Comments

Could it be a co-incidence that this story was beaten up just before the Pacific Islands Forum, where Australia will face expressions of concern over recent cuts to ODA and meagre contribution to the Green Climate Fund?

Vini, Many thanks for that detailed response. It's hard to learn what is happening from the newspapers reports. Good to see you are working with NDC. Best wishes, Bryant

The other set of policies countries can pursue are those that ensure contraception is easily available to all women who wish to use it: and, generally, more women wish to use contraception than can get it. There is a blog in this. But for now, there are some useful cost-benefit analyses in <a href="http://www.familyplanning.org.nz/media/124184/research-investment-in-family-planning-kiribati-2014.pdf" rel="nofollow">Kiribati</a> [pdf], and <a href="http://www.familyplanning.org.nz/media/124187/research-cost-benefit-analyses-solomon-islands-vanuatu-2013.pdf" rel="nofollow">Solomon Islands and Vanuatu</a> [pdf]. These show what can be saved in health and education costs by investing in contraception, as well as the health benefits for women and their children.

Thanks Garth, And an important point: most Australian taxpayers seem to share your sentiment too -- https://devpolicy.org/in-brief/australians-support-aid-prefer-humanitarian-focus-anu-poll-20140904/ cheers Terence

Thanks Margaret, Our former colleague Jono has a great take down of the Australian's 'reportage' on <a href="http://www.lowyinterpreter.org/post/2015/08/26/Chronic-fraud-in-Australias-aid-program-Think-again.aspx" rel="nofollow">the Lowy Interpreter blog</a> too. And, beyond the world of aid, Michael Specter offers a <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/planned-parenthood-means-fewer-abortions" rel="nofollow">good defence</a> of Planned Parenthood at the New Yorker.

I agree with so much of what Richard says here. Except for the bit about "NGOs and the left of Australian politics do not want to talk about how aid delivers substantial national interest benefits and many on the right assume those benefits don’t exist. That leaves a tiny constituency for sensible policy making." The national interest benefits are less clear than he asserts given the tenuous links between aid expenditure and security, trade and people movements. However more importantly, giving national interest a high priority in our aid program makes it likely that the program will be shaped to meet our priorities rather than the pressing needs of the poorest people. Why can't we be altruistic with 1 to 2% our nation's budget?

Richard, so glad to read your balanced analysis and response to that flimsy bit of populist journalism.

Thanks Terence for checking the facts and countering this misleading and deceptive comment from Ms Devine. I suspect there's currently a campaign by conservative commentators to try to destroy the credibility of what little is left of Australia's aid program. Monday's Australian had a front page article on Fraud in AusAID which was similarly grossly misleading. I refer Devpolicy readers to Richard Moore's <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/comment/the-australian-aid-fraud-beatup-20150825-gj76zh.html" rel="nofollow">comprehensive repost</a> in today's Fairfax press.

Thanks Grant for your blog. Most of us who have worked for a significant time around civil society in the developing world, and donor attempts to sponsor civil society, become aware of the inherent contradictions, and your exploration of the different theoretical approaches to civil society – e.g. Gramsci v. De Tocqueville, give us useful food for thought around these issues. To me, the ‘non-partisanship’ of groups like Transparency International was always an expedient operational approach and a useful guide to practice, rather than a deep-seated philosophical position. Of course, nothing upsets the existing balance of power within a given society than ‘fighting corruption’, unless the fight is completely ineffectual, and thus it is an essentially ‘political’ fight in the ‘big P’ sense, and not the petty grasp for power by individuals in the ‘small p’ sense. In my view, TI is clearly trying to expressly distance itself from the latter, whilst quietly associating itself with the former. TI also tries to avoid the most heated partisan fights by trying to take the long-view (no naming and shaming!), and thus keeping their hands relatively clean. I don’t think this renders either the work of TI or donor support of TI fundamentally flawed or contradictory, but it’s definitely sensitive territory and needs to be approached with context awareness and nuanced scholarly understanding – two things which are not always in plentiful supply. But there’s another connected point that I’d be interested in your views upon – that is, the alien nature of civil society in a largely non-industrial and subsistence-based society. As we know, part of the under-performance problem of civil society in a country like PNG is that the civil society groups that look most like de Tocqueville’s version are mostly urban-based, donor-sponsored and struggle to connect to the rural masses, and most scholars would agree that without the complexity and scale that comes with mass industrial society, civil society as we know it isn’t possible. To get to the point, do you think civil society exists in the rural villages of Papua New Guinea? Or is it a social phenomenon that can only exist within large-scale, inter-connected, industrialized, urban societies?

