Aid & Development

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Aid & development links: renewable energy, Iraq, ice buckets, elephants and more

An innovative agreement on renewable energy technology transfer has been signed between China, Denmark, Ghana, Zambia and UNDP. UN agencies and NGOs are struggling to respond to the humanitarian crisis in Iraq. Even the $500 million Saudi aid grant, which they wanted spent as fast as possible, has

By Philippa Brant

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Aid & development links: Aid scholarships, South Sudan, Universal Health Coverage and more

What's the value of Australian Aid scholarships? ANU's Dev Policy Blog have started a three-part analysis. With news of airlines cancelling travel from Ebola-effected countries, interesting that the WHO is against the idea. Australia steps up humanitarian aid to South Sudan, with fears of a

By Stephanie Dunstan

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Aid & development links: Ebola, solar, press freedom, hunger, Uganda & more

Ebola fears undermine regional peacekeeping plans in Africa. China will install more solar power this year than the US. The biggest rises and falls in press freedom around the world in 2014? Read the new Reporters without Borders Freedom Index. 842 million people in the world do not have enough

By Stephanie Dunstan

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Aid & development links: Ebola, midwives, Indonesia and more

With the UN confirming 1323 cases of the Ebola virus, and 729 dead, why do so many people in West Africa think is it a hoax? Read this Foreign Policy dispatch. See how African countries are getting wealthier, fast. Infographic charting GDP growth across Africa since 1980. If you haven't already

By Stephanie Dunstan

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Pacific island links: Pacific Islands Forum, regionalism, PNG aid, climate change and more

This week our links are focused on the Pacific Islands Forum taking place in Koror, Palau. On the Devpolicy blog, Seini O'Connor asks: what can the people of our region expect of the regionalism project? Islands Business provides a detailed backgrounder on what Pacific leaders will be addressing

By Tess Newton Cain

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Aid & development links: AIDS 2014 conference edition

In recognition of the International AIDS conference in Melbourne this week, an AIDS-themed edition of our regular Aid & Development Links. The conference opened yesterday with a minute's silence for the delegates lost in the MH17 disaster. Firstly, the latest facts from UNAIDS Gap report for Asia

By Stephanie Dunstan

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The BRICS Bank and China's growing web of development financing

The news today is that the establishment of a BRICS Bank has (finally) been confirmed. It is officially called the New Development Bank. Headquartered in Shanghai, the US$100 billion development bank will feature a 5-year rotating presidency, and provide financing for infrastructure and sustainable

By Philippa Brant

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Aid & development links: MDGs, Indian foreign aid, a new world map and more

Six new documentaries in PNG aiming to inspire young women in the country. The 2014 Millennium Development Goals Report was released last week. Good news that targets relating to poverty have been met, with poverty rates halved between 1990 and 2010. But bad news on the child mortality and

By Stephanie Dunstan

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China's aid white paper: What's changed?

The Chinese Government is frequently criticised for not being transparent about its aid program. As I mentioned in my quick summary yesterday, there's not a lot of specific data in the Chinese aid white paper. But we can make a few comparisons — on geographical spread, type of aid, and income

By Philippa Brant

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Pacific island links: Pacific in Afghanistan, PNG, depopulation, climate change and more

This week's selection of news, commentary and analysis from and about the Pacific island region: Brand new from the Australia-PNG network: PNG links. Fluctuations in the flow of aid can have extremely disruptive effects on small economies such as Tuvalu. In Cook Islands, a new report from the

By Tess Newton Cain

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China's Foreign Aid White Paper: Quick overview

Today, the Chinese Government released its much-awaited second White Paper on Foreign Aid. It's been in the pipeline for a while, as I've noted a number of times, and follows the first white paper published in April 2011. So what does it say? First, it is an overview of China's foreign

By Philippa Brant

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China's foreign aid: New facts and figures

China's foreign aid program is now the sixth largest in the world. Only the UK, US, Germany, France and Japan provided more last year. This is according to a new paper from the JICA Research Institute estimating China's foreign aid program from 2001 to 2013. Their calculations put China's

By Philippa Brant

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Aid & development links: Food waste, soil pollution, sexual violence in conflict and more

