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I would like to thank Dek Joe Sum for this initiative for our UPNG students for the 2019 ANU-UPNG Summer School. It was a wonderful job and I would pretty much appreciate it so much. On Behalf of my two colleague mates back in our National High school (Wawin), I am so grateful for your kindness. Next, I am pretty much sure NID was a new project implemented in PNG under Organic Law that all citizens should register under Civil and Identity Registration office for PNG citizenship. However, it is not easy dealing with a new project. It will need more time for them to get it done. University of Goroka (UOG)

Sorry if I oppose your ideas. However I would suggest that if more machines for NID are available, it would be quicker and make it easier for NID officers to issue the NID as quickly as possible. Nevertheless, we are [working] with NID technicians to fix and do maintenance on broken machines; hiring technicians overseas to fix the NID machines would waste lots of time.

Really informative and insightful article, thank you.

Thanks Ian, great quote. You would think that, with England being home to influential conservative thinkers such as Burke (for a time) and Oakeshott, as well as writers of beautiful conservative prose like Lewis, people like Johnson might have acquired an aversion to radical change. Not in the world of aid, it seems.

Fiji needs to let their locals back into the country. My friend is currently stuck in the Philippines for over 3 months and is trying to come back home to Fiji. The government should make it a priority to get their citizens back home and then make them quarantine for 14 days or more if required.

Indeed the University of South Pacific was saved this time by its regional character. If it had been a national university, the Council would have been controlled by a single government, and then a whistleblower would have been given the usual treatment. Rolling out protection for whistleblowers and other anti-corruption measures is an urgent matter across the region. In PNG, the government of Peter O'Neill took control over the University Councils, and harassed, arrested and expelled two foreign Vice Chancellors who had been exposing mismanagement, and corruption. Word spread quickly, and international coverage (including this blog) was intense. Now PNG universities are unable to hire anyone with work experience at a world-class university, and all improvements in their academic quality and learning environments have stalled. Meanwhile, the political fortune of Peter O'Neill has changed and his cronies appointed in the university management and councils are politically unprotected. They are still there until somebody will make them leave. Hopefully the Pacific Region will learn from these cases how institutional autonomy of universities and academic freedom of (foreign) academics on the one hand, is intrinsically linked to improving academic quality on the other. Meanwhile, the process at #USP still has not come to an end, and it is imperative that those who frivolously attacked an honest Vice Chancellor are removed from the University council as soon as possible.

All very true. Based on these experiences, the UK Government may wish to heed the advice of British academic, CS Lewis, who said in another context "Take care: it is so easy to break eggs without making omelettes".

Well said. As a former undergraduate from USP I did my master's at ANU, Canberra. I had the opportunity to attend the USP Council meetings while with AusAID. Governance is the main issue in the Pacific islands and I recall the late Mr Siwatibau, his leadership that drove USP in those days. Unfortunately the same could not be said during Professor Chandra’s rein. Now a new VC with strong governance ideology is seen doing his job very well. It may not be good news for certain government officials. Great vision in their judgement by the Council. Well done!

Thanks Abby for your enquiry. Much of the information in the survey is commercially sensitive, at least for the time being. We may be able to share it on FinDev Gateway at a later date and will advise at that time.

It was great to see such strong evidence-based analysis of Oxfam’s woes. It was clear before covid-19 that the development sector in Australia was broken. Many NGOs were only surviving because of their historical investments in growing regular giving and financial reserves. In Australia (and many other countries), there is simply too many NGOs, chasing too few dollars, all generally using the same business models in a sector experiencing declining fundraising ROI at a time of escalating costs and demand. The covid-19 pandemic has simply accelerated these strategic challenges, leaving even less time for INGOs to get their houses in order. Of course, the key challenge is the challenge of change. Despite all of the challenges, there has been remarkably little change in the make-up of Australia’s largest charities over recent decades. For the most part, the sector looks very similar to the way it did 20 years ago, just much bigger. Unfortunately, many charities, despite their innovative beginnings, have become radical ideas stuck in concrete. Why has the sector been so slow to respond to these change challenges? Boards and executive teams have not focused enough on long-term strategic trends. Despite the rhetoric about mission, most boards and management teams prioritise the organisation over their mission. There is simply too little incentive to make changes before value is destroyed. This is compounded by many organisations living hand to mouth. Declining fundraising efficiency is making change even harder. Donors have also starved charities of the capital they need. Donors want as much money to be spent on direct program costs and see investments in organisational capacity as mere administration, to be minimised. This thinking is often encouraged by charities themselves. The result is a sector woefully unprepared to respond to the challenges it now confronts.

Very interesting article on how COVID-19 has impacted the lived and livelihoods kd people with disabilities. It is worth taking additional measures to safeguard and protect health and wellbeing for there people. They deserve human investment and support, not just during the COVID, but after the pandemic.

That's an interesting point about the risk of COVID-19 leading to disability - this is where we can start to see the cycle of poverty and disability. Living with a disability increases likelihood of you living in poverty - and living in poverty increases risk of acquiring disability, including through poor health outcomes or inability to access healthcare to treat something like COVID-19. And yes this issues are absolutely faced by people with disabilities in Australia also - peak organisations like the First People's Disability Network, People with Disabilities Australia and Australian Federation of Disabled Organisations are working tirelessly on the huge challenges faced by people with disabilities here. Thanks so much for reading.