Timor-Leste and the New Deal for Engagement in Fragile States
Emilia Pires, Minister of Finance, Timor-Leste
Harold Mitchell, AC, Chairman, Aegis Media, Australia and New Zealand
Hosted by Ian Young, ANU Vice Chancellor
Thursday 22 November @ 12.30pm (light lunch from 12pm)
Molonglo Theatre, Level 1, JG Crawford Building 132, Lennox Crossing, ANU
Harold Mitchell is one of Australia’s business and philanthropic leaders. Emilia Pires has been Finance Minister of Timor-Leste since 2007, and is the founding chair of the g7+, a grouping of fragile states. They will both be at the ANU on Thursday November 22nd, at Devpolicy’s event of the year.
Minister Pires will be delivering the inaugural Harold Mitchell development policy lecture on Thursday November 22nd. Harold Mitchell will inaugurate the lecture series, which has been named in his honour.
Don’t miss this important event. Register here, as the lecture is quickly approaching full capacity.
Aid from emerging Asia: Asian perspectives on development cooperation and global development challenges
Xiaojing Mao, Ministry of Commerce, China; Hyunghwan Joo, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Strategy and Finance, Government of Korea; Kumar Tuhin Joint Secretary, Development Partnership Administration II, Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India; and various others.
Thursday 29 November @ 9.30am (morning tea and light lunch provided)
Molonglo Theatre, Level 2, JG Crawford Building 132, Lennox Crossing, ANU
A sea change is unfolding in the world of international development cooperation. Emerging powers, particularly China and India, are increasing their aid rapidly, while aid from traditional donors is stagnation.
Why have Asian countries expanded their development cooperation activities? What do they think of the UN Millennium Development Goals? And what should replace them? Is the G20 development agenda relevant? What is the future of the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank?
At this unique forum you will have the opportunity to hear from, and ask questions of senior development cooperation officials and experts from China, India and Korea.
Call for emerging PNG and Pacific scholars: apply to become a Greg Taylor scholar.
We are very pleased to be able to announce new research opportunities at Devpolicy for emerging Pacific and PNG scholars. With funding generously provided by an anonymous donor, we are able to invite applications to become a Greg Taylor Scholar. Becoming a Greg Taylor scholar will entitle the successful applicant to undertake research at the ANU Crawford School as part of the Development Policy Centre for a period of 2 to 3 months on a topic relating to the economic development of PNG and the Pacific. The fellowship will cover your travel and living costs. Applications are invited from students already studying at the ANU or elsewhere in Australia, and from new and emerging scholars in the area of economics in the Pacific and PNG. Please send your CV and a cover letter indicating possible areas of research interest as well as any queries to Macarena.Rojas@anu.edu.au. Timing is flexible.
The scholarships are named in the honour of Greg Taylor AO, whose former positions include: Executive Director of the IMF for both Australia and PNG, Secretary of various Australian Government Departments, advisor to the PNG Treasury Secretary, Chairman of the PNG Superannuation Task Force, and a Director of PNG’s largest superannuation fund.
New podcast series
We have launched a new podcast series to provide even broader access to our future events. Starting with the Engaging business in development forum (highlighted in the events section below), all of our future events will have audio tracks loaded onto the podcast. An initial (lower quality) audio version, recorded by Dictaphone, will be made available as soon as possible after the event, with a higher quality version replacing it in the weeks to follow. You can subscribe to this podcast through itunes here. If you have any comments on how we can provide better access to our events, publications or the blog please contact us and let us know.
2012 and 2013 Pacific Updates
Bart Philemon’s recent post on Papua New Guinea rounds out our blog coverage of the recent 2012 Pacific Update. The event and subsequent blogs provide a fresh insight into what is currently happening in the Pacific, as told by some of the region’s leading bureaucrats and commentators, and was summarised in our latest Blog Digest. Planning is already underway for the 2013 Pacific Update, which will be held in Canberra in July. Stay tuned.
