- The World Humanitarian Summit took place in Istanbul last week. The ODI provides a good primer. Médecins Sans Frontières stole the headlines for pulling out of the event, a decision which its Australian executive director justifies here. Louise Searle provides a summary of the summit, while Marc Purcell discusses its underwhelming outcomes.
- A closer look at Labor’s recent commitment to spend ‘around $800 million more for overseas aid than the Liberals' over the next four years’ shows that it will hardly make a dent in Australia’s aid generosity, which is now at historically low levels.
- Robin Davies also examines Labor’s commitment for the Devpolicy blog.
- Meanwhile the New Zealand aid program has seen its budget increase by 12% in the 2016/17 budget to NZ$659 million, an unprecedented jump. A closer look at the forward estimates shows this as actually a symptom of unspent money being rolled forward.
- Duncan Green provides a summary of a new report from Oxfam on the role of local institutions in accountable natural resource management. Countries in our region take note.
- WhyDev has published a three part series on aspects of the importance menstrual hygiene plays in development. The Guardian also has a photo series on what girls in Nepal are not allowed to do while on their period.
- On a brighter note, the latest analysis from the World Health Organization shows that globally babies born today are likely to live longer than ever before.
Photo courtesy of Flickr user AOK Library and Gallery UMBC