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Thanks for your comment and letting us know--we will see if we can track them down and fix. As this post is several years old it is very likely that the documents may have been moved by their respective hosts. Best, Ashlee.

I recently attended a Healthy Island training of trainers (TOT) in a district to get the TOT participants into helping village people to do their own ward planning so that it provides a direction in development at the community level where people are. However when asked if the LLG and District have the LLG and District plan, there was no such thing in the district. The CEO of the District and even the CEO of the LLG was nowhere to be seen in the district. This also meant that there was no work in the district as the CEO of the District has a new office and is living and working in the Provincial headquarters. To make the matter worse, the District was made a DDA not less than six months ago and most work and development should be happening in the district by now. There was no district and LLG plans in which a ward plan could be linked to. People nowadays are not stupid to ask how their plan will be linked up if their LLG and district does not have their plans. DDA is an opportunity for development where 90% of the population lives but it seems public servants are taking this as an opportunity to be away from their districts to perform other duties and on weekly allowances. I think a very bad precedent is being set here. Coming from a sector in which we advocate for better living and development at the community level and are always working closely with communities, l find it difficult to explain to people about such weaknesses and how they can overcome them. It is not easy when weakness hinders progress when people are at it. DDA is supposed to begin with capacity building to equip the district with skilled people, their place to work and to progress the development where it matters most. However, if the district is not prepared for that and cannot prepare to change to enhance DDA, than how do we expect DDA to work at the district level. And importantly, those of us trying to improve villages for a healthier and more prosperous life, how do we come into play? It is not easy to explain when people who do not know how they can make change are in such a position and if they cannot rally to make changes. Aggression in development should come about now. Every district needs people who have the vision to do so to take up these posts to make moves to change their district, so that some form of development takes place.

Hey! Great article; just a side note that several of your links are broken and the PDFs you referred to can't be tracked down.

It is an excellent realistic projection albeit disappointing, Chris. The aggregated picture of the projected achievements and performance by 2030 is not encouraging but disaggregated description suggests that the mutual learning and contextual understanding will likely to improve the performance and achievements of SDGs. The developed world has its own limitations to push for the SDGs but the countries like China and India or more precisely BRICS may give a big push in achieving SDGs by 2030. They are preparing themselves for such a push. The establishment of AIIB and a BRICS Development Bank are the right steps. Obviously, the global community and regional dispensations will show their sincere commitment towards the realisation of SDGs by 2030. The problem however will be with national governments which are practically held hostage by nexus in the developing countries. Both the ruling and counter elite in these countries therefore are very enthusiastic to hail and immediately endorse any meaningful proposal like the SDGs and proclaim to realise these goals but they very intelligently sabotage their achievement at the operational level due to their vested interest. The elite behaviour in these countries thus will determine the performance of the SDGs. The findings of the Ground Level Panel as five take aways are very important in this regard as advised by Anusha. However, the organisations which proclaim to be the voice of the voiceless and vulnerable sections of the society must also be under scanner for their vested interest and motives otherwise the realisation of the SDGs by 2030 will again remain an aspiration instead of reality.

It is all very well to be starry eyed in Canbera about aid. You have to wonder about the billion dollar black hole in our economy and how it was allowed to get there. This mass migration of people fleeing their homelands should draw attention to the lack of effectiveness of our aid and NGO programs in keeping people in their homes. Australia needs significant infrastructure upgrades to strengthen our economy through efficient transportation. If you don't want to hear this take a long drive around and through the desert and register the gaps that need to be plugged especially at a time when we are about to increase the level of migrant and refugee intakes. This a small country that has needed leadership to recognise that there is a demand for technology savvy people who are capable of building productive and intellectual strength into the backbone of the economy. We need to show how innovative solutions will help gain lost ground. There are clever people out there in rural Australia and we need more of them there rather than have them glued to their comfortable chairs and their eyes glassing over at computer screens in capital cities.

Great selection, as usual, but I would be pretty wary of claims that islands are being flooded due to climate change. The article you cite has I think one mention of seismic activity, and a subtle suggestion that it might be implicated in the inundation, but surely that is probably be the main reason to date. Not to say that climate change isn't a problem, but this sort of journalism is more advocacy than analysis.

Hi Peter Thanks and very important principles and points that apply to 'development' generally. I would make two observations. The first is the need to recognise, for better or worse, the central role of 'recipient governments' and local-level government implementers'. There are no shortcuts - and parallel programs without government involvement and support don't work. The second is that, notwithstanding all the rhetoric, in my experience 'donors' including Australia are becoming more "interventionist" (in the way Tess Lea uses the term in Bueaucrats and Bleeding Hearts) I.e. Less not more prepared to build local capacity, partnerships, alliances etc. I am thinking especially of PNG and Pacific, but it is not confined to this region/these countries

A Ground-Level Panel of #marginalised and #excluded groups in #India noted the gaps in the #SDGs and noted that business as usual approach would not bring any change in their situation. They demanded deliberate attempt to ensure #accountability #participation of communities #governmentapathy if anything were to change. More details <a href="http://bit.ly/1KcjZCo" rel="nofollow">here</a>.

Agree with you sentiment and arguments Chris, but matching remittances by sender-recipient would mean such anti-poverty transfers are then less targeted because those families with access to labour mobility schemes (or migration more generally) are less likely to be those with the lowest incomes. Cash transfers indeed have great potential in the Pacific, particularly given the penetration of mobile banking and the like.

In regards to point 2 what about the government offering to match dollar for dollar certain types of remittances? This would have the same benefit as point 3 i.e. People spending money on what they think has most merit. Furthermore it would reduce costs normally associated with program design etc. and therefore provide better 'value for Money'. Recent research on cash transfers suggests this could make a real difference.

Some interesting proposal which I am hopeful will work for the Pacific people. These are simple solutions that have been overlooked by policy makers over the years. Jonah

Particularly interested in #9 - what exactly would an "economic development initiative" entail?