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Less than three years ago the IMR was publishing on the reduction of malaria following the distrbution of free long lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs). Hetzel, M. W., H. Morris, N. Tarongka, C. Barnadas, J. Pulford, L. Makita, P. M. Siba and I. Mueller 2015. Prevalence of malaria across Papua New Guinea after initial roll-out of insecticide-treated mosquito nets. Tropical Medicine and International Health 20(12): 1745-1755. They conlcuded: "Malaria prevalence across PNG is again at levels comparable to the 1970s. The strong association of LLIN use with reduced parasitaemia supports efforts to achieve and maintain high country-wide coverage. P. vivax infections will require special targeted approaches across PNG." Has the distribution of nets stopped? Rotarians Against Malaria began the distribution of nets. Who funded them? Are they still being funded or was it a classic one-off aid project. In 2015 WHO warned that unless the funding was continued the halving of malaria infections in PNG would quickly be lost.

I'm not sure that the PNG highlands is actually malaria free any more. You see people with malaria in Mount Hagen and Goroka these days. The incidence of malaria seems to be creeping up to higher altitudes. Maybe the mozzies are adapting. I can't find any research on this aspect so maybe there's a lag there too.

I contrast, Timor-Leste claims to have almost eradicated malaria through its mosquito control programs and other interventions, malaria having been widespread just a few years ago. Maybe it is worth looking into what they did right?

Thanks for the nice piece. Australian Aid in PNG, the Pacific and elsewhere is actually delivered by the private sector, unlike the previous delivery model where aid is delivered through government machinery, systems and processes. The notion of outsourcing Australian aid delivery is a norm in today’s world, as is the case with Australian Aid. Almost the entire aid delivery is in the private sector hands. Only the non-financial aided aspects of aid delivery program is within the scope of DFAT. Areas like setting aid implementation guide, funding movement, priority areas of development programs, review program reports and have consultations and meetings with government. All the financial aided aspects of aid delivery is in the private sector hands. The procurement of equipment’s or materials, distribution, engaging stakeholders, construction work or even implementation reports are all done by private contractors. Therefore the big question is actually what Australian aid is worth. When the project is successful and has impact, the Australian government gets credits and applaus. When the aid is not delivering to expectation or not successful, it is the Australian government that is criticised, not the private contractors. This is the reality when taxpayers at home want to know the results and impact of aid.

Hi Sheena. Have you reflected on the develoment rights of indigeneous Palestinians, both in Israel and those refugees outside wishing to return to Israel? I would love to know your thoughts and what Australia can do to encourage greater support for indigenous rights in Israel, not just for indigenous populations within Israel, but also refugees outside, including those seeking to return to their lands in Israel. Seeing that Australia is a close friend of Israel, Australian indigenous voices may have more impact on Israeli authorities than (say) Arab voices, or even Asian voices.

Thank you, Roger, for sharing your feelings about my book. I'm afraid that if you actually read it you will be even more offended because it does have quite a lot to say about educational missionaries. However, the bulk of the book is an analysis based on 631 publications on education in 'developing' countries. Research evidence came from 32 countries that were not biased significantly by national per capita income, eligibility for foreign aid, HDI, or cultural cluster. All the classroom studies found that progressive reforms failed in the sense that they were inappropriate and/or had major implementation difficulties. No studies were uncovered that implied sustained paradigm shift occurred in classroom practice. Where some change occurred, it was almost invariably in 'surface' rather than 'deep' aspects (e.g. changes in arrangement of desks, or closed rather than open questions) that did not change fundamentally the role of the teacher as a transmitter of knowledge. One example, perhaps relevant to your Samoan experience, comes from Myanmar (Lall, M., 2011, 'Pushing the child centred approach in Myanmar: The role of cross national policy networks and the effects in the classroom'. Critical Studies in Education, 52, 219–33. doi.org/10.1080/17508487.2011.604072). Lall reported that rote learning there is the norm, but a network (comprising international and national aid and education organizations, commercial teacher training providers, and consultants) was pushing a child-centered approach in Buddhist monastic schools. Lall’s fieldwork involved classroom observations in 11 non-state-sector schools, interviews with 66 teachers and 19 teacher trainers, and focus groups with 58 parents or grandparents across four schools. While many said that child-centered was a 'better' approach to teaching and learning, the principal issue identified by teachers, head monks, and parents was that this western approach undermined traditional hierarchical structures of respect for teachers and elders, leading to a culture clash at home and in the classroom. As you point out, the modern world does require adaptation and change, but my view is that such change should be driven internally, supported if necessary, but not driven by, external change agents. Naturally, interpretations of and recommendations arising from progressive failures varied considerably in the literature. Although some of the evidence has been available for decades, the mainstream literature still holds the progressive paradigm as axiomatic, albeit with considerable cognitive dissonance apparent in the maintenance of progressivism both as an axiomatic starting point and as an unexamined professional end point, and often involving vested recommendations for more inputs. Too, much of the literature supporting progressive reforms is based on research and evaluations that are theoretically and methodologically weak. If you can present any sound, independent research evidence to support your views, I would be delighted to see it and to include it in any future writings on this subject.

Great thanks - esp undermining the SWP. A point: not sure about how well the backpacker arrangements are policed (suspect not at all) but the 457 visa arrangements and similar are not policed until a whistleblower goes public and forces an "investigation". Recruiters are similarly not policed.

Thanks John I am glad this resonated with your experience!

