Good Will Hunters

Welcome to Episode 96 of Good Will Hunters from the Development Policy Centre.

Before we begin, an announcement. Devpol’s 10th anniversary partnership with Good Will Hunters comes to an end this week. We’re grateful for the crucial support provided by The Development Policy Centre this year, which has enabled us to bring you weekly episodes.

Today on the show I’m speaking to Arieta Rika who is the host of a new podcast titled Vosa, produced by Good Will Media and proudly supported by The World Bank. The series looks at the big ideas and challenges that are facing the Pacific and PNG.

Arieta has over 10 years experience in social impact and non-profit communications across Australia and the Pacific as a writer, cultural advisor, Pacific storyteller, and the Founder of Talanoa, a digital space for Pacific people to share their stories. She also works at Good Will Media, with Rachel.

https://www.goodwillmedia.com.au/ourwork/vosa

https://talanoa.com.au

https://devpolicy.org

Enjoy the episode,

The GWH Team

Welcome to Episode 95 of Good Will Hunters from The Development Policy Centre. In this time of great challenges globally, we need more than ever to listen to the voices of wisdom and compassion. Today on the show I’m speaking to Rev Tim Costello AO, one of Australia’s best-known voices on social justice, and global poverty.

Tim was Chief Executive of World Vision Australia for 13 years and is currently the Executive Director of Micah Australia, as well as Co-Chair of the Charities Crisis Cabinet.

In the episode, Tim reflects on his extensive career, on the role of faith and religion. the future of aid, the impact of Covid, and the recent launch of the End Covid For All Campaign.

To find out more about End Covid for All, and to add your support to this critical campaign, see below:

https://www.endcovidforall.com

Enjoy the episode,

The GWH Team

Welcome to Episode 94 of Good Will Hunters from the Development Policy Centre.

Today on the show I’m speaking to academic and author Dr Gordon Peake. Gordon works at the School of Regulation and Global Governance at ANU, on governance and conflict in the Asia-Pacific region. He is an expert on and has lived in Timor-Leste and Papua New Guinea.

Gordon is also a popular author, and his book Beloved Land: Stories, Struggles & Secrets from Timor-Leste was winner of the 2014 ACT Book of the Year & People’s Choice Awards.

In the episode, Gordon reflects on his experiences living and working abroad. He discusses the challenges Timor-Leste has had following independence, the role aid, and lessons for Bougainville.

To hear more from Gordon, attend his upcoming seminar with the Law and Justice Development Community:

https://www.lawjusticedev.net/events

And you can read Gordon's recent articles here:

https://devpolicy.org/the-diabolically-difficult-mid-term-review-20200903-2/

https://devpolicy.org/adventures-in-east-timorese-bureaucracy-20200611/

You can purchase Gordon's book here:

https://www.booktopia.com.au/beloved-land-gordon-peake/book/9781922247308.html

There are some exciting conferences and events coming up this month! Check them out below:

https://acfid.asn.au/content/oceania-connect-2020

https://www.pawaliklik.community

Enjoy the episode,

The GWH Team

Welcome to Episode 93 of Good Will Hunters from the Development Policy Centre.

Today’s episode is the second in a two-part series on the World Bank Group, where we speak to the experts leading the Bank’s work in the region. In this episode I speak to Shivnesh Prasad, Digital Development Specialist with the World Bank in Fiji.

Shivnesh has over 15 years of experience in the public sector in Fiji, including as the Director of Communications at the Fijian Ministry of Communications, as well as Chairman of the Telecommunications Authority of Fiji. He has overseen various important initiatives for Government, including the rollout of 4G and now 5G, the installation of submarine cables and more.

So, why is digital development so important to Fiji? Is a true digital revolution occurring? And how will technology change the way Fijians live and work? We discuss all this, and the implications for development, in this episode.

https://devpolicy.org/working-across-nepals-data-ecosystem-as-the-economic-crisis-starts-to-hit-20200420/

https://devpolicy.org/controlling-the-internet-in-fiji-20190121/

https://devpolicy.org/ecommerce-boosts-pacific-exports-20181026/

https://devpolicy.org/the-time-is-right-for-a-step-up-in-abc-broadcasting-to-the-pacific-20180709/

https://devpolicy.org/ict-telecommunications-and-development-in-vanuatu-an-interview-with-fred-samuel-tarisongtamate-20140723/

Enjoy the episode.

Welcome to Episode 92 of Good Will Hunters from the Development Policy Centre.

Today’s episode is the first in a two-part series on the World Bank Group, where we speak to the experts leading the Bank’s work in the region.

In this episode I speak to Dr. Edith Kariko, the Senior Health Specialist with the World Bank in Port Moresby.

