The first installment of the Aid Open Paper will be published on Monday 1 November and will look at patterns and trends in Australian aid.
There is bipartisan support for increasing the Australian aid program to 0.5% of Gross National Income by 2015-16, which implies a doubling of aid to over $8 billion from current levels, and a quadrupling from the $2 billion of 2005. Yet, despite this massive scale-up, aid policy remains an area starved of research and public discussion.
Written by the Centre’s Director, Stephen Howes, and Deputy Director, Matthew Morris, as a series of blogs, this paper will kick off the debate over the direction of Australian aid program. Every few weeks, starting on Monday, we will address questions such as:
- What is the historical background and current shape of the Australian aid program, and where are we heading?
- Where should the aid program focus?
- What should happen to technical assistance?
- Should Australia provide more multilateral aid?
- What budget processes will best support an efficient scaling up?
- What institutional changes are needed to support a scaled-up aid program?
- How accountable is the Australian aid program, and how can accountability be improved?
- Should Australian aid make more use of partner government systems?
We invite your comments to our blogs as we try to generate a genuine debate and discussion over the future direction of the Australian aid program.
