Devpolicy news: Afghanistan | Stakeholder survey launch | Africa and the Pacific - Devpolicy Blog from the Development Policy Centre

Afghanistan: what has been achieved?

Mark Kryzer and Palwasha Kakar from The Asia Foundation, Senator Alan Eggleston, and Nematullah Bizhan from ANU
Thursday 5 December @ 5.30pm
Acton Theatre Level 1, 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 that wrote the 2013 report on 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 the proceedings. Register here.

Aid dependency and economic reform: Africa and the Pacific

On November 14, former World Bank Vice President Jim Adams delivered the 2013 Harold Mitchell Development Policy lecture at the Development Policy Centre. Arguing that economic reform in Africa has had tremendous payoffs for development in that region, he set out lessons for the Pacific and its donors. A blog post and full transcript of the speech are now available. Jim also spoke to Radio Australia’s Pacific Beat program.

You can download a podcast of Jim’s talk through Feedburner or iTunes. We also have the podcast up from our recent event on the Asia and Pacific small states. Podcasts from our Syria and climate change economics in the Pacific events will be uploaded shortly.

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

The aim of this 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 18 in the list below.

Australian aid

Fifty years of ACFID – looking back, looking forward by Patrick Kilby

Towards making strategy, not structure, the story: the case for a foreign affairs white paper by Benjamin Day

To stop AIDS, Australia must stand up for human rights by Midnight Poonkasetwattana

Global development policy

Why the global investment framework for women’s and children’s health is important to Australia and its neighbours by Flavia Bustreo, Jane Thomason and Ian Anderson

The end of the Golden Age of NGOs? by Chris Roche and Andrew Hewett

The end of the Golden Age of NGOs? Part 2 by Chris Roche and Andrew Hewett

Thinking about aid’s organisation by Joanna Spratt

The Pacific & PNG