Hi Bryant, Thank you for bringing up this discussion on the ANU Policy Blog. I do agree with you that the impact of El Nino on food production in PNG is quite worrying. I also like the analysis that you have provided on food and water shortages around PNG including the history of similar events over many decades. Compared to the response of 1997-98 drought and frost, the Government of PNG is more aware of its roles and responsibilities in this situation this time around. The print and social media have done well in highlighting the impacts to the rest of PNG and the authorities. Using this information together with assessments by various provincial authorities, the PNG National Disaster Centre was able to target its ground- based assessments. Thanks to the work of people like yourself and Mike Bourke, we are learning from the lessons of 1997-98 and putting in place better strategies to address the impacts of El Nino on the local communities. We do acknowledge that there may be gaps in the current response but at least we are more aware of what to expect and how as a responsible Government can address the situation. We have already reached out to the development partners including the Government of Australia for specific assistance but the biggest part of the response will be handled by Papua New Guinea government sectors this time around. To give a bit more insight to the Government’s response, we have already deployed an assessment team to the highlands region while the next two teams to the Momase and New Guinea Islands regions will be deployed by end of this week. Those teams comprise of trained people in health, agriculture, protection, nutrition education, logistics and WASH. NARI is represented in all the teams. So a rapid assessment of the situation is currently taking place. This is accompanied by initial relief assistance especially to areas affected by frost. Based on the assessment reports, we will be able to have a more targeted response. Detail sector assessments will be carried over the course of the El Nino period to allow the Government to monitor the situation and response accordingly. We are confident of our efforts this time but acknowledge that we still need the support of our bilateral and development partners. Every El Nino event has its own lessons and we are grateful for those of the 1997-98 event that people like yourself have documented well. In fact, I am using your publications as reference materials in supporting the Government’s efforts. Vini Talai, PNG National Disaster Centre

Very well written article, highlighting challenges in educating brickfield owners to practice producing "Green Bricks". Excellent introduction of Fly Ash bricks! I would like to add that in order to achieve "Green Bricks" status, advance design kilns and use of new materials for bricks must also use "Green Coal" with high heat value, low ash and low sulfur. You can find a write up on RCI GREEN AND CLEAN COAL <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/rci-green-clean-coal-wilson-chin?trk=mp-reader-card" rel="nofollow">here</a>.

I have reviewed the blog comments on my presentation on capacity building and have a range of reactions and further comments. Steve Pollard makes the valid point that I focused largely on supply side changes. I agree fully donors need to do a better job of listening to borrower interests and priorities. He also notes some solid work that ADB has done on capacity building. Richard Tate takes me to task for what he sees as my bias in favor of the private sector. He lists a number of the major failures of the private sector in the Pacific and was clearly of the view that the private sector cannot play the positive role suggested in my talk. I have two reactions to this in terms of bringing about broad development progress in the Pacific. First, I do believe a vibrant and dynamic private sector is central to broad development progress in the Pacific. In my view only the private sector has the capacity to mobilize the resources and generate the employment opportunities that are key to progress there. Second, while I fully recognize there can be private sector failures, I would argue that the strengthening of government institutions and capacity, the central focus of my talk, is precisely how these failures can be best addressed and, over time, avoided. Effective and efficient governments are also key to progress in the Pacific. Finally, Jo Spratt correctly points out that practice seems to lag behind the knowledge that has been generated and makes the key point that capacity development cannot be limited to a review of TA and training. A useful list of areas for further work is also suggested.