British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has invited Australia, along with India and South Korea, to attend this year’s prestigious Group of Seven Leaders’ Summit in June. This is a rare opportunity for Australia to contribute to policy discussions with the largest advanced economies in the world...
Category - Global aid issues
Is aid neo-colonial?
Long ago, in a country many miles from where I currently sit, I worked on an aid project. It has stuck with me over the years: a suite of lessons about what can go wrong with aid. Some of the problems were huge. Some were more human in scale. The person I reported to, for example. He was energetic...
The impact of COVID-19 on foreign aid
Across the Global South, the COVID-19 pandemic has reversed years of socioeconomic progress, disproportionally harming poor people. Low- and lower-middle-income countries in particular are struggling more than ever to find the resources to support their citizens’ health and wellbeing at this time...
Unwanted sexual behaviour in the workplace: an aid worker’s story
Content warning: This post discusses sexual assault. The strength and bravery of Brittany Higgins telling her story over the past weeks has triggered a lot of women to speak up about sexual assault, harassment and inappropriate behaviour in the workplace. I have a very small story to tell by...
Not only COVID-19: public-private partnerships delivering new...
World Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD) Day was marked on 30 January. Each year on this day, global...
How to communicate effectively in a crisis
Effective communication is an essential component of crisis response. I have seen it through my...
Managing crisis: the political/civil service divide
Politicians and civil servants think about public policy differently. This may be obvious to many...
Leftovers from our first Memorandum of Understanding
If an assessment team was to use standard evaluation criteria to assess my performance in preparing...
Public policy in a crisis: three lessons from Ecuador’s...
During my time as Minister of Planning and Development in Ecuador and as Acting Vice President, one...
What is the future of work in agri-food?
Up to 80 percent of the labour force in low-income countries works in agri-food, mostly on the farm...