Aid Open Paper: Introduction

The first installment of the Aid Open Paper will be published on Monday 1 November and will look at patterns and trends in Australian aid.

There is bipartisan support for increasing the Australian aid program to 0.5% of Gross National Income by 2015-16, which implies a doubling of aid to over $8 billion from current levels, and a quadrupling from the $2 billion of 2005. Yet, despite this massive scale-up, aid policy remains an area starved of research and public discussion.

Written by the Centre’s Director, Stephen Howes, and Deputy Director, Matthew Morris, as a series of blogs, this paper will kick off the debate over the direction of Australian aid program. Every few weeks, starting on Monday, we will address questions such as:

What is the historical background and current shape of the Australian aid program, and where are we heading?
Where should the aid program focus?
What should happen to technical assistance?
Should Australia provide more multilateral aid?
What budget processes will best support an efficient scaling up?
What institutional changes are needed to support a scaled-up aid program?
How accountable is the Australian aid program, and how can accountability be improved?
Should Australian aid make more use of partner government systems?

We invite your comments to our blogs as we try to generate a genuine debate and discussion over the future direction of the Australian aid program.