welcome from academics, students and practitioners. Registration for the workshop is now also open. For more information, click here.

Past events

Here is a list of the events we have hosted in the past few weeks. Be sure to follow the links for more information on these events and to access podcasts and presentation slides. And don’t forget to sign up to our podcast series (also available on iTunes), which now has more than 40 episodes chronicling all of the events and interviews run by Devpolicy since November last year.

How do we plan, campaign and work in development? The reality of doing development in complex systems – Duncan Green

Tapping the Market: Opportunities for domestic investments in water and sanitation for the poor –Jaehyang So and Bob Warner

Blog summary

You can find a summary of all posts since our last newsletter on August 30 in the list below.

Analysis

Australian aid

Purposeful and methodical? Not in relation to aid by Stephen Howes.

A new journey on a worn path? The aid cuts in context by Ben Day.

From expansion to crisis in Australian aid: reflections on the Coalition’s aid cuts by Robin Davies.

Greens prioritise Australian aid funding to address poverty by Lee Rhiannon.

Why Labor is the best choice on foreign aid by Melissa Parke.

Global development policy