The Australian aid program faces a fundamental dilemma: how, in the absence of deep popular support, should it generate the political legitimacy required to safeguard its budget and administering institutions? A new book by Jack Corbett entitled 'Australia’s Foreign Aid Dilemma: Humanitarian Aspirations Confront Democratic Legitimacy', tells the story of the actors who have grappled with this question over 40 years. It draws on extensive interviews and archival material to uncover how ‘court pol...
Aug 24, 2017•1 hr 1 min•Season 6Ep. 27
Speaker: Alice Albright, Chief Executive Officer, Global Partnership for Education (GPE). Investing in equitable, quality education systems has a powerful positive impact on economies and societies, and in turn drives progress across the range of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Educating and empowering girls and women in particular helps to strengthen economic prosperity, and improves stability and health outcomes. However, the education sector is chronically underfunded. Until recently, t...
Aug 17, 2017•1 hr•Season 6Ep. 26
Speakers: Staff from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Cardno, and The Australian National University. This forum, which was jointly organised by the Development Policy Centre and the Office of Development Effectiveness (ODE) and held on 11 August 2017, was the latest in a series on the evaluation of Australian aid. It focused on two recent evaluations. The second evaluation, discussed in this podcast, focused on pandemics and emerging infectious diseases, with the view of contributin...
Aug 17, 2017•1 hr 32 min•Season 6Ep. 25
Speakers: Staff from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Cardno, and The Australian National University. This forum, which was jointly organised by the Development Policy Centre and the Office of Development Effectiveness (ODE) and held on 11 August 2017, was the latest in a series on the evaluation of Australian aid. It focused on two recent evaluations. The first part, discussed in this podcast, was an end of program review for the Basic Education Assistance for Muslim Mindanao (BEAM-...
Aug 17, 2017•1 hr 35 min•Season 6Ep. 24
Over the last decade, international development policies, most notably in the UK, have advanced ‘political settlements’ as a framing concept to guide statebuilding practice in fragile and conflict-affected states. Such policies have encouraged efforts towards achieving an inclusive, or inclusive enough, political settlement as a bulwark against instability. The empirical research underpinning the policy dictum, however, is surprisingly thin. This podcast of Sue's presentation will probe the rela...
Aug 17, 2017•1 hr 1 min•Season 6Ep. 23
In global health circles, Dr Eric Goosby’s reputation precedes him. A physician by training, he has been a leader in the development and implementation of HIV/AIDS policy for 30 years and is perhaps best known for his role as the US Global AIDS Coordinator (2009-2013). In 2015, Dr Goosby accepted an appointment as the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Tuberculosis (TB), and it was in this capacity that he visited Canberra in late May 2017, during which Camilla Burkot interviewed him at the...
Jul 12, 2017•30 min•Season 6Ep. 22
In 1938 three Australian patrol officers – Jim Taylor, John Black and Pat Walsh – set off on an epic journey into the highlands of Papua New Guinea. Their purpose: to make contact with highland tribes who until then, had no contact with the outside world, and to explain to them that their lives were about to undergo incredible change. Fifty years later, Jim’s daughter Meg retraced her father’s steps and met people who remembered the day the patrol arrived. Meg’s observations are combined with ex...
Jun 26, 2017•34 min•Season 6Ep. 21
PNG was severely impacted by the 2015-16 El Niño drought and, at some very high altitude locations, a series of destructive frosts. The drought and frosts impacted many rural villagers between mid-2015 and late 2016, with some people still severely impacted in early 2017. Impacts included: widespread shortages of drinking water; shortages of subsistence food in many places; negative effect on villagers’ health; partial or complete closure of schools; and the Fly River not being suitable for ship...
Jun 13, 2017•1 hr 45 min•Season 6Ep. 20
Tropical forests are an undervalued asset in meeting the greatest global challenges of our time—averting climate change and promoting sustainable development. Despite their importance, tropical forests and their ecosystems are being destroyed at a high and even increasing rate in most forest-rich countries. The good news is that the science, economics, and politics are aligned to support a major international effort to reverse tropical deforestation. Why Forests? Why Now? a new book by Frances S...
May 18, 2017•1 hr 32 min•Season 6Ep. 19
This year is the first after three years of cuts in which the aid budget is slated to increase – by $84 million. While only enough to keep the aid budget growing with inflation, how will this new money be spent? Health funding has been almost halved in real terms over the last four years. Will the government release information on its long-awaited health security initiative? At this year’s aid budget breakfast, we will also review the 2016 Performance of Australian Aid report and the 2015-16 Aid...