Hi Lavinia really important question. I think part of the issue is thinking hard about what some have called the 'decision space' https://www.developmentgateway.org/blog/dg-white-paper-release-understanding-data-use i.e. the political and institutional incentives which enable use of data, learning and subsequent adaptation. I think Dan Honig's new book Navigation by Judgement https://oxfamblogs.org/fp2p/book-review-navigation-by-judgment-by-dan-honig/ provides a compelling argument for not only why this the case, but why providing space for front line judgement, learning and adaptation is critical

Hi Mark, You should read the other blog I've just written. https://devpolicy.org/proposed-backpacker-visa-reform-will-increase-worker-exploitation-and-cause-strategic-damage-20180928/. In fact, research shows that backpackers are more likely to be exploited than seasonal workers. See the report I cite. It makes sense too. Backpackers have no representation. Employers need no permission to hire them. Completely the opposite from seasonal workers. SWP is the regulated option. Backpackers the unregulated. That's why we need to grow the regulated option, and not expand the role of backpackers.

Desperately need to include proper protections. There is evidence of wide-scale exploitation across this scheme, backpackers and the various 457-style visas (but Pacific workers easily the most vulnerable): - https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/aug/03/hungry-poor-exploited-alarm-over-australias-import-of-farm-workers - https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Foreign_Affairs_Defence_and_Trade/ModernSlavery/Final_report/section?id=committees%2Freportjnt%2F024102%2F25425 - http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/slaving-away-promo/6437876 -https://www.humanrights.dk/news/fighting-exploitation-migrant-workers-australia - https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/aug/05/the-big-one-is-underpayment-new-centre-fights-migrant-workers-exploitation - and many more examples, plus personal information given to myself and others relating specifically to the Pacific scheme. The issue is both employers and recruiters - some notorious. The fact that the words slavery and blackbirding appear in relation to the Pacific scheme is extremely disturbing. Any overhaul should not be a one-way street.

What works in education in “developing” countries? In 1993 and 94 I was assigned by Palms to a teacher mentoring role in Samoa. While I was encouraged to believe I could guide effective teaching practice, I never had the certitude to believe I was going to revolutionise Samoan education. Student-centred Learning? I had spent 15 years in Victorian classrooms, attempting to drag senior secondary students out of earlier teacher-centred learning experiences, into a student-centred enquiry learning approach. Put simply, it was a process of finding topics in my subject area that would stimulate students to ask questions that assisted their exploration of the key concepts and knowledge. Research skills were honed as required. The idea was to help students to become independent learners, despite the dangers of not spoon-feeding them enough before their formal Year 12 examinations. My son, who graduated year 12 a couple of years ago, speaks of his surprise at the dropout rate of first year university students from private schools, given their wonderful ATAR scores. His surprise highlights both the problem of not encouraging independent learning and also the possibility that this continuing tension in the Australian school system suggests we are also a “developing” country. In reviewing “Classroom Change in Developing Countries: From Progressive Cage to Formalistic Frame” in Devpolicy, Robert Cannon agrees with author Gerard Guthrie that, “Attempts to replace formalistic teaching with progressive styles in developing countries are usually culturally inappropriate, and second, they usually fail.” It is clear from my own experience and that of the many teacher mentors, who have undertaken a Palms assignment, that an intention to replace one system with another is a fanciful proposition, especially when local cultures “… are dimly understood … by outsiders charged with making ‘improvements’”. However, does the labelling of Western educational models as “progressive” reveal a straw-man argument is in play as a convenient contrast for Guthrie’s dubious point? Finding a sensible centre Where existing formal teaching methodologies are underpinned by a very formal hierarchical culture; where students are never to risk adults losing face by asking questions they may not be able to answer, change will be slow. However, arguments contrasting extremes miss the point. Learning options that encourage self-enquiry are valuable and to suggest that such classroom reform amounts to being “…caged by Western culture-bound value judgements” seems to be a hobby-horse of Guthrie’s that dangerously ignores the world in which students and teachers in all cultures now find themselves. Teacher-centred approaches prevailed in my 1960’s Australian classrooms. This also reflected our more hierarchical culture at that time. Some teachers were able to use rote learning exercises to foster mental engagement for some students, but many were similar to the ones I first saw in Samoa. Teachers write sentences on the board that students copy into their book. At the exam teachers write the same sentences on the board with random (not just subject specific) words missing. Students pass if they can fill in 50% of the words. Students taught to think, rather than just remember, will always be more fulfilled in themselves and probably more productive in the economy. A big part of enabling people to live life to the fullest is enabling them to investigate options. This happens where enquiring minds are fostered. While teachers in “developing” countries have little training, the “frame” of traditional formalistic classroom teaching espoused by Guthrie does at least provide a useful cultural security. However, students’ access to the digital world encourages and requires questioning minds. They will not be well served, nor remain tolerant of teachers unable to assist them to process information independently. Providing example Needless to say I did not overturn culturally reinforced rote learning practice in Samoa, but when the young teachers I was mentoring became inquisitive about how I would approach their lessons, rather than telling them, I got them thinking about the objectives and planning alternative approaches that might work. This is an example of student-centred enquiry. I was then able to challenge them to offer their students objectives rather than “How to?” instructions, which inevitability made them vulnerable to student questioning. They survived and thrived to try it again. The qualified and experienced teachers recruited by Palms are prepared for engaging with culture and building relationships over the first six months of their assignment. They are encouraged to develop frameworks for identifying the existing strengths and assets in a school. To suggest change before doing so would be arrogant. They then stay long enough to build on these strengths and complement them with further options for building self-reliance in students. Palms model of long-term assignments means we avoid being the outsiders with a dim understanding of local culture. A dichotomous question of a “progressive cage” replacing a “formalistic frame” misses what can be achieved in assignments where development is built on sound relationships that provide appropriate awareness through mutual development.