Devpolicy news: Parliamentary aid committee | Crisis in Syria | Other events - Devpolicy Blog from the Development Policy Centre

A parliamentary committee on aid

There appeared to be strong bipartisan support for the idea of a new committee or subcommittee on aid in the previous Parliament. This Parliament should ensure that support is translated into action. The aid program may no longer be growing, but at $5 billion it is already more than twice the size it was a decade ago. Yet, unlike in comparable countries, parliamentary inquiries into aid are few and far between. Our new policy brief [pdf] by Ashlee Betteridge and Stephen Howes argues for a committee on aid to focus on existing aid program evaluations and reviews, which currently lack an audience. Read the summary of the brief on our blog here.

Update on Syria this Wednesday: Responding to the humanitarian challenge of a generation on the brink
Luciano Calestini, United Nations Children’s Fund
Wednesday 20 November @ 3.30pm
Miller Theatre, Level 1, Old Canberra House, Building 73, Lennox Crossing, ANU

The unfolding crisis in Syria has left more than eight million people displaced from their homes. Cut off from vital services, desperately in need of water, food and health care, today an entire generation of Syrians are teetering on the brink. How does the international community respond to such a crisis? Luciano Calestini, currently coordinating UNICEF’s humanitarian response in Lebanon where more than 800,000 refugees are struggling to survive, will provide us with a unique insight into the heart of one of the largest humanitarian crises the modern world has known. Register here.

Are the Asia and Pacific small states different from other small states?
Patrizia Tumbarello and Vivek Suri
Tuesday 19 November @ 12.30pm
Acton Theatre Level 1, JG Crawford Building 132, Lennox Crossing, ANU

The small states of the Asia and Pacific region face unique challenges in raising their growth potential and living standards relative to other small states due to their small populations, geographical isolation and dispersion, very narrow export and production bases, exposure to shocks, and heavy reliance on aid. Patrizia Tumbarello of the IMF will present on the IMF’s recent work on small states and Vivek Suri of the World Bank will be the discussant. Register here.

Economics of climate change in the Pacific
Xianbin Yao and Cyn-Young Park
Wednesday 27 November @ 2pm
Acton Theatre Level 1, JG Crawford Building 132, Lennox Crossing, ANU

The Pacific region is particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, which carry the risk of significant economic costs. In this public seminar, Xianbin Yao, Director General of the Pacific Department of the Asian Development Bank and Cyn-Young Park, Assistant Chief Economist and Director of the Economic Analysis and Operations Support Division in the Economics Research Department of the Asian Development Bank will present the ADB’s recent report on the economics of climate change in the Pacific’s key findings and discuss its implications. Register here.

Afghanistan: What has been achieved?
Mark Kryzer and Palwasha Kakar from The Asia Foundation, Senator Alan Eggleston, and Nematullah Bizhan ANU
Thursday 5 December @ 5.30pm
Brindabella Theatre Level 2, JG Crawford Building 132, Lennox Crossing, ANU

As troops withdraw and aid declines, this is a critical period of transition for Afghanistan. At this forum, we ask what has been achieved to date. We will launch The Asia Foundation’s Survey of the Afghan People 2013. We will also hear from the Chair of the Senate Committee which wrote the 2013 report Australian aid to Afghanistan. Register here.

Australian aid stakeholder survey launch
Thursday 12 December @ 5.30pm
Molonglo Theatre, Level 2, JG Crawford Building 132, Lennox Crossing, ANU

In July and August of 2013, we surveyed 356 stakeholders in the Australian aid program, from the senior executives of Australia’s biggest NGOs and development contracting companies, to the officials of multilateral, partner government and Australian government agencies. We asked them what they thought about the Australian aid program, what they liked, what they didn’t like, what they thought the future of aid was, what needed to be done to improve our aid.

And now the verdict is in. To find out what the experts think, come to the launch of the 2013 Australian aid stakeholder survey. It’s a unique exercise, with a distinctive set of results. More than a baseline for future improvements, it’s a stocktake on where Australian aid has got to, and a critical input into where it needs to go. Stephen Howes, Director of the Development Policy Centre will present the survey results. Marc Purcell, Executive Director of ACFID, and Mel Dunn, Director of the IDC Australia will discuss the results. Stephanie Copus-Campbell, CEO of the Harold Mitchell Foundation will chair proceedings. Register here.

2014 Australasian Aid and International Development Policy Workshop
13-14 February 2014
Australian National University

The aim of the workshop is to bring together researchers from across Australia, the Pacific and Asia who are working on aid and international development policy to share insights, promote collaboration, and help develop the research community. Registration for the workshop is available here.

Blog summary

You can find a summary of all posts since our last newsletter on November 1 in the list below.

Australian aid

Dismantling AusAID: taking a leaf out of the Canadian book? by Robin Davies.

What’s the future for Australia’s aid effectiveness? by Dinuk Jayasuriya.

A parliamentary committee on aid? Issues and options by Ashlee Betteridge and Stephen Howes.

More transparent, open and effective: Julie Bishop on Australian aid by Stephen Howes and Ashlee Betteridge.

Global development policy

He who pays the piper… by Bob Warner.

A Herculean task? By bob Warner.

Learning from disaster: why does food insecurity persist in post tsunami Aceh? by John McCarthy.

The Pacific and PNG