May 12, 2017•1 hr 37 min•Season 6Ep. 18
In this talk Professor Fforde will discuss how risk and uncertainty are best coped with in development practice. In doing this, he will examine the theories of change that underpin aid practitioners’ use of tools such as the logical framework approach. He will contend that in many situations we should explore methods of devising policy and organising practice that formally assume context is unpredictable and unsuited to tools like the logical framework approach. He will argue that aid work can o...
Apr 28, 2017•44 min•Season 6Ep. 17
Co-hosted by the Tax and Transfer Policy Institute and the Development Policy Centre. As Governments expanded their activities over the years, pushing spending from around 10 per cent of GDP at the beginning of the last century to the current levels of 30 to 50 per cent of GDP, while increasing intervention through regulations, they tended to lose much of their ability to monitor well what they did. This led to problems of corruption, inefficiency, rent seeking, cronyism, and generally less equi...
Apr 23, 2017•1 hr 35 min•Season 6Ep. 16
This talk provides a survey of recent economic developments in Papua New Guinea’s (PNG) since the end of the resource boom in 2014. The specific focus of the discussion will be on the country’s exchange rate policy. Theory suggests that the real exchange rate (RER) should depreciate following the observed fall in commodity prices. In practice, however, the imposition of foreign exchange controls has led to a large backlog in foreign currency orders suggesting that the kina is significantly overv...
Apr 12, 2017•56 min•Season 6Ep. 15
Africa has a rich history; old and diverse cultures; and abundant and varied natural resources. Yet, a large majority of Africans remain poor, disenfranchised and oppressed. For five and half centuries, the trajectory of Africa’s autonomous development was distorted by the intervention of nascent Europe: the slave trade, the colonial venture and the Cold War. A legacy of the colonial system, the prototype independent African state has failed to deliver freedom, democracy and prosperity, giving r...
Apr 12, 2017•35 min•Season 6Ep. 14
In this podcast, you'll hear a discussion forum, jointly organised by the Development Policy Centre and the Office of Development Effectiveness (ODE), which is the latest in a series on the evaluation of Australian aid. The event focuses on the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade's (DFAT)new aid evaluation policy and two recent evaluations. Recently, DFAT has overhauled its approach to evaluation, with a new Aid Evaluation Policy and, for the first time, an Annual Aid Evaluation Plan - both ...
Apr 12, 2017•2 hr 45 min•Season 6Ep. 13
Robin Davies, Associate Director of the Development Policy Centre, interviews German economist Inge Kaul, a leading thinker on global public goods. This interview forms the basis for a blog post (https://exit.sc/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fdevpolicy.org%2Fpublic-enemies-global-public-goods-in-aid-policy-narratives-20170407%2F and Discussion Paper (https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2941164) on the issue of aid policy and global public goods. This is part 2 of the interview, you can find p...
Apr 07, 2017•1 hr 10 min•Season 6Ep. 12
Robin Davies, Associate Director of the Development Policy Centre, interviews German economist Inge Kaul, a leading thinker on global public goods. This interview forms the basis for a blog post (http://devpolicy.org/public-enemies-global-public-goods-in-aid-policy-narratives-20170407/) and Discussion Paper (https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2941164) on the issue of aid policy and global public goods. Read and subscribe to our daily blogs at devpolicy.org. Learn more about our ...
Apr 07, 2017•56 min•Season 6Ep. 11
Human society is full of would-be ‘change agents’. A restless mix of campaigners, lobbyists, and officials, both individuals and organisations, are set on transforming the world. They want to improve public services, reform laws and regulations, guarantee human rights, get a fairer deal for those on the sharp end, achieve greater recognition for any number of issues, or simply be treated with respect. Scholarly discussions of change are fragmented with few conversations crossing disciplinary bou...
Apr 06, 2017•1 hr 5 min•Season 6Ep. 10
Development aid from donor countries amounts to more than US $130 billion annually. More than half of that amount comes from European Union nations. However, sustainable development cannot be achieved through aid alone. The United Nations’ 2030 Agenda and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing for Development have underlined the importance of domestic resource mobilisation and investments – both public and private – for sustainable social, environmental, and economic development efforts to t...
Mar 28, 2017•59 min•Season 6Ep. 9
Speakers: James Brumby, The World Bank; Luis Felipe Lopez Calva, The World Bank; Natasha Smith, DFAT; Dr Helen Szoke, Oxfam Australia; and Professor Veronica Taylor, ANU. The Oceania launch of the World Development Report 2017, including a presentation of the report and a panel discussion, was held on February 14 as a side event to the 2017 Australasian Aid Conference The World Development Report 2017 on Governance and the Law explores how policies for security, growth and equity can effectively...
Mar 07, 2017•1 hr 34 min•Season 6Ep. 8
Foreign Minister The Hon Julie Bishop MP delivered the opening address at the 2017 Australasian Aid Conference on February 15, held at Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University. In the address, Minister Bishop announced several new initiatives and spoke of the strategic importance of the aid program. Read and subscribe to our daily blogs at devpolicy.org. Learn more about our research and join our public events at devpolicy.anu.edu.au. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, L...
