ODE evaluation forum: Australia Awards and aid performance
Join us for our first ODE evaluation forum for 2016 on April 20 (9.15am-12.30pm, Barton Theatre). This event will focus on the new annual report on Australian aid, the 2014-15 Performance of Australian Aid report, and the recent Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) Office of Development Effectiveness (ODE) report Building Women’s Leadership: the contribution of Australia Awards Scholarships. Full program now available. Register here.
Aid’s record 2014
Robin Davies has analysed the final OECD DAC numbers for aid flows in 2014, and found some fascinating trends in global aid, summarised in a series of three blogs (here, here and here) and a new policy brief [pdf]. Defying the odds, a new record for OECD DAC aid was set in 2014, with a 1.2% real increase on aid in 2013. Non-OECD aid increased by more than half, meaning that total aid to developing countries has increased by 20% over the last two years What aid is being spent on is also changing, with a growing share going to economic infrastructure, and a collapse in general budget support. Find out more by reading the brief!
NZ aid stakeholder survey launch
Last week, we launched our New Zealand aid stakeholder survey at Victoria University in Wellington, and also on the blog. Terence Wood and Camilla Burkot write that the results from the survey of 136 NZ aid stakeholders are mixed: most stakeholders thought the NZ aid program was effective, but saw some major problems – chief among them staff continuity and decision-making speed. Contractors were happier with the aid program than NGOs.
Download the full report and data here.
Aid budget breakfast 2016
Last year saw the biggest cuts ever to the Australian aid program. This year more than $200 million of aid is slated to be cut. How will the axe fall? How will the government manage the growing pressures on the aid program, whether from the humanitarian budget, PNG or climate change? And will the government use the budget to show it is serious about transparency? How much information will be released?
Find out all this and more the morning after budget from our usual expert panel, on Wednesday 4 May (9am-10.30am, Molonglo Theatre). Registrations for our 2016 aid budget breakfast are now open.
PNG budget woes
Our blog provides the latest macroeconomic updates on Papua New Guinea. Paul Flanagan writes on the collapse in revenue last year, and Stephen Howes unpacks the difficult fiscal situation this year. Also see Rohan Fox’s analysis of and predictions for the Kina’s depreciation.
UPNG positions
We’re advertising again for positions under our partnership with the University of Papua New Guinea. This time we’re looking for Associate Lecturers for a mid-year start. You’ll be employed by ANU, but living in Port Moresby, working at UPNG. We’re looking for someone with a strong Honours or Masters in economics and public policy who wants to be part of this exciting project. Details here.
Staff comings and goings
From today, we say a temporary goodbye to Macarena Rojas, who is heading off on maternity leave. We wish Maca and her husband Matthew all the best with their new arrival!
We are pleased to welcome Husnia Hushang, who has joined us to work as our Program Officer while Maca is on leave. This week we have also welcomed Tara Davda, who will be a Research Officer, focusing on our PNG health and education expenditure case-studies project.
And we’d also like to thank Vu Son, who has been working with us as a short-term Research Officer, and who will finish up next week.
Upcoming events
2016 aid budget breakfast
Wednesday 4 May, 9am, Molonglo Theatre. Register here.
2016 PNG Update
16-17 June, University of Papua New Guinea, Port Moresby. Details here.
2016 Pacific Update
18-19 July, University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji. Details here.
Blog highlights
Water and survival in PNG’s settlements
Paying bribes to go to school
‘Breadwinners’ and light sentences for GBV
On the blog
PNG’s fiscal woes: where has all the money gone? By Stephen Howes
Aid’s new contours: the uses of aid by Robin Davies
Water, the urban age and the SDGs: reflections on Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea by Michelle Nayahamui Rooney
Aid’s new contours: the distribution of aid to countries and organisations by Robin Davies
PNG’s frightening final budget outcome by Paul Flanagan
Aid’s new contours: who gave and who got in 2014 by Robin Davies
A mixed review for New Zealand aid: the 2015 stakeholder survey by Terence Wood and Camilla Burkot
What will the kina exchange rate be one year from now? By Rohan Fox
When free education isn’t free: creeping corruption in PNG education by Rebecca Robinson
In brief
Fortnightly links: UN woes, Latin American democracy, global health, migration and more…
Stereotypes reducing sentences for gender violence in Pacific courts
This is the fortnightly newsletter of the Development Policy Centre at Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University, published every second Friday.
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