Comments

Thanks Graham for this post which I found thought provoking and which I am sure will prompt numerous comments. I agree with you that a 'more of the same' approach is not what is needed in this context (if indeed it is needed in any context) and also, as someone put it to me very succinctly the other day, 'the state is not the main game in town'. However, further to Terence Woods post on Making Bureaucracies Work and discussion following, it seems to me that what is missing from this analysis is a recognition that state mechanisms can indeed be supported (by identifying and supporting normative champions who can then develop normative communities around them) through flexible, agile and nuanced activities grounded in meaningful relationships as nurtured over time - surely this is the key to 'building on what's there'.

These are interesting findings, and deserve to be taken seriously. I wonder if it would be useful for PICs to consider internationalising some of their internal positions - sharing key personnel by either time-sharing, as Tess notes above, or the establishment of transnational institutions that could house this technical expertise. This would entail a loss of sovereignty and is unlikely to be taken lightly, but could be worth the gains.

The main small-country reason why PICs don’t manage their public finances the way outside observers think they should, is that in PICs the political governments are so close to the management action and so prone to intervene. Passage of an annual budget through parliament is commonly a near-meaningless formality. What matters is the daily flow of formal and informal, recorded and unrecorded directions to finance officials from the PM, the Finance Minister and persons close to them. The usually unspoken context is ‘Do it this way or you’ll be sorry—good financial management means doing whatever we have to do to stay in office’. MPs are silenced by pay-offs that help them to get re-elected. Donors are afraid to criticise in case they lose their place in the inner circle of ‘high-level consultations’. Something like this happens in bigger countries too, but there the effects are not so immediate or pervasive, and improper pressures are more likely to be exposed. What PICs need is a way of electing political governments that understand, believe in and will practice good financial management. Anyone who knows how we can do this, please share the secret. Tony Hughes

Thank you Tobias, David & Dinuk for this extremely cogent post. The points you make are extremely pertinent and apply in a number of areas of development in our region. Interestingly, in some fields the capacity constraints you have highlighted appear to have been acknowledged and accommodated in policy decisions and donor support - e.g. specialist medical teams who spend periods in Pacific island countries, or a visiting Court of Appeal. I particularly support the point you make about providing capacity support within line agencies to enhance service delivery and for me this is the big message here. It aligns with one of the concerns raised in the recent review of AusAID work in relation to law and justice - that the implementation of 'capacity building' exercises led to the beneficiaries being those whose capacity was being built and not those who sought to access law and justice services. Capacity support - in whatever form it takes - needs to have as its starting point and end point (and assorted reference points along the way) how it is going to (better) deliver what people need.

My family and I live in the Gulf province and what you say is very true, unfortunately. As a registered nurse I have a clinic, Kunai Health Centre, near Kotidanga. We provide all medical services to about 1000 per month. Frequently we work with the CHWs to provide a continuum of care, and we at times help supply the government aid posts as well. We are a church agency (Baptist). I am open to suggestions on how to "fix" this situation. So very sad for those who live in Gulf Province.

Talking about illegal... I have worked for Anna on an orchard picking cherries and me and several (almost 100!!!) other backpackers have still not been paid! We worked for her over 5 weeks ago and tried everything from calling texting and emails but no response...

Hi Paul, Thanks for an interesting comment. Just a couple of quick thoughts in response. I agree with you about the need for aid transparency and think that aid doors could do more to educate publics in recipient countries as to how much money their governments receive (I even wrote a blog post on this on this site a couple of years back.). It's more or less true that PNG would be a better place with more trade (more or less because some forms of trade - the arms trade; logging - aren't beneficial) but the trouble is the country simply isn't at a level of development where more (good) trade is an easy ask. Plausibly aid has a role to play in helping overcome this. Even if it doesn't, other than a slight possibility of Dutch Disease, there is no good reason to think that aid impedes PNG's very wobbly path towards pro-poor export industries. I'd like to see the OECD countries give more aid, but definitely agree with you that quality is of critical importance. Thanks again Terence

Thanks Dimitri, I guess the Greek case shows that conditionalities (assuming they are the right conditionalities) are another tool donors have to promote reform. However: 1. My reading of the research on aid conditionality is that it often isn't very successful in prompting reform except when the recipient is on the edge of crisis (the Greek situation). And yet unfortunately times of crisis are often the worst times to try and reform for other reasons (while there's a good case to be made for trying to trim Greece's civil service, the last thing Greece needs right now is more unemployed people. 2. Even when conditionality might be a tool which we can use to bring about high level change it probably lacks the reach to bring about low level change (to organisational culture, for example). That being said, while it's track record isn't great, and while there are limits to what it can do, it is worth mentioning as a potential tool. Thanks for raising it. Terence

Terence, a wonderful article, especially after having spent the past four months living in Bosnia where the public service in dire need of reform. What is your take on a country such as Greece, whose recent bailout packages (aid) have been conditional to it's own (painful) institutional reform? Greece seems to be the exception rather than the norm (at least in Europe) as far as the conditionality of aid is concerned. Again, thanks for a wonderful read.

Its a great chance for a great change if the president of World Bank falls to Sri Mulyani. Her integrity is undoubtable. with her personality, leaderships, knowledge/skills and experiences I believe she would be very fitting for this position. It would also importantly change the image of the World Bank.

Hi Terence, thank you for your response and I appreciate the time you have taken out of your studies. I draw on nearly 40 years experience as a former bureaucrat in a number of departments and service in areas like PNG and Cocos Is. I have endeavoured to keep up to date with events in PNG and to a lesser extent in the Pacific. The essence of the problem is I suggest, its complexity but it is also essentially one of culture. That very aspect provides a rather grey and obfuscated vision and can allow those who wish to excuse sub optimal performance, an ideal environment to escape close scrutiny and clear responsibility. In his book, 'Minnows of Triton', former AFP Assistant Commissioner John Murray expounds of his first hand experience over many years of dealing with fluid Pacific concepts of malfeasance, law and order and accountability. There is a responsibility to the Australian taxpayers to spend our overseas aid in the most expeditious and effective manner. I suggest that even if the general public are blissfully unaware of the practicalities and relevant detailed information, the accountability and responsibility of aid workers and departmental staff are in no way lessened from the standards used in Australian operations. There is one more aspect that should be actively considered in the aid equation. Whenever we supply aid and support, we provide an excuse to the government we provide aid to, to spend their revenue in other areas. This is the harsh reality and it behoves all aid programs to then be absolutely transparent and ancillary to the local programs. It is reported that some 'developing' nations elsewhere are pleased to have large numbers of very poor people as an incentive to illicit continuing aid money. As one educated PNG person said some time ago: 'We need less aid and more trade!' Are we in danger of not listening or being subject to industrial deafness? Don't get me wrong. I support Australia's aid program. I just want to see the program better perform and achieve results, not just ever increasing expenditure figures that provide an excuse for some to quote how much we are doing without ever actually working at the coal face. Best wishes with your studies, Paul

Teaching and learning improvements cannot take place without appreciating the governance issues. For example USP Suva, Fiji is wasting a lot of money provided by donar agencies including Ausaid. You really feel sad seeing that this money is not reaching to needy people; instead greedy people at top are caring and sharing through corruption.