Newsletter: Not the Millennium Villages | Women in leadership | PNG Update presentations and budget

Not the Millennium Villages: Colin and Ria in Eastern Indonesia

Colin Barlow and Ria Gondowarsito have spent most of the last thirty years fighting rural poverty in Eastern Indonesia. Their work is featured in our latest Aid Profile, authored by Stephen Howes, who argues that their story is not only inspirational, but has much to teach us about aid and development.

PNG women in leadership

Professor Betty Lovai, Dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at UPNG, gave a hard-hitting keynote speech at the PNG Update titled “Women in leadership”, drawing on her own experience to argue that cultural mindsets are the main constraint holding women back from leadership positions in PNG. You can listen to the podcast or read her blog or full speech [pdf].

Other presentations from the 3-4 November 2016 PNG Update, which was held in Port Moresby, are now also available for download, including the inaugural address [pdf] by the Australian High Commissioner to PNG, Bruce Davis. You can also see media coverage of the event here.

The PNG budget was brought down on 1 November, and was a major topic of conversation at the Update. You can read Stephen Howes’ analysis of cuts to core services. Lae’s Angau Hospital, the country’s second largest, sees a reduction in real funding of almost half between 2014 and 2017. You can also view Stephen Howes and Rohan Fox’s fiscal retrospective on PNG’s resource boom presented at the Update (Session 1a).

Economic diversification and tax reform in PNG

Sir Nagora Bogan, Chancellor of Papua New Guinea’s University of Technology (Unitech), will speak about the independent review he led into PNG’s tax system at 12.30pm on Thursday 8 December. Details and registration here.

Labour mobility news

We’ve started a newsletter to inform those interested about our latest research and other developments on labour mobility and migration, especially relating to the Pacific. Subscribe here; feedback here.

Upcoming events

Economic diversification and tax reform in Papua New Guinea

12.30-1.30pm, Thursday 8 December, Barton Theatre, Crawford School, ANU. Register here.

2017 Australasian Aid Conference

15–16 February, Crawford School, ANU. Event details here

Blog highlights

Seasonal Worker Program grows by 50%

The future of the world’s biggest NGO

Why do public sector reforms fail?

Latest podcasts

Betty Lovai Keynote – Women in Leadership – 2016 PNG Update

The future of the World Bank

Strengthening public financial management reform in Pacific Island countries

ADB@50: what does the future hold?

On the blog

PNG women in leadership by Betty Lovai

Growing spaces for Pacific disaster management: mobile and smartphone based responses by Mitiana Arbon

Seasonal Worker Program grows by 50 per cent by Stephen Howes and Henry Sherrell

The future of the world’s biggest NGO: an interview with Muhammad Musa by Camilla Burkot

Imagining the Other: a reflective review by Michelle Nayahamui Rooney

Putting ‘thinking and working politically’ into practice – with a gender and Pacific twist by Lisa Denney and Rebecca McLaren

Angua Hospital, and PNG’s 2017 budget by Stephen Howes

Kiribati’s National Labour Migration Policy: a climate change adaptation strategy? by Carmen Voigt-Graf

Why do public sector reforms fail? by Lhawang Ugyel

Challenging gender inequality: in conversation with UN Women Asia and the Pacific by Anna-Karin Jatfors and Melissa Alvarado

In brief

Milder than Tony Abbott? Trump on foreign aid

WHO response on Pacific diabetes prevalence

Not the Millennium Villages: Colin and Ria in Eastern Indonesia

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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Development Policy Centre

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