Data on soil pollution is a 'state secret' in China and receives much less attention than the issues of air and water quality. But ChinaDialogue has an interesting three part series on the victims of China's soil pollution crisis. Excellent read-out of the sexual violence in conflict summit, co-

By Philippa Brant

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The role of the private sector in promoting economic growth and reducing poverty in the Indo-Pacific region

The role of the private sector in promoting economic growth and reducing poverty in the Indo-Pacific region Dr Tess Newton Cain Submission to the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence & Trade Please click here for full text

By Tess Newton Cain

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Aid & development links: Africa and globalisation, USAID, failed states and more

Poor Numbers: How we are misled by African development statistics and what to do about It. A new book from Morten Jarven whose research shows how the statistical capacities of sub-Saharan African economies have fallen into disarray. Scarce resources are being misapplied and development policy

By Stephanie Dunstan

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Pacific island links: PIDF, Indonesia looks east, PNG turmoil, patrol boats and more

Our weekly round-up of news, commentary & analysis from and about the Pacific island region: This insightful item from Michelle Nayamui Rooney provides crucial context to what has been happening in PNG recently. The political situation in Nauru is not getting any better but there is still no

By Tess Newton Cain

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Aid & development links: Australian aid, press freedoms, Rohingya and more

ICYMI: Australia's Foreign Minister addressed the National Press Club with a major new announcement about Australia's aid program — or was it? Both the Lowy Institute's Annmaree O'Keeffe and Stephen Howes & Joel Negin agree it's not new, but certainly worth further analysis. There are over

By Stephanie Dunstan

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Australia's foreign aid policy: New paradigm or more of the same?

Yesterday's dense fog in Canberra was the perfect backdrop for the launch of Australia's new foreign aid policy by Foreign Minister Julie Bishop at the National Press Club. Just as the fog started to lift, Minister Bishop was attempting to lift the fog on what has been a slow

By Annmaree O’Keeffe

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Aid & development links: #WorldCup2014, female entrepreneurs, UNSC, deforestation and more

WhyDev presents its World Cup of Human Development. Compare your favourite teams in the 'Global Development World Cup' interactive. And want to learn more about Brazil? This World Without Poverty site has some great info, videos and other links. A new female entrepreneurship index has some

By Stephanie Dunstan

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Chinese Assistance in the Pacific: Agency, Effectiveness and the Role of Pacific Island Governments

Chinese Assistance in the Pacific: Agency, Effectiveness and the Role of Pacific Island Governments Philippa Brant and Matthew Dornan Asia & the Pacific Policy Studies Please click here for full online text

By Philippa Brant

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Pacific island links: PNG constitution, Samoa corruption, Rugby League, blackbirding and more

Catch up on news, commentary & analysis from the Pacific island region. Proposed constitutional changes for Papua New Guinea are raising concerns that they are a means of entrenching the position of the government and reducing parliamentary oversight of the executive. A provocative photographic

By Tess Newton Cain

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Aid & development links: Aid myths, US carbon emissions, HRW's E-Team and more

The FT summarises a good-news report showing improvement in global food security. Bold moves last week from President Obama who unveiled sweeping US carbon emission rules. Will this expose Australia's 5% emissions reduction target by 2020 as too low? 'Africa is a country' and 26 other

By Stephanie Dunstan

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Aid & development Links: Mosquitos, Tiananmen Square, aid polling and more

'The mosquitoes are smart. We have to be smarter'. Snappy video from the Gates Foundation on anti-malarial work in Africa. 64% of voters support Budget cuts to aid? So says a new media poll. Read Ashlee Betterridge's analysis of the figures on DevPolicy. ODI have collected into one place on their

By Stephanie Dunstan

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PNG's youth speak out

The Lowy Institute's Melanesia Program convened its second PNG New Voices conference in Port Moresby yesterday. We assembled a group of interesting and passionate young people with strong views about the future of their country. They spoke on a range of topics across three key themes: Papua New

By Jenny Hayward-Jones

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Pacific island links: PNG special

This week, the Melanesia Program team is in Port Moresby for the 'PNG New Voices' event. So this week's links are focused on PNG. The Lowy Institute's Melanesia Program, in partnership with the PNG National Research Institute, has launched its Australia-PNG network, aimed at fostering people-to-

