Comments

This is a nice article to read.

We had some enormous challenges with international volunteers coming after Hurricane Maria in the Caribbean island of Dominica. However, not due to a lack of qualification or competencies, in fact the unqualified, inexperienced, mostly young women, volunteers coming in to physically build earthquake and hurricane resistant schools with All Hands and Hearts who worked with our organisation Lifelinedominica.org as Local Partners worked brilliantly and not only donated two primary schools and three Pre Schools but challenged gender stereotypes significantly. This was a far more effective impact that the UN workers from Pakistan who had no clue about the Caribbean, our history and our particular GBV issues.

Thanks Paul for the great read - it is a critical issue for development and the achievement of the SDGs. On the one hand the private sector has many resources and skills useful for accelerating development; on the other it also has the resources and skills to capture most of the shared value. One way of protecting against this is for donors to avoid upfront funding of private firms and to enter into partnerships which provide payment for specific results. I found this CGD paper on the issue useful: https://www.cgdev.org/publication/guarantees-subsidies-or-paying-success-choosing-right-instrument-catalyze-private

Thanks Dek for the sharing the experience, the complication of getting the passport done is real. It’s worth the info. I can believe I am facing it right now. I am in Goroka and its worse. We have agents who can assist but the service fee is around K1000.00 to get both Birth Certificate and the passport done. I will be travelling down to Australia for a Conservation Science Student Conference in July, 2019. Yes the challenge of getting passport done with the new million kina NID project as a requirement is leaving many of us ordinary Papua New Guinea to struggle. Especially for those who want to travel but you dont have a birth certificate, NID card and the Passport and if you are not in Port Moresby, it’s very complicated. Only in PNG where nepotism is practice or bribery, the chance of fast tracking is okay. Corruption is at rife in PNG and its crippling the development progress in PNG. Regarding the PNG NID project, I still don’t seem to understand its simple meaning and purpose. It’s a waste of PNG taxpayer money. What are the benefits it offers to the development of this country? The Government must be real with its development priorities and not wasting too much money on a million year project. By the time all members are registered, they will all lose their identity.

can a Taiwanese throw a water melon 3 rows for 10 hours a day? give me a Tongan every time.

if a community is sending workers as a nepotism type selection structure then it can only be good because if any 1 of those workers stuffs up overseas then the whole community who depend on their good behavior and work ethic to gain support and income, then woe betide that person that besmirches that community. the biggest issue when these guys go over sea's is drink, and all contracts forbid alcohol consumption. it is best that those around these people that wish to contravene their contract be surrounded by fellow community members who will council and redirect their misconduct. this is best for Vanuatu and the host country. In the recent 2 months Jan Feb in Australia the rate of return to home country has increased dramatically especially in second year return persons. complacency and cultural differences seem to take over from the real reason these guys are in Australia. however if they are from the same community then peer group pressure will keep them focused on why they are in another country. the employers want consistent, dependable, workers unlike the backpackers who are totally random who don't turn up when a truck must be filled.

But clearly some people are reporting, including to independent bodies like ALAC (TIPNG)..so what motivates them would be interesting and what might have caused them to hesitate...

I am trying to understand the policy implications of categorizing kids as normal or inferior goods. What of children are inferior goods, how does it impact the policy making in developed countries?

Hi Elizabeth, Am very encouraged to read your acceptance speech. Highlights the power of community led action yet supported, facilitated and accompanied.

The article explains the period of political and social development well. The challenges Bougainville people will inevitably face as they head towards their increased autonomy vs independence referendum, will be monumental and require even greater levels of skill, knowledge and tenacity to overcome.

Thanks Terence for this nice piece of personal reflection on PNG As a PNGan I see your reflection as a useful critique from an outsider view of development trends over pre and post- PNG independence. I agree with your reflection on limited development impact with external support to PNG. In fact, PNG is a nation of diversity and will take generations for people to appreciate modernity. In the last 43 years of independence, we have witnessed what you have correctly stated. On the other end, it could be a failure by the donors that any form of support are not handle with care- meaning donors themselves anticipated that such and such will improve and modernise PNG soci-economic and political status without understanding the colonialism. That said, many outsiders like your 1977 British Aid Worker friend could view PNG in general as “just leave it and go” place in the world. We take the blame but external supporters should also be responsible. One very fact matter is; PNG got its independence too soon when modern civilisation had never reached our mindset, but when we were still in the Stone Age. Other colonial countries experienced developments before gaining independence. After the independence, citizens adopt easily into modernity and PNG did not go through that feat. PNG got independence when there is no educated population, no countrywide governance system, no infrastructure, no and no…the list goes on. However, PNG stood the test of times for the last 43 years as a vibrant democracy and development gradually taking shape. We the next generation of PNGans will develop this great Pacific country and this is the creed of our fathers in the woods and the dreams of our mothers in labour- we are now standing –the pride of our ancestors. To “stuff it up” is not a creation of our own but it is a test of time in PNG pre- and post-independence history.

Nancy Thanks for your feedback. Unfortunately, the blog did not allow us to report all of our analysis. In particular, we cite three UN funded surveys of the attitudes of the residents of Kiribati, Nauru and Tuvalu to climate change and migration, conducted by social scientists from New Zealand. See for example Oakes, Robert, Milan, Andrea and Campbell, Jillian (2016). Kiribati: Climate Change and Migration - Relationships Between Household Vulnerability, Human Mobility and Climate Change. United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security. These surveys found that that more than 70 per cent of households in Kiribati and Tuvalu, and 35 per cent in Nauru believe that migration would be a likely response for them if droughts, sea level rise or floods worsened. However, the same surveys show that only a quarter of households in Kiribati, Nauru, and Tuvalu believe that they will have the financial means to migrate. We concluded from these results and other evidence such as the number of applicants for the 75 places each year for Kiribati and Tuvalu to migrate permanently to New Zealand that there is a large group who want to migrate to live and work overseas. The size of the group will depend on whether they have the resources to do so. We suggest that providing more opportunities and resources to support short, medium and long-term migration Australia or New Zealand will give more residents in these three countries the chance to choose whether to stay or go as a response to climate change.