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Hi Mitiana, The use of digital platforms is definitely something that can be explored further in PICs. During the El Nino drought in PNG, several INGOs used KoBo for drought assessments while UNDP also recently supported PNG's National Disaster Centre in utilising KoBo for data consolidation and analysis during its post drought assessment. Aside from technical issues, some of the major obstacles to good assessments is a sound understanding of data collection and stepping out of the "paper-based" comfort zone. Would be great to connect and have discussions on furthering the use of tools such as Akvo and KoBo. Gerard

Dear Mitiana, My thanks for an interesting post, with some useful links. You may also be interested in an article I published on the experiences of tsunami alerts in one coastal village in Papua New Guinea. It's available <a href="https://ajem.infoservices.com.au/items/AJEM-27-04-11" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">here</a>. Amanda. 🙂

I am now a little out of touch, but the great tragedy of MPs funds is not its magnitude per se, but how little is actually accomplished with it. National Audit Office reports and Provincial Audit Committee reports - where such committees exist and are active - tell a shameful story. Is it the same country-wide? I do not know, but some information highlighting better and worse performances would help PNG citizens hold poor performing MPs to account, and give reasons to re-elect MPs who have not just spent funds, but delivered results.

Thank you Betty Lovai for an important article. Violence aginast women, equality in the workplace and in society, will not change until we name and accept embedded cultual beliefs and behaviours about the role of men and the role of women in our societies.

Thanks for these comments. I stand corrected, James. My assertion was based on our "Lost Decade" report. Our Figure 7.2 has PNG MP funds at 9% of total expenditure and Solomon Islands at 8%. But that was a couple of years ago, and it sounds like Solomon Islands has changed since then. Philippines and Kenya were the only two other countries we could find where such funds made up more than 1% of total spending. That chapter has some useful information re your question Jo. It is hard to know how much of the MP funding ends up with schools and hospitals, but our survey in 2012 did find it was an important source of funding for them - and that was before the massive scaling up. For example, we found that 20% of schools and 23% of health clinics reported having benefited from MP funds. Most of the projects involved building something. You can read the analysis here (https://devpolicy.org/publications/reports/PEPE/PEPE%20Chapter%207.pdf) but the most telling statistic I think is that 41% of the schools and 45% of the health clinics believed that their MP-funded project would never be completed. Tony also makes an important point. 30% of the government's payments to schools are now made to MPs! (see Grant Walton's post: https://devpolicy.org/creeping-re-centralisation-pngs-education-sector-20160615/. So that should really be counted in the MP funding. That's an additional K 200 million or 1.5% of total spending.

Hmmm not sure I can see Bono making Donald Trump cry http://rgkcenter.org/sites/default/files/file/research/ISQU_451.pdf

Great post, thanks. Does anybody have any data or reasonable estimates regarding if and how much MPs spend from their funds on health and education, and what the nature of this expenditure is? I'm aware of all the problems/issues, etc. regarding constituency funds, just curious.

Also, the cuts to education and health funding are arguably made worse by the protection (in nominal terms) of "free" education and health policy funding in the budget. Free health policy is probably not providing any additional support to health clinics that were previously raising funds through user fees, and the same might be true for schools now that there are reports that a substantial proportion of TFF funds that were previously paid directly to schools (in lieu of abolished tuition and project fees) are being diverted to the control of district authorities. Again, something has to give within these sectors, and so the actual cuts to funding of goods and services that support education and health service delivery will be larger than what you have reported.

Stephen - thanks, fascinating post. If I could pick you up on just one point, that is your statement that 'PNG makes more reliance on spending through MPs than any other country in the world' (at 9% of total expenditure). My analysis of recent Solomon Islands budgets suggests that equivalent spending through MPs now represents over 14% of total SIG-funded outlays (recurrent and development budgets) in that country. Either way, both countries are international outliers in terms of the amounts allocated to such schemes.

Oh hang on!...there is another story, in fact a similar story of a boxer who stopped the nation. Even heard the politicians at the old House of Assembly/Parliament stopped their session to watch him fight a Filipino boxer. Name is Martin Benny of Central ...believed from Mekeo. Both boxers were great PNG sportsmen in their time. Their stories are inspirational and must be taught in PNG schools to inspire the young generations of PNGans.

PNG needs to tailor the concert again with deep research of the socioeconomic and cultural status of the nation.

What a waste of a lot of money that could be used for health, education and other programs in Kiribati itself or even building sea walls or cleaning up the beaches!! What are the current plans for that plot of land now? Fiji has its own racial problems without adding I-Kiribati people to the mix. What is going to happen to those poor Solomon Island people already there???