Comments

Hello Anthony. Thank you for your interesting blog post. You have provided a particularly accessible explanation of 'big data', so thank you especially for that. I also wrote a blog post about the potential for new technology to be used in data collection. My post specifically focused on Papua New Guinea and suggested some concrete techniques that could be applied, such as phone interviews and SMS surveys. You can read it <a href="https://devpolicy.org/remote-data-collection-in-papua-new-guinea-an-aid-to-policy-deliberations-20150707/">here</a>. I’d be happy to talk to you further about this. Amanda. 🙂 www.ahawatson.com

Thanks Anne, That's a great question/idea. And there would be really good research to be done by someone working alongside an NGO in this area. (As you say, access to data like usage stats would be crucial.) Thinking about your comment, one thing that struck me is that many big companies (the example given is usually the New York Times) randomly allocate different versions of their website to different visitors, and then analyse how visitors behave (in the NY Times' case, whether they click through to read articles or not). I'd be fascinated to know if any NGOs did this and what they found when they did. Thanks again. Terence

It would be interesting to look at usage stats alongside this analysis to see how people are using the sites and what they're looking for from the sites. I realise 2 things in saying this: 1. you won't have access to usage stats and 2. How people use it will be partly driven by how it's set up and the information that's available. But it would be interesting to see if people are only looking for donation/fundraising information and that's why the NGOs have put so much emphasis there, or is there a disconnect between what's provided and what's wanted.

Tff policy was developed to achieve governments objective of universal education. However, the policy created other issues such as poor quality education, ineffective teacher deliver, misuse of funds, delay in delivery of funds, and it made the parents lazy. For these reasons other stake holders disagree with the policy. In order to balance the interest of the government's objective and the stakeholders disagreement, the government should revisit the user pay policy which I believe is in the trash bin and improve it. The user pay policy will still achieve governments objective of universal education at the same time it will minimise the negative attitude from the teachers and parents. Thank you

Thanks Ian - good to see this being covered. The schools example is a good one, as is urban design - trying to go for a jog in Jakarta for instance is a pretty scary experience... One of the most prominent, and effective, programs in the physical activity space is the DFAT-funded netball program Kao Mai Tonga, part of the broader Sport for Development program. It's based on significant formative research, and has involved a broad combination of social marketing/infrastructure development/human resource development. It's been shown to change attitudes and behaviours, and has broader impact on issues like gender equality and disability inclusion (though in it's early days was not without its unintended consequences, including the DFAT staff member who badly broke her ankle on a netball field...)

Very useful direction of analysis - will take some brave political leadership but very necessary given the brave lives that were lost recently and brave work that will be needed in the future by the families of the workers who died. See my recent comment <a href="http://www.nzipr.ac.nz/en/news/nzipr-news-2016/labour-mobility-and-the-workers-beyond-stock-answers.html" rel="nofollow">here</a>

Paul, many thanks for your thoughtful and detailed response. It has now been six months since the SME policy was distributed. While the policy has not been implemented it has led to a discouragement of foreign investment especially from investors already in PNG. These investors have the potential to reinvest their depreciation and profits but most are unwilling to do so if there is a policy that illegalizes these investments. The policy has unfortunately led to plans or implementation of disinvestments. The SME Policy comes on top of the problems faced by domestic producers of an overvalued kina and the lack Of foreign exchange. Neither of these critical problems have been adequately addressed with needed changes in policy. Frank.

1. Remittances are generational so, to maintain levels, new waves of economic emigration are necessary. 2. Investment and employment creation in the islands is constrained by the availability of investment and emigration to other countries. There needs to be a serious policy debate about island government policies and this probably needs to be led by a new generation of analysts abreast of the next "industrial revolution" innovations that are coming. 3. Too much emphasis on climate change with regard to this issue is diversionary rather than mainstream. Migration because of climate change is not about economic or social development. It is a "disaster" response. 4. Mobility is the key issue and, unfortunately, recipient countries have not proved to be outstandingly adept at developing decent policies in this regard. Here, and 2. above are where the main contributions can be made in my opinion.

I Den Einstein Hezron Would like to take this time to thank O'neill Dion Government for implementing free education policy here in our country. This gives me a chance as a guy who came from a poor background to enter an institution Like SOGERI NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL. With the less expense I really enjoyed being here as student in two years. Congrats to my MP Peter Oneill.

Thanks, Ian. I am always pleased to read your blogs about this important issue. I was surprised to see that out-of-pocket expenditure on health in the Solomon Islands was so low. The out-of-pocket expenditure for healthcare I saw in the Solomon Islands seemed high, but potentially hard-to-count. People I knew had to leave home, travel to Honiara and stay there for days/weeks to receive certain types of medical care. So while I don't dispute the overall findings, I think it would be great to get solid country-level data on this stuff to get a clear sense of who pays for NCDs. (The article used WHO calculations - do you know how these are derived? Presumably from HIES?) I do dispute the idea that physical activity is squarely a "personal choice". This brings to the fore the age-old 'structure-agency' debate. As you point out, social, environmental and cultural (and I would add economic) factors play a large role in shaping human behaviour. Some of these are powerful forces. For example, if a woman lives in a culture where it is frowned upon to engage in rigorous physical activity, and she endures social 'punishment' for doing so, does she really have a choice? Further, human brains have a present-bias: we are bad at making good decisions today for our future selves. I didn't exercise this morning because a warm bed was more enticing than a -3 degree morning. Every day I do this I make my future self less healthy. I have a very simple life, and I can't always muster up the energy to overcome this present bias even when I know it is bad for my future self. For people who have complicated lives, such as experiencing economic stress, systematic discrimination, overwhelming care-giving demands, etc. etc., it is hard to find the energy (or the time) to exercise. What kind of choice do they have? Ultimately, of course, people need to engage in more physical activity. While education/information is important, the knowledge-attitutes-behaviour behaviour change model implied here doesn't work that well. As you indicate in your conclusion, we need to build societies and communities that support and encourage physical activity of multiple sorts - making the healthy choice the easy choice. We also need to spend much more time addressing the socio-economic determinants of health: poverty, inequality and discrimination.

While all eyes are focused on Brazil, and the impeachment process, very little notices is taken of the plundering of Angola.

I'm 9% body fat, black belt in TKD, have 1000+ hours small arms experience, a photographic memory and I can fix electronics - and I don't remotely feel like I have the skills to survive in Port Moresby. The climate, diving and wildlife look amazing but it just isn't worth hiding behind barbed wire with guns hoping to not get dismembered. No doubt there are a lot of nice Melanesians but until "raskols" are dealt with, POM is never going to be livable.