First speakers announced for 2015 Australasian Aid Conference
We are pleased to announce that Tanya Plibersek MP, Federal Member for Sydney and Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Development, will open proceedings at the 2015 Australasian Aid Conference. Professor Barbara McPake, internationally renowned health economist, formerly with Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, and incoming Director of the Nossal Institute, will also be delivering a keynote address on aid and health.
Gulshan Sachdeva, Professor at the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, will be speaking on Indian aid to Afghanistan as the first speaker on a special panel on the Indian aid program.
We’ll be announcing more of the line-up in coming newsletters.
Registration for the conference is now open, with early-bird pricing until 21 November.
There is also still time to submit an abstract. For more details, visit the conference website.
Negotiating Chinese aid in the Pacific
A new paper in Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies by Devpolicy Research Fellow Matthew Dornan and the Lowy Institute’s Philippa Brant looks at how Pacific island governments negotiate and oversee the implementation of official development assistance from China. The paper draws on four case studies (Tonga, Vanuatu, Samoa and the Cook Islands) and finds that each of the governments have used vastly different approaches, leading to different outcomes for aid effectiveness.
The paper highlights the critical role that Pacific island governments play in managing Chinese aid in determining its effectiveness and the importance of developing local oversight and planning arrangements.
The findings are summarised here in a blog post.
Matthew will also be presenting other research on power sector reform in the Pacific at the Fiji Update at USP on 12 August, and will speak on energy access at the third meeting of the G20 Energy Sustainability Working Group in Brisbane on 25 August.
Inspiring PNG women
Last month, we hosted a fascinating discussion on challenges and opportunities for women in Papua New Guinea with Avia Koisen, Principal of Koisen Lawyers and one of the founding members of the Papua New Guinea Women’s Chamber of Commerce, and Emma Wurr, Principal Legal Officer for Human Rights at the PNG Office of the Public Solicitor. You can listen to a podcast of the event here. Stephanie Copus-Campbell took the opportunity to talk further with both women about issues such as gender-based violence, the challenges for professional women in progressing their careers, and access to education.
Cleo Fleming also wrote for us last week about a new documentary film series, Pawa Meri, which is profiling more inspiring PNG women.
1000 blog posts
We’ve now posted 1000 analysis posts on the Devpolicy blog (and that’s not counting our 250 “in briefs”) — thanks to everyone who has contributed by writing for us or getting involved in the comments section since 2010.
Upcoming events
Poverty in Asia: a deeper look
On 28 August, Dr Guanghua Wan of the Asian Development Bank will argue that an Asia free of poverty by 2020 looks unlikely. Register here.
2015 Australasian Aid Conference
Our annual aid conference will be held on 12-13 February, 2015. We are now calling for papers. For more details and how to submit an abstract, visit the website.
Blog highlights
A business owner’s perspective on APTC.
Jon Fraenkel’s RAMSI review.
Continuity in our aid to Palestine.
Innovative concepts and tools for aid.
Blog summary
You can find a list of all posts since our last newsletter two weeks ago in the list below.
Negotiating Chinese development assistance: the role of Pacific island governments and Chinese contractors by Matthew Dornan and Philippa Brant
Investing in people and building a business in Vanuatu by Bernie Cain
Innovation in the Australian aid program (part one): some concepts by Danielle Logue and Mel Dunn
Innovation in the Australian aid program (part two): possibilities and dilemmas by Danielle Logue and Mel Dunn
Looking to a future without RAMSI by Jon Fraenkel
Powerful women of Papua New Guinea by Cleo Fleming
Challenges and opportunities for professional women in Papua New Guinea – two remarkable women share their experiences by Stephanie Copus-Campbell
Reflections of a humanitarian aid worker: an interview with Tom Bamforth by Tom Bamforth and Margaret Callan
What should we expect from Pacific regionalism? by Seini O’Connor
Reflections on the new aid paradigm, part 3: research for development by Robin Davies
In brief
Are clean cookstoves a cooked up ‘solution’ to sexual violence?
Final call for papers: upcoming DevNet conference in New Zealand
Upcoming development events in Melbourne and Brisbane
Australian humanitarian assistance to Gaza: what a difference five years doesn’t make
This is the fortnightly newsletter of the Development Policy Centre at the Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University, published every second Friday.
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