Newsletter: Aid budget | Rosie Batty in PNG | Opinions on Australian aid

21 April 2017

 Aid budget proposals and analysis

After several rounds of large cuts, the 2017-18 federal budget is likely to be the first to see an increase, albeit a modest one. Bob McMullan and Robin Davies analyse recent trends in allocation and propose allocation priorities for 2017 and beyond. Read their blog here, and policy brief here.

Meanwhile, Australia’s OCED donor ranking has fallen, but NGO donations have increased. The Australian Aid Tracker has been updated to reflect all the latest data.

To find out more about the 2017 aid budget, join us on Wednesday May 10 at 9am for the Development Policy Centre’s annual budget breakfast. Details on the event here. Register your interest here.

Rosie Batty in PNG

Rosie Batty, 2015 Australian of the Year and prominent anti-violence campaigner, will visit Papua New Guinea from 24 to 28 April 2017. You can read more about Rosie’s visit here, including lectures at both UPNG and Unitech and dinners in both Lae and Port Moresby.

Meanwhile, a reminder that the call for papers for the 2017 PNG Update has been issued, with the deadline for submission of abstracts Friday 28th April, 2017. Finally, we are inviting applications for two Port Moresby based positions (supported by Australian aid) lecturing in economics and public policy at the University of Papua New Guinea.

Seeking: your opinions on Australian aid

In 2016, we placed a set of questions about aid in a large public opinion survey, the Australian Survey of Social Attitudes (AuSSA). We’re now interested in comparing what the general public told us with what members of the Australian aid and development community think. To help us with this, please fill out the survey if you currently or previously worked in aid, or are a volunteer, academic or student working on international development issues. The survey is targeted specifically at those involved with Australian aid, though not limited to those who are based in Australia. It will only take about 5 minutes to complete.

Coping with high risk and uncertainty in aid policy design and practice – Adam Fforde

On Wednesday April 26 at 12.30pm, the Development Policy Centre will host a public seminar by Professor Adam Fforde on risk and uncertainty in development practice. Read about the event here, and register here.

Upcoming events

Coping with high risk and uncertainty in aid policy design and practice – Adam Fforde
12.30 – 1.30pm, Wednesday 26 April, Seminar Room 7, Level 2, JG Crawford Building 132, Lennox Crossing, ANU. Details here.

Aid Budget Breakfast
9 – 10.30am, Wednesday 10 May, Molonglo Theatre, Crawford School, ANU. Details here.

Why forests? Why now? The science, economics, and politics of tropical forests and climate change – Jonah Busch
2 – 3.30pm, Tuesday 16 May, Acton Theatre, Crawford School, ANU. Details here.

2017 Pacific Update
20 – 21 June, The University of the South Pacific (USP), Suva, Fiji. Details here.

2017 PNG Update
10 – 11 August, The University of Papua New Guinea, Waigani Campus, Port Moresby. Details here.

Blog highlights

Holding non-citizen aid advisors to account

The surprising effect of anti-corruption messaging

Lessons from fragile states

On the blog

Five easy pieces, and five more demanding: allocation priorities for Australia’s 2017 aid budget by Bob McMullan and Robin Davies

Do anticorruption messages work? Findings so far and what they could mean for Papua New Guinea by Caryn Peiffer

Why does state fragility matter, and what can we do about it? By Nematullah Bizhan

Aid advisers in Papua New Guinea: a partial solution by Carmen Voigt-Graf, Joachim Luma and Michael Anderson

Good news for (most) of Australia’s aid NGOs by Terence Wood

Migration and labour mobility in submissions to the Foreign Policy White Paper by Henry Sherrell

Australia’s foreign aid dilemma by Jack Corbett

Outsourced labour: international surrogacy and women’s rights by Ashlee Betteridge

In brief

Fortnightly links: Zuckerberg, UNFPA, life expectancy, and Global Fund

What’s your opinion about Australian aid?

Lecture in the Land of the Unexpected: ANU positions based at the University of Papua New Guinea

Snakes and ladders: Australia fades in the 2016 aid stakes

This is the fortnightly newsletter of the Development Policy Centre at Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University, published every second Friday.

Leave a comment