Mar 06, 2017•27 min•Season 6Ep. 7
Plenary session, 2017 Australasian Aid Conference Chair: Stephen Howes, ANU Speakers: Robin Davies, ANU Adam Kamradt-Scott, University of Sydney Phoebe Wynn-Pope, Australian Red Cross Paul McPhun, Medecins Sans Frontieres Australia Jamie Isbister, DFAT The humanitarian aid system is in crisis. It’s a crisis of identity, financing and conduct. Agencies set up to deal with the immediate impacts of traumatic events find themselves have become de facto providers of long-term development assistance t...
Feb 28, 2017•1 hr 32 min•Season 6Ep. 6
Plenary session, 2017 Australasian Aid Conference Chair: Joel Negin What does Australian aid need more of, or less of? What are its ailments and what shape its cures? This panel presents the best, the most original, the most transformational, the most innovative ideas to get more bang from the 4 billion dollar buck that is the Australian aid program. Following the 3-Minute-Thesis format, rival advocates will battle it out for your vote. For something quick and different, listen to 3MAP: the Thre...
Feb 27, 2017•51 min•Season 6Ep. 5
Plenary session, 2017 Australasian Aid Conference Speakers: Guo Peiyuan, General Manager, SynTao; Jeon Hyunjin, Manager, Corporate Social Responsibility Team, LG Electronics HQ; Simon Cramp, Director of Private Sector Development, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade; Prabodh Saxena, Principal Secretary, Government of Himachal Pradesh. Chaired by Anthea Mulakala of The Asia Foundation. Involving the private sector in development cooperation is a priority today not only for many Western countr...
Feb 26, 2017•1 hr 25 min•Season 6Ep. 4
Keynote address, 2017 Australasian Aid Conference, ANU Speaker: Michael Woolcock, Lead Social Development Specialist, World Bank and Lecturer in Public Policy, Harvard University Despite what today’s headlines might convey, life for most people in most developing countries has never been better. This should be rightly celebrated, but improving basic levels of human welfare from a low base was the relatively ‘easy’ part. To consolidate and expand these achievements, the key development challenge ...
Feb 26, 2017•1 hr 22 min•Season 6Ep. 3
Robin Davies interviews Publish What You Fund’s London-based CEO, Rupert Simons and Elise Dufief, the organisation’s Research and Monitoring Manager, who is in the process of reviewing the methodology used for the Aid Transparency Index, to discuss the current issues in aid transparency. Read and subscribe to our daily blogs at devpolicy.org. Learn more about our research and join our public events at devpolicy.anu.edu.au. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram for latest updates...
Jan 19, 2017•53 min•Season 6Ep. 2
The independent Tax Review Committee (TRC) established by the Government of PNG recently completed a comprehensive review of the country’s tax system involving extensive and transparent stakeholder consultation over the course of two years. This culminated in two volumes of reports (inclusive of significant economic and tax reform recommendations) which were formally presented to the PNG Government in November, 2015. The final report highlighted the high risks of PNG’s overdependence on the extr...
Jan 11, 2017•48 min•Season 6Ep. 1
For generations of young Australians with a passion for social justice, volunteering in developing or indigenous communities has been a rite of passage. Bill Armstrong has been deeply involved in this movement since the 1960s, working with organisations such as the Overseas Service Bureau (now Australian Volunteers International), and Indigenous Community Volunteers. Robin Davies discussed his work in an interview for our Aid Profiles series. View the story here: http://devpolicy.org/aidprofiles...
Dec 12, 2016•46 min•Season 5Ep. 50
It is well known that gender-based and sexual violence are major problems facing Papua New Guinea. What is less widely recognized are the grassroots efforts underway to combat these problems, and the individuals leading those efforts. Everlyne Sap is one of those individuals. She is a gender advocate and chairperson of the Family and Sexual Violence Steering Committee of the Restorative Justice Initiative Association (RJIA) at Porgera in Enga Province, PNG. Camilla Burkot interviewed Everlyne du...
Dec 08, 2016•46 min•Season 5Ep. 49
In this podcast, part of a series of talks from the recent PNG Update, you will hear a collection of speeches showcasing the ANU-UPNG Partnership. In the first part, Nelson Nema, Professor Stephen Howes, Rohan Fox and Dr Manoj Pandey provide an update on PNG’s current economic performance. Following this are Peter Kanaparo and Dr Grant Walton, with a discussion on the unintended consequences of the PNG Tuition Fee Free policy (TFF). You can find a link to both presentations at the Devpolicy webs...
Dec 06, 2016•1 hr 2 min•Season 5Ep. 48
