2016 Australasian Aid Conference call for papers
We’re lining up a stellar cast for the February 10-11 2016 Australasian Aid Conference. Keynotes confirmed to date include: Dr Peter Varghese, WRI Europe Director Kitty van der Heijden, and former aid Parl Sec Bob McMullan. We also have confirmed international plenaries on the Paris climate change conference, and on Asian perspectives on the SDGs.
Our call for papers will be closing on 30 October. You can find more details here. This is your great opportunity to present and get feedback on your latest aid and international development research. With 300 participants this year, the conference has become the region’s leading gathering for aid and development practitioners and analysts.
Registration is also open, with early bird pricing until 10 November.
ANZ aid stakeholder survey: thank you
We’ve now closed our 2015 Australia and New Zealand stakeholder survey. We smashed our 2013 participation numbers. This time we had 461 responses on Australian aid, compared to 356 in 2013. We also had 136 responses on New Zealand aid, which we didn’t look at in 2013. Thanks so much to everyone who took the time to respond. Results will be released at the 2016 Australasian Aid Conference.
PNG gender parity symposium + higher ed lecture
On Monday (12 October) lunchtime, PNG’s Minister for Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology, Malakai Tabar, will be lecturing on higher education reforms in PNG. On Tuesday (13 October) lunchtime, we have a panel on gender parity in PNG on with a fantastic range of speakers, bringing together the public and private sectors. The events are part of the PNG gender parity symposium, which will also be visiting Sydney and Brisbane. More details here.
More on the SDGs: Best avoided? Beyoncé?
Our discussion on the SDGs has continued on the blog. Philipp Krause of ODI rains on the SDG party, argues that poor countries should avoid them, and the “new set of measurement frameworks, assessments, strategies and plans” that will inevitably accompany them. Ashlee Betteridge invokes Beyoncé to argue that SDG5 on gender is “feminist but not flawless”. Also check out the cinema ad promoting the SDGs, and give your view as to whether it is cute or useless.
If you missed the discussion at our event last week, on a new ODI report on whether the SDGs will be achieved on the basis of past trends, the podcast is now available.
Aiding women candidates in Solomon Islands: time for a new approach
Solomon Islands is one of the world’s worst performers when it comes to women in parliament. Since independence there has never been more than one woman MP in its parliament at any one time, and for long periods of time there have been none.
In a new paper [pdf] in Asia & the Pacific Policy Studies, Devpolicy Research Fellow Terence Wood shows that despite a steady increase in the number of women candidates, on average, they are not becoming more competitive. And aid efforts to train women candidates and to educate voters do not appear to be helping. Instead, Terence argues in the paper, donors should help women candidates gain reputations as people who can be trusted to provide material assistance to their constituents, for example, by targeting potential women leaders in community development work.
Read a blog post summarising Terence’s paper here.
ANU-UPNG jobs in Moresby and Canberra
We now have the full complement of positions being hired under our ANU-UPNG partnership out in the market. Four ANU academics will be hired to be based at UPNG, to engage in teaching, research and outreach alongside UPNG colleagues in the fields of economics and public policy. Four other research and managerial positions are available based either in Canberra or Port Moresby. See this link for details. Applications close 22 October. Also, the call for papers for the 2016 PNG Update on June 15-17 at UPNG in Port Moresby is now open.
Careers in development
On October 20 (5.30pm – 6.30pm), we are hosting our second Careers in Development event, in conjunction with the ANU Aid and Development Learning Community. We’ve got some terrific speakers lined up, with experience in government, NGOs big and small, the private sector, and as volunteers. For those looking to get into the sector, there will be plenty of opportunity to ask your burning career questions. Register here.
Upcoming events
Higher education issues and reform in Papua New Guinea
Monday 12 October, 12.30 – 1.30pm, Barton Theatre. Register here.
PNG: Pathways to gender parity
Tuesday 13 October, 12 – 1.30pm, Barton Theatre. Register here.
Careers in development
Tuesday 20 October, 5.30pm – 6.30pm, Manning Clarke T3. Register here.
2016 Australasian Aid Conference
10-11 February 2016. Call for papers and registrations now open. Details here.
Blog highlights
Paul Flanagan on PNG’s supplementary budget and macro policy
Polio eradication takes a cut
Emergency medical care in poor countries
On the blog
Polio eradication, routine immunisation and severe cuts to our meagre aid budget by Barbara McPake and Peter Leslie Annear
The six billion kina answer by Graeme Smith
The emergence of emergency care by Belinda Lawton
The SDGs, gender and Beyoncé: feminist, but not flawless by Ashlee Betteridge
PNG supplementary budget – too much, too late? By Paul Flanagan
Why poor countries should try to avoid the SDGs by Philipp Krause
PNG September monetary policy statement: a quick assessment by Paul Flanagan
The Moresby forum: a reframed pacific regionalism? By Matthew Dornan and Tess Newton Cain
Aiding women candidates in Solomon Islands elections by Terence Wood
In brief
Fortnightly links: covering war and escaping it, the white man effect, and more…
Easterly on the SDGs: utopian and worthless
PNG gender parity symposium: Canberra, Sydney, Brisbane
ANU-UPNG jobs in economics and public policy ** updated **
This is the fortnightly newsletter of the Development Policy Centre at Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University, published every second Friday.