New PNG budget analysis and ‘PNG Promoting Effective Public Expenditure Project’ page
The Promoting Effective Public Expenditure Project survey is now well underway. We have published new analysis on budgetary trends in PNG (available here, with commentary from Thomas Webster here), and we have revamped out Promoting Effective Public Expenditure Project web page. The new page provides additional detail on the bi-annual budget fora (including presentations and videos from the September Budget conference), details about the expenditure survey, additional resources and contact information. The next budget forum will be taking place in Port Moresby on February 7. More details to come.
Recent events
Revisiting the limits to growth: A global forecast for the next forty years
Professor Jorgen Randers
>> Audio
>> Video available here shortly
Engaging business in development
Various speakers from international businesses, NGOs, social enterprises, health and agricultural research enterprises, and international aid agencies
>> Program
Session 1 – Keynote address and inclusive business (audio): Jane Thomason, Sean Rooney, Anthony Perkins, Thiev Viseth, Paul Voutier & Peter Leahy.
Session 2 – Partnerships for service delivery: Annmaree O’Keefe, Ross Hutton, James Ensor & Andrea Iffland.
Session 3 – Pro-poor supply chains for internationally traded products: Dan Evans, Rachel Levine, Sandra Mendez, Joshua Bishop, Michael Toliman & Tim Wilson.
Session 4 – Product development partnerships: Mary Mora, George Jagoe, Wayne Best & Gabrielle Persley.
Built on dreams, grounded in reality: Economic policy reform in the Philippines
Steven Rood and Jaime Faustino
>> Video
How to achieve policy impact from a development think tank
Owen Barder
>> Video
Blog posts
Here is a list of Devpolicy blog posts (organised thematically) since our last newsletter, a month ago.
Blog Digest
Aid
Two cheers for New Zealand aid transparency by Terence Wood.
A brighter future for the Pacific: an interview with ADB Vice-President Stephen Groff (Part II) by Stephen Groff.
The future of the ADB: an interview with ADB Vice-President Stephen Groff (Part I) by Stephen Groff.
The MDGs post-2015: why we should do less by Bill Morton.
Aid and the Pacific Solution II: issues and questions by Joel Negin.
AusAID’s country strategies: why such a modest improvement since 2009? By Stephen Howes and Jonathan Pryke.
Supporting good practice in monitoring and evaluation in partner countries – lessons from Uganda by Christine van Hooft.
Development
Caution! Using high stakes testing of student learning in development by Robert Cannon.
Increasing climate financing: the challenge for Doha by Jonathan Pickering.
Pacific
Slow economic recovery, disappearing tourists: a Samoa update by Kolone Vaai.
Note: Whatever happened to the Pacific Seasonal Worker Pilot Scheme evaluation? By Stephen Howes.
Tonga: averting a bleak economic future by Siosi C. Mafi.
Illegal labour and red tape: another industry perspective on the Pacific Seasonal Worker Program by Anna Berry.
PNG
Lessons from PNG’s budget trends over the last decade by Stephen Howes and Andrew A. Mako.
Remarks on PNG’s budget trends by Thomas Webster.
PNG 37 years after Independence: the question of leadership by Bart Philemon.
Buzzes
Development Buzz (Nov 7): Asian governments v. drug patents | The World Bank and the end of poverty | Back to governance for Cameron and the UK by Jonathan Pryke and Stephen Howes.
Education Buzz (Nov 2): Why the denial on private schooling? | EFA goals unlikely to be met | More by Robert Cannon and Colum Graham.
Pacific Buzz (October 31): Australia Security Council bid – Pacific implications | Election fever | Pacific migration research | More by Devpolicy-PiPP.
Aid Buzz (October 25): Take two on ACIAR | Australia’s development rating declining | Senate estimates | AusAID’s latest annual report | More by Jonathan Pryke and Stephen Howes.
Aid and Asia Buzz (Oct 19): More loans for Myanmar | Hunger in South Asia | Bangladesh’s unspent aid | Cheaper drugs for Asia | Vietnam to join space race? | More by Ashlee Betteridge.
Pacific Buzz (October 17): Australia ‘the Cayman Islands for PNG’ | Resource extraction and taxation | Pacific faces economic slowdown… and more by Devpolicy-PiPP.