By Tess Newton Cain

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Employment in East Asia and the Pacific: Pacific constraints require Pacific solutions

The World Bank's new regional report on linkages between employment and development celebrates the employment gains from recent economic transformation across much of the 'East Asia Pacific' region: In the last 20 years, East Asia Pacific saw rising productivity amid a brisk structural

By Tobias Haque

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Aid & development links: Rice production, Kofi Annan, EU aid, MapAfrica and more

10 things to know about EU aid. Look out for number 8: five areas where development policy goes beyond aid. (h/t ODI.) 'Leaders fiddle while the world burns'. A candid interview with former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. Mapping development finance in Africa: the African Development Bank and

By Stephanie Dunstan

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RAMSI: How to blow $2.6 billion in a decade

A pointed joke used to do the rounds in Honiara: if you needed to call on the Australian police you could usually find them in the Lime Lounge, a swanky cafe at the west end of the main street that serves silky flat whites and a range of delights including the 'RAMSI breakfast'. The cappuccino

By Daniel Gay

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Pacific island links: PNG politics, wellbeing, aid budget, a new PM in Vanuatu and more

Signs of restlessness in the PNG political landscape. A cabinet reshuffle appears imminent, with Ben Micah tipped to become the new deputy prime minister. Meanwhile, four members of the Triumph Heritage Empowerment Party have resigned in order to remain in government rather than move to the cross-

By Tess Newton Cain

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Solomon Islands: Was RAMSI worth it?

Tobias Haque and Doug Porter have worked on Solomon Islands for the past several years. The views expressed here are those of the authors and not necessarily those of their employers . Jenny Hayward-Jones' recent paper (Australia's Costly Investment in Solomon Islands) suggests

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Aid & development links: World Bank, forestry, rising seas, aid vs cash and more

New research from the Center for International Forestry Research on the Africa-China timber trade highlights the array of actors involved and the implications for policy. Three long views on life with rising seas. Budget 2014: the end of an aid era? Lowy Institute analysts Jenny Hayward-Jones,

By Stephanie Dunstan

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Budget 2014: The end of an aid era?

By Jenny Hayward-Jones, Director of the Lowy Institute's Melanesia Program, and Philippa Brant, a Lowy Institute research associate. The Abbott Government last night brought down the first annual aid budget since the integration of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and AusAID

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First look at the Budget: DFAT, aid and defence

So here I am at the budget lockup, deep in the bowels of Treasury, with the idea of getting a much-anticipated preview of the Foreign Affairs and Trade budget for this, the Coalition Government's first federal budget. Only, there is no Portfolio Budget Statement for the Foreign Affairs and Trade

By Alex Oliver

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Climate & development links: Women in Pakistan, PlanetPolicy, Climate Assessment and more

Women's parliamentary caucuses are improving female political participation, legislation, and women's rights in Pakistan. The Guardian's development blog has a new piece analysing Australia and Canada's shift to merging their aid portfolios into foreign affairs. ACFID policy paper calls for 10%

By Stephanie Dunstan

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China in Africa: New pledges and a new relationship?

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has wrapped up his eight day visit to Africa, his first visit as premier and his first foreign visit this year. Commentators (and African leaders) expect to see big announcements whenever a Chinese leader is in town. So what has this trip revealed? Here are some of the

By Philippa Brant

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Pacific island links: Exxon Mobil in PNG, asylum seekers, UNDP, Mahendra Chaudhry and more

Each Thursday the Lowy Institute's Myer Foundation Melanesia program brings you a selection of reading from and about the Pacific island region. Attempts to generate revenue via immigration and citizenship are causing controversy in Vanuatu and Samoa. Former Fiji PM Mahendra Chaudhry will appeal

By Tess Newton Cain

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The high price of RAMSI: Australia's lessons from the Solomon Islands

The Abbott Government will next week bring down its first aid budget, a budget which itself will contain two interesting firsts: it is the first since the integration of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) with AusAID, and the first since the transition of the very expensive Regional

By Jenny Hayward-Jones

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Aid & development links: World Press Freedom Day, Richard Branson, climate change and more

