Devpolicy Talks

Australia’s aid program has increased massively over the last decade, but its future is unclear, and aid policy has become controversial. The Labor Government has repeatedly delayed its target to lift aid 0.5 per cent of Gross National Income (GNI), and just this month slashed $900 million from the forward estimates for aid. The Coalition has not put any date to achievement of 0.5. There are also major aid policy and effectiveness issues at play, including aid for asylum seekers, aid to PNG, and aid to Africa. Labor has introduced a number of aid reforms, but the Coalition has called for “an increased focus on accountability, transparency and a reassessment of priorities within the aid program” (Julie Bishop at ANU, June 2012). The Greens support a lot more aid, and want an independent evaluator for the sector.

In this special 2013 Election forum, the ACT candidates discussed their parties’ approaches to aid. Speakers at the event were:

• Dr Helen Szoke, Chief Executive Officer, Oxfam Australia;
• Professor Stephen Howes, Director, Development Policy Centre, Crawford School of Public Policy, ANU;
• The Hon Dr Andrew Leigh, Member for Fraser, ALP;
• Elizabeth Lee, Liberal candidate for Fraser;
• Julie Melrose, Greens candidate for Canberra.

Presentation slides are available from the Devpolicy events page: https://crawford.anu.edu.au/devpolicy/events

This event was sponsored by the Development Policy Centre and Oxfam ACT, with the support of Oaktree and Make Poverty History.

Devpolicy Talks is the podcast of the Australian National University's Development Policy Centre.

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 Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and X for updates on blog posts, publications and events.

You can send feedback, and ideas for episodes too, to [email protected].

Since the mid-1990s, economic growth rates in large and populous middle-income countries have substantially outpaced those in OECD countries. This has reshaped the global economy and favoured convergence in global income per capita. The process of ‘shifting wealth’ was led by China and India, but other countries are also contributing to it, including Brazil and South Africa. In spite of the persistence of large gaps in income per capita between OECD and non-OECD economies and the wide inequality within developing countries, most developing countries have improved their macroeconomic management and have started to address long-term structural challenges.

Developing countries are still accumulating capital and labour but they are also improving capabilities and increasingly using and producing innovations. However, mastering technology and knowledge in order to move up the value chain is still a goal to be achieved for most of them. To address the new development challenges, some countries are implementing industrial policies to sustain growth by diversifying and upgrading domestic production.The renewed interest in industrial policy poses new challenges and opportunities for policy makers. These issues are explored in this lecture by Mario Pezzini and are based on the 2013 OECD Development Centre report, Perspectives on Global Development 2013: industrial policies in a changing world.

Mr Mario Pezzini is Director of the OECD Development Centre. Prior to joining the OECD, Mr Pezzini was Professor in Industrial Economics at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Paris as well as in US and Italian Universities. Mr Pezzini has also served as an advisor in the field of economic development, industrial organisation and regional economics in international organisations and think tanks, including the International Labour Organisation, United Nations Industrial Development Organisation, European Commission and Nomisma in Italy.

Presentation slides are available from the Devpolicy events page: https://crawford.anu.edu.au/devpolicy/events

Devpolicy Talks is the podcast of the Australian National University's Development Policy Centre.

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 Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and X for updates on blog posts, publications and events.

You can send feedback, and ideas for episodes too, to [email protected].

Aid agencies increasingly stress the importance of value for money, but what does this mean, and might a managerial focus on results actually undermine aid effectiveness, or simply result in aid confusion? This public forum addressed these questions from a variety of perspectives. Speakers at the forum were:

Dr Cathy Shutt, Institute of Development Studies (IDS), University of Sussex and convenor of the Big Push Forward initiative. Dr Shutt has over 19 years’ experience working as a researcher and practitioner in international aid. She started her work as a development practitioner helping southern-based community organisations and NGOs in the Philippines, Cambodia and Thailand to manage relationships with donors and demonstrate accountability. In this forum Dr Shutt critiqued UK approaches to value for money in aid.

Russell McKay, Effective Development Group, GRM International. Mr McKay is a seasoned agricultural economist who, after success as a regional manager, lecturer and agricultural economist in the Middle East, South Africa and the United Kingdom, is focused on developing innovative Monitoring and Evaluation instruments and providing technical input to key projects. In this forum Mr McKay discussed practical considerations around value for money metrics – especially for intangible elements that are more difficult to represent quantitatively.

Presentation slides are available from the Devpolicy events page: https://crawford.anu.edu.au/devpolicy/events

Devpolicy Talks is the podcast of the Australian National University's Development Policy Centre.

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 Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and X for updates on blog posts, publications and events.

You can send feedback, and ideas for episodes too, to [email protected].

Over the past decade, the world has witnessed a digital revolution and its impacts have not been limited to those living in wealthy countries. By 2014, it is predicted there will be more active mobile phones on the planet than people.

Increasingly, those in the aid sector are seeing the potential for these media and communication technologies to be harnessed for development.

But can these tools transform democracy, governance, transparency, accountability and humanitarian responses? Or does their power lie in generating hype rather than impact?

Drawing on their experience implementing programs and conducting research in Asia and the Pacific, panelists from ANU and Internews, an NGO working to strengthen information quality and access in developing countries, discussed and answered questions on the potential of new communications technologies and approaches.

Speakers at the panel were:

• Oren Murphy, Regional Director for Asia, Internews;
• Dr Nicholas Farrelly, Research Fellow, School of International, Political and Strategic Studies, College of Asia and the Pacific, ANU;
• Matt Abud, Research Consultant for Indonesia, Internews; and
• Sarah Logan, PhD scholar, Department of International Relations, College of Asia and the Pacific, ANU.

This forum was presented by the Development Policy Centre at Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University.

Presentation slides are available from the Devpolicy events page: https://crawford.anu.edu.au/devpolicy/events

Devpolicy Talks is the podcast of the Australian National University's Development Policy Centre.

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 Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and X for updates on blog posts, publications and events.

You can send feedback, and ideas for episodes too, to [email protected].

Tess Newton Cain sits down with Tara Chetty program director at the FIji Women's Rights Movements.

A full transcript of the interview is available here: http://devpolicy.org/pacific-conversations/5.%20Transcript%20of%20interview%20with%20Tara%20Chetty.docx

Blog post available here: http://devpolicy.org/tara-chetty-fiji-democracy-and-womens-rights-20130806/

Devpolicy Talks is the podcast of the Australian National University's Development Policy Centre.

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 Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and X for updates on blog posts, publications and events.

You can send feedback, and ideas for episodes too, to [email protected].