Comments

The wonder Matt is that so many of the real development policies are not released on April 1 each year eg unpredictable aid support, lack of focus on the poor, funding to support donor country businesses, attempts to pretend that giving a tiny amount compared to need is really being very generous ... I don't think the day is long enough to cover everything.

Colin, This is a great article, thank you Colin. Your reflections are an excellent reminder to all those involved in aid work of the importance of applying lessons learned about good practice aid delivery. Vanuatu is applying the lessons learned from past experience about what works well: this is highly commendable and should be supported to be replicated more widely in emergency responses as well as long-term development practice. The application of lessons learned from past experience about what works well, contradicts the desire from many western donor countries for constant 'innovation.' It also appropriately challenges the desire of external players to be seen to be responsible for 'saving' lives in other countries, which can in effect sometimes undermine local sovereignty, leadership and ownership of the recovery process. Congratulations to the officials and communities of Vanuatu for their leadership and ownership of the response to Cyclone Pam and to those long-term development partners for supporting preparedness efforts. Colin's article is also terrific for its recognition and valuing, not just of local leadership but also use of local systems, knowledge, structures, values and capacity. When in-country responses are couched in understanding of these existing strengths, the longer term recovery process is likely to be much more relevant and therefore useful and sustainable. Thanks again Colin for an inspiring article.

Hi Alisa, At least three of the authors/speakers (I say "at least" because some publications, such as the Economist, while having female writers, don't attribute articles to individuals) we linked to above are women (Judith Thurman writing on languages; May Miller Dawkins on the SDGs; and Amanda Glassman). Beyond that: point taken and we will try and strive for something akin to gender balance. That said, the weekend links post is something we do quickly and for the purpose of sharing links we've found interesting. So it is hard to structure it too heavily around procedural goals. Thanks for your comment. Terence

Speaking of ineqality, I note that you only mention one female author in your list - and she's a co-author. While I certainly appreciate the challenge of finding female voices in the development space, and I while I would not suggest that you sacrifice the merit principle or create a tokenistic "women in economics" approach, perhaps this is something worth thinking about?

Hi Freddy, Thank you for pointing out the dismal state of PNG Power Limited. Privatisation could provide some relief but it will probably be a bandage solution to the root cause in governance and management. Many households in PNG are not economically stable to meet the often rigid expectations of private enterprises so privatisation will raise issues of affordability etc. Lastly, there's this issue of invoking 'state of emergency.' The current situation is a precedent. Partial privatisation will mean the Minister sharing the 'state of emergency' powers under the Essential Services Act with a corporate agency. Unless there's proper legislative guidelines, such partnership can easily lead to abuse by a Minister compelled by private interest. Regards, Bal

Thanks for this synopsis which I am sure will be of benefit to those who are still learning about Vanuatu. I hope it will provide a platform for you and others to share your thoughts and ideas about what policy makers in Vanuatu, Australia and elsewhere need to know and think about as we move from the humanitarian phase into recovery and rebuilding, not only of houses, schools and hospitals but also of livelihoods and the overall economy - I have yet to see where this thinking is being done or shared. The government of Vanuatu has mobilised a World Bank/UNDP team to work with them to conduct a Post Disaster Needs Assessment that will arrive at a dollar figure for government to present to a joint meeting of donors in a few weeks time. This will almost certainly create more questions than answers. I will be summarising my thoughts on this (so far) on this blog: www.tncpacificconsulting.com which I hope will become a platform for people to share local knowledge and thinking and aggregate ideas that can be drawn upon by policy makers in the future.

Hi Sonja, Thanks for your comment. I want to respond as one of the editors of this blog, We publish articles representing all points of view, as long as they are of a good standard. I would be surprised then if this article was full of errors as you claim. We also proofread all the articles we publish so I would also be surprised if there were lots of typos. At the same time, we always welcome feedback, and we would be very grateful if you could point out some of the errors you think the article contains, whether they are errors of substance of typos. This would also strengthen your argument. It is not convincing to say that the article if full of errors but not to give any examples. Regards, Stephen Howes.

Hi Bal, great observations and summary on the current state of affairs in the PNG political scene. we are definitely caught in a crossroad and a real test to our democracy and independence and impartiality of our judiciary, especially in the PM O'Neill case. Hopefully the high profile convictions of leaders will send a clear message to our leaders regarding corruption and mismanagement of taxpayers money meant for development purposes. On the other hand, the declaration of emergency on PPL looks suspicious but I certainly agree with the Minister that PPL need to be revitalized and partially privatized to provide better electricity services to Papua New Guineans including those in the rural areas. Right not its in complete chaos and does not function like an important state entity is supposed to function. cheers, freddy

Nothing to be gained by going against him? Have you not considered the fight for the rule of law by Sam Koim, Kauba, Eluh, Damaru, Gitua?

Thanks for your comments Deborah (I found them!). I have been collecting together some various thoughts about how best Vanuatu can be supported as we move from relief into recovery and rebuilding. You will find them here: www.tncpacificconsulting.com and I would invite you and others to contribute by way of comment and content to what I hope will be a forum where meaningful, practical and appropriate ideas can be canvassed and developed so that they are available to policy makers whether within Vanuatu or elsewhere.

Thank you for enjoying this #DevelopmentAprilFools: Devpolicy for being game, Owen for spreading the joke and Laurence for your generous comments. Alas, there has been no ruling requiring donors to cough up their unpaid aid, nor a ‘reverse HIPC’ to help them with their ‘moral creditworthiness’. Yet the blog does have a serious message--ODA over the last forty years has been just a fraction of the amount promised. As the world reviews progress on the MDGs and steps forwards into the SDG era, it is worth reflecting on what might have been achieved if the 0.7% target had been met, and what could be achieved if it is...

As a friend of Vanuatu over many years, I would like to support and echo your comments about resilience and community capacity to respond. Collectivism is a very deeply held value in Vanuatu (albeit sometimes tested in urban settings) and this enables people to share available resources and support each other in challenging times. It is inspiring to see that the thoughtful disaster preparedness plans made by Vanuatu communities and organisations, albeit highly tested by Pam's impact, are being applied in practice across the country. It is also good to hear hints of humility and respect for local leadership being shown by external contributors to Vanuatu's recovery, in this context, although it strikes me there is always room for more of this. There is clearly space for external support in the critical stages after an event such as Cyclone Pam: lessons learned from other disasters confirm the critical importance of supporting local leadership and other institutional and community capacity rather than supplanting it, even in the early stages. While material resources may well be appropriate in many cases, local networks, leadership and collectivist behaviour can also make big contributions to recovery in the longer term. For external contributors, it will be important to maintain (and perhaps temporarily boost, if requested) existing long-term partnerships, development programs and business-as-usual arrangements during the recovery process, despite the short-term challenges. It will also be strategically important for external players to consider what they can do to help prevent the recurrence of such major weather events which may be an effect of human-caused climate change!