The OECD's flagship report this year assesses policy coherence and illicit financial flows. The Australian chapter focuses on Pacific fisheries. Did climate change close Mt Everest? Nigeria's kidnapped girls have been sold into marriage with their abductors for $12. Richard Branson's formula for

By Stephanie Dunstan

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Why Bob Carr's book matters

It was all a trick. A simple scam played on a clueless tabloid media to sell more books. And didn't they oblige! As soon as Bob Carr's Diary of a Foreign Minister hit the shelves, they searched the book for scandal, and found a man apparently addicted to perks and privilege. The Daily Telegraph

By Sam Roggeveen

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'Timeless Tuvalu' and the role of migration

'Timeless Tuvalu' is the country's branding to the world, or at least to the trickle of visitors that arrive every year to the tiny country of 10,000 people. It does indeed feel timeless as I walk the stretch of Fongafale (the main island, on which the capital is located). As I meander the streets

By Sophia Kagan

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Aid & development links: Cash transfers, hand washing, labour migration, DFID and more

As there were no 'Aid and development links' last week (Easter Monday), we have an extended offering today: Oxfam research raises significant questions about the impact of a public-private partnership to provide a national referral hospital in Lesotho. Using a strengths-based approach for

By Tess Newton Cain

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Pacific island links: Freedom of speech, illegal logging, elections, sorcery killings and more

The Director of the PNG National Research Institute Thomas Webster speaks out for freedom of speech in PNG. Sarah Logan looks at how increased mobile phone use will impact electoral integrity in the Solomon Islands and Fijian elections. Why has there been no progress in stopping sorcery

By Mark Tamsitt

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Labour mobility key to Pacific future

The issue of labour migration and seasonal work is back on the agenda of Pacific island governments and donor agencies. Pacific population is increasing by 177,100 each year and at the present rate the region's population will double in the next 36 years. Disaggregating those statistics makes the

By Luke Craven

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Pacific island links: Samoan debt, cyber crime, PNG-West Papua tensions, IMF data and more

Each Thursday we bring you a selection of what our Pacific island experts have been reading from and about the region. In Fiji, the police have confirmed that Rear Admiral Bainimarama is under investigation for allegedly breaching electoral rules. Voters in Niue have returned the government of

By Tess Newton Cain

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Solomon Islands flooding and Australian aid

On 5 April, the Solomon Islands was hit by extreme flooding, killing 23 people and leaving an estimated 50,000–60,000 people homeless. Lowy Institute Melanesia experts Jenny Hayward Jones and Tess Newton-Cain got together earlier this week to discuss the impact of Australia's $3 million

By Stephanie Dunstan

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Pacific private sector engagement: Where to begin?

Suva, Fiji. A key facet of the Australian Government's aid and development policy for the Pacific island region is enhancing private sector engagement. However, the detail of this policy has yet to be articulated. The role of the private sector in aid and development is the subject of an ongoing

By Tess Newton Cain

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Aid & development links: Libyan refugees, zero poverty, pro-democracy programs and more

'You're just not that vulnerable enough'. An interesting piece on refugees and urban displacement in Libya. US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations is looking into pro-democracy programs carried out by USAID. Humanitarian news agency IRIN looks vulnerable because it's losing UN funding. 'The

By Stephanie Dunstan

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Pacific island links: Fiji electoral law, Solomons floods, Bougainville, PNG business and more

Welcome to the first Pacific Island links. Each Thursday, we will share with you the most interesting or thought provoking things the Lowy Institute's Pacific islands specialists have read from and about the region. In an election year for Solomon Islands, there are concerns that politics will

By Tess Newton Cain

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Foreign aid hits record high

In what will come as a surprise to many, the OECD's 2013 aid figures reveal that foreign aid (ODA) from governments is actually increasing. This is despite ongoing budgetary constraints in many countries. After two years of decline, foreign aid rose 6.1% in real terms in 2013 to reach its highest

By Philippa Brant

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Aid & development links: HIV in West Papua, Solomons floods, UK aid target and more

Bad news on global warming last week, with the latest IPCC report concluding that global warming is depleting fresh water and crops, destroying coral reefs and melting the Arctic. See here eight stark graphs from the report . US Secretary of State John Kerry’s response to the report was

By Stephanie Dunstan

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