2016 Mitchell Oration with Mark Dybul: livestream details
Mark Dybul, Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, will deliver the 2016 Harold Mitchell Development Policy Lecture on Monday evening (29 February). The event will be held at 5:30pm in the Molonglo Theatre of the Crawford Building, and will be followed by refreshments. Register here. Arrive early to avoid the overflow lecture theatre.
A leading voice on global health, Mark has been in the top job at the Global Fund since 2012, and previously served as the US Global AIDS Coordinator. He will be speaking on the topic “Exciting, challenging, frightening times – global health, development and the stuff of innovation”.
For those who aren’t in Canberra, we’ll also be livestreaming the lecture on the web—the details are available here.
New staff head to UPNG
As part of our partnership with the University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG), three Devpolicy staff have headed off to Port Moresby over the last week to teach and work at UPNG. They are Rohan Fox, our Partnership Coordinator, and Tatia Curie and Michael Cornish, lecturers in public policy and economics respectively. They’ll be joined shortly by Dr Manoj Pandey, economics lecturer. We also welcome Michelle Rooney, who has also joined the UPNG project as a post-doc, and will be based in Canberra.
Here in Canberra, we also welcome our Semester 1 interns from the Australian National Internships Programme (ANIP), Sachini Muller and Qaleem Ainuddin.
PNG Update call for papers
Our call for abstracts for the PNG Update, to be held at the University of Papua New Guinea on June 15-17, will close at the end of March. The conference has the broad theme of “Sustaining development beyond the resources boom”, and abstracts are welcome on a range of PNG-related topics, including: PNG’s economic outlook; macro and fiscal management; human development challenges and reform; facilitating broad economic development – agriculture, fisheries, tourism; Infrastructure, SMEs and economic competitiveness; governance and political economy of development; service delivery – health, education, drought policy; social and gender issues.
More details on the conference and submission details are available here.
Pacific Update call for papers
We are pleased to announce that on the 18-19 July we will once again hold the Pacific Update conference at the University of the South Pacific in Suva together with the USP School of Economics and the Asian Development Bank. The call for papers has just been issued. This annual event gathers policymakers, academics and researchers, business people, and development practitioners to present and discuss economic, political, and social developments in the region. Perspectives from multiple disciplines are encouraged.
Australian aid experiments
When the Australian government cut aid last year, Australians didn’t exactly race to the barricades. So what might change their minds and drum up support?
To try to figure out this question, Terence Wood conducted a survey experiment to see what kind of priming information might change Australians’ views on aid budget cuts. It turns out that good old fashioned competition with the UK might be the way to win over patriotic hearts and minds when it comes to aid volume. Join the discussion on the findings in the comments section of the blog.
USP VC on regionalism and higher education.
On Tuesday March 8, we will welcome Professor Rajesh Chandra, the Vice Chancellor of the University of the South Pacific, who will be talking on “Pacific regionalism and higher education” at 5.30 pm at the Barton Theatre, Crawford School. Register here.
Sir Julius Chan memoirs launch
On Thursday March 17, we will be launching Sir Julius Chan’s memoirs, Playing the Game. Sir Julius was Prime Minister of PNG in the 1980s and 1990s. One of PNG’s founding fathers, he has had a remarkable career spanning almost 50 years, including as Prime Minister of PNG in both the 1980s and the 1990s. Sir Julius himself will be speaking at the launch. So will the PNG High Commissioner to Australia, Charles Lepani, and former Australian High Commissioner to PNG, Bill Farmer AC. The launch will begin at 5.30 pm and will be in the Canberry Room in the Crawford Building. Register here for what should be a fascinating event.
Public Private Partnerships in Infrastructure
On Wednesday March 9 at 5.30pm in the Barton Theatre, Allard Nooy, CEO of InfraCo Asia Development will speak on public private partnerships in infrastructure and the Private Infrastructure Development Group. Register here.
ODE forum
Our first evaluation forum for 2016 will be on the morning of April 20. We’ll be examining the 2014-15 Performance of Australian Aid report and the recent ODE report on women’s leadership and scholarships. Register here.
Devpolicy supporting ANU Hult Prize team
Devpolicy is proud to be supporting the ANU student team who will be competing in the 2016 Asia Regional Finals for the Hult Prize in Shanghai next month. The Hult Prize is a global student competition seeking innovative solutions to development problems. This year’s challenge requires student teams to develop income-generation solutions for urban residents. Good luck to Arjuna Mohottala, MD Tariq Hassan, Sadhana Debi-Tewarie, and Diego Punte.
AAC podcasts
Podcasts from the Australasian Aid Conference are now being uploaded – view the playlist here.
Upcoming events
2016 Harold Mitchell Development Policy Annual Lecture
With Mark Dybul. Monday 29 February, 5.30pm, Molonglo Theatre. Register here.
Pacific regionalism and higher education
With Professor Rajesh Chandra, USP VC. Tuesday 8 March, 5.30pm, Barton Theatre. Register here.
Public private partnerships in infrastructure: The Private Infrastructure Development Group
Wednesday 9 March, 5.30pm, Barton Theatre. Register here.
Playing the game: the memoirs of Grand Chief Sir Julius Chan
With The Hon. Sir Julius Chan. Thursday 17 March, 5.30pm, Springbank Room. Register here.
Australian aid evaluations: performance of Australian aid and Australia Awards scholarships
Wednesday 20 April, 9.15am, Barton Theatre. Register here.
2016 PNG Update
15-17 June, University of Papua New Guinea, Port Moresby. Details here.
2016 Pacific Update
18-19 July, University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji. Details here.
Blog highlights
MSF on ‘smart bombs’ in Syria
How is anti-corruption activism faring in PNG?
Mental health impacts of conflict in Sri Lanka
On the blog
Too important to flail: effective incentives for public and private humanitarian action by Robin Davies
Pacific urbanisation: changing times by Meg Keen and Julien Barbara
Resisting the formulaic: measuring the impact of aid on entrepreneurship and development by Simon White
“Our bombs are smarter than yours” by Michiel Hofman
Green growth, activism & pacific regionalism – in conversation with Fe’iloakitau Kaho Tevi by Tess Newton Cain and Feiloakitau Kaho Tevi
The (soft) power and the passion: challenges to anti-corruption activism in PNG by Grant Walton
Numbers, trends or norms: what changes Australians’ opinions about aid? By Terence Wood
The fantasy of ‘shared sovereignty’ in Solomon Islands by Jon Fraenkel
What may cause post-conflict depression? By Dinuk Jayasuriya
In brief
Fortnightly links: Gavi transition, teacher truancy, impact evaluations, is humanity getting better?
New surveys benchmark financial inclusion in three Pacific countries
Another new Minister for International Development and the Pacific
This is the fortnightly newsletter of the Development Policy Centre at Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University, published every second Friday.
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