Comments

Very interesting and important issue Terence, thanks. I have recently been involved in a review of Australian budget support in the Pacific and your overall comments, and book's findings, ring true. Our review found several positive aspects to Australian budget support. First, Australian funding was genuinely additional to, and did not substitute or displace, the partner government's own domestic expenditure effort ("fungibility"). That is an important first step to making a positive impact. Second, Australian budget support was particularly valued because it was (i) 100% grant (not adding to debt) but also because (ii) it was "predictable" - sometimes moreso than from their own government - so local managers could plan programs with some degree of confidence. Third, because much of the partner government's own expenditure effort in the health sector was absorbed by salaries, the "additionality" of Australian budget support then funded important and high impact outreach programs delivering primary health care to more remote rural areas that would not have occurred in the absence of that funding. But our review also identified some challenges. For example, it is not always clear or obvious how even relatively large amounts of budget support achieve "results" or impact on the ground. That is particularly because the health system strengthening aspects that are potentially available with budget support occur "under the bonnet" in the Ministry of Health and are not necessarily as visible or obvious as a more traditional, stand alone, donor driven infrastructure project. Another challenge is that for budget support to be the catalyst for policy dialogue, and to get traction in terms of health system reform, there needs to be a robust monitoring and evaluation system that could / should then used to generate insights, lessons, and ongoing program improvements and feedback loops. Such active monitoring, evaluation and learning is different to, but builds on, more routine "reporting" of expenditure and disbursements. The book you have reviewed would seem to have good lessons to help strengthen the impact of budget support. Another useful resource is a 2021 World Bank report titled "Following the Government Playbook?: Channeling Development Assistance for Health through Country Systems". Thanks again for your blog.

Definitely going to check out the book. Interesting read and while I largely agree on carefully assessing budget support as an aid tool to match context, I think that both New Zealand and Australia have tried in the Pacific to use budget support as a form of strengthening governance and engaging in policy dialogue & reform with Pacific island countries (take Samoa and Tonga’s respective joint policy reform dialogue for instance). In my view, its too dismissive to say that budget support is an alternative donors may use so that they dont have to manage a thousand projects. Australia provides both sector and general budget support to many Pacific island countries, using both aid tools as a means of leveraging partnerships for effective development … and of course advancing national interests. Thanks for the much welcomed food for thought.

Good Morning Policy Advisors and Makers alike, For PNG, Land Reform TALKS are as old as the 19, 20 and 21 century. We are looking at the problem and talking about it. If we look at the solution and start planning to take a procedural approach to addressing the problem of land reform, its should become clearer for a solution in the near future. Relevant authorities and stakeholders should work together to educate customary land owners, time and again, so they understand the importance of land registration for development process. Landowners need to accept the importance of organizing themselves for development and clearly see where they will benefit. I bet, a lot of people have cloud cover over their head, when their hear land mobilization/registration. So, it will be good to start with what's going to be better understood by customary land owners, than to indulge and delve further into things that looks and sounds like myriad of complicated process. Just an opinion. James Gande

Hi Ian, you can find more information on how to apply on the PALM scheme website: https://www.palmscheme.gov.au/how-apply

Hi Terence, really interesting - thank you! Just wondering - on what basis do you say that COVID-19 did not make that much of a difference to the scale of budget support as a % of total aid. If my calculations are correct, based on the attached Excel data comparing pre-COVID (2019) to post-COVID (2020-2022), it seems that budget support as a % of total donor aid has slightly more than doubled from about 1.95% to around 4% for OECD countries, for multilaterals the increase has been a bit larger, from 11.6% to 26%, while for Australia the change appears to have been very big, increasing almost fivefold from 1.19% to 5% - still small compared to the total aid program, but a big increase from where it started.

Well said Matt. Mekere set a high standard, but introduced reforms that demonstrate that it is possible in PNG to set policies and programs that are designed to improve the wellbeing of the ordinary citizens of this great country. The accumulation of wealth and influence by just a privileged few is a tragedy that robs the people of PNG of the financial and social well-being that they are entitled to expect. PNG is a relatively wealthy country. Its resources base far surpasses other South Pacific nations, and to the extent that these are exploited, the benefit should be shared by all. This would see health, education, public safety, transport and economic prosperity being available to all, not just to a selected few. We need others to follow in the path that Mekere pioneered, and adopting the principles of governance and public service that Mekere epitomised. Reform and economic justice is achievable. We need those who share Mekere’s vision to stand up and take up the challenge. Otherwise we see another lost 20 years, to the detriment of this generation and the next.

Yes it has been a feature in Samoa for a number of years although not always observed as diligently by the visitors as we might loke

Hi Zechariah, the riot indeed painted a bad image of the country. I hope the government investigation also covers the kidnapping and sexual assault cases which appeared on social media, but seemed to have not picked up by the mean-stream media.

Great overview and analysis Andy, Port Moresby and PNG is becoming more unsafe with time. There were also a reported case of kinaping a Child believed to be of Chinese origin and women and girls raped. What transpired on the 10th January has pinned a bad image for investors to invest in the country going forward.

Very succinct read and thank you for putting it together. Samoa is also using a similar 'black out' period where the focus is on internal policy, budget and priorities. Australia and other development actors are increasingly aware of this and incorporating into their own project life cycle planning and engagement priorities.

I am interested in working for the program..

Good observations, Tony Guan. Thanks.