Edith is a medical doctor with extensive experience working in health in Papua New Guinea, particularly in remote areas. Edith works closely with PNG's National Department of Health and other central line agencies to support the implementation of health policies that aim to improve and strengthen health service delivery in PNG. Dr Kariko is heavily involved in delivering support to the Government of PNG as part of the World Bank’s US$20 million emergency package for PNG’s COVID-19 response.

In the episode, Edith talks about the state of PNG’s healthcare system, and including how years of neglect have culminated into a broken healthcare system in dire need of repair, and the work Edith and her counterparts are doing to fix it.

We discuss access to contraception, specifically Edith’s work promoting male contraceptive methods in PNG, including the difference between the attitudes of highland and coastal communities on the subject. Of course we also discuss Covid-19 and the support the World Bank is providing to the Government at this time.

https://devpolicy.org/catastrophic-failures-in-png-health-service-delivery-20190404/

http://devpolicy.org/publications/reports/PEPE/Financing-PNGs-free-primary-health-care-policy-user-fees-funding-and-performance.pdf

https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2020/04/23/a-100m-investment-in-papua-new-guineans-three-major-new-projects-to-build-pngs-human-capital

Next week you’ll hear from another World Bank expert, this time on the impact of the digital revolution in Fiji.

Enjoy the episode,

The GWH Team

Welcome to Episode 91 of Good Will Hunters from the Development Policy Centre.

Today on the show I speak to the Honourable Dame Carol Kidu.

Dame Carol Kidu was a Member of Parliament in PNG from 1997 to 2012, including a stint as Minister for Community Development.

Carol has lived a remarkable life.

At age 19, Carol moved to Papua New Guinea and married Sir Buri Kidu, the man who would become the country’s first Indigenous Chief Justice. Carol and Buri brought up their children in Buri’s village in Port Moresby, where Carol faced a multitude of challenges integrating into traditional village life, but says her unwavering love for Buri and their children, and a very supportive mother in law, got her through.

Following Buri’s untimely death, Carol entered politics, where she remained from 1997 to 2012. For much of this time, Carol was the only female member of Parliament. She was the driving force behind a number of important legislative reforms including the repeal of the colonial Child Welfare Act, changes to the Criminal Code on rape and sexual assault, and new legislation on child sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children.

In this episode, we discuss the challenges that Papua New Guinean women face in entering politics, and the efforts Carol and others are going to to make sure a woman is elected in the next election. Carol shares many stories of her extraordinary life in Papua New Guinea, all the way up to the work she continues to do today.

https://devpolicy.org/dame-carol-kidu-on-why-things-are-getting-tougher-for-pngs-women-20141029/

https://devpolicy.org/dame-carol-kidu-on-png-women-in-the-21st-century20120315/

http://pameladenoonlecture.net/archives/pamela-denoon-lecture-2012/

Enjoy the episode,

The GWH Team

Welcome to Episode 90 of Good Will Hunters from the Development Policy Centre.

Today on the show I speak to Fiona Hukula, Miranda Forsyth, and Philip Gibbs.

Our speakers today are on the front line of the battle against sorcery accusation related violence or SARV in Papua New Guinea.

Dr Fiona Hukula is a Senior Research Fellow at the Papua New Guinea National Research Institute (PNG NRI). Fiona represents the PNG NRI on high level national committees such as the Family and Sexual Violence Action Committee and the National Action Plan against Sorcery Accusation and Related Violence.

Dr Miranda Forsyth is an Associate Professor in the College of Asia and the Pacific at ANU. Miranda is a chief investigator in a major four year project investigating how to best overcome sorcery accusations and related violence in PNG.

Lastly, Dr Philip Gibbs is a Divine Word Missionary priest serving in Papua New Guinea since 1973. Currently he is Vice-President Research and Higher Degrees at Divine Word University, Madang, Papua New Guinea. He is well known for his research and advocacy against sorcery related violence in PNG.

In the episode we unpack the extent of SARV in PNG and the factors that are causing a spike of SARV-related incidents. We then delve into their extensive research on SARV, which will inform the upcoming PNG Sorcery National Action Plan. The topic of sorcery is a contentious one in PNG, and as this episode demonstrates, sorcery related violence is not limited to those with low education levels, or only those in remote areas. Rather, it is a problem which endures for people of all ages, genders, locations and education levels in PNG, and one which may be worsened with the spike in Covid-19 cases. This is an important and at times heavy conversation, and one which will resonate for many of us who have lived or worked in Papua New Guinea.

Fiona, Miranda and Philip have written extensively on the subject of sorcery accusation related violence on the Devpolicy blog.

https://devpolicy.org/escaping-sorcery-accusations-20180702/

https://devpolicy.org/witchcraft-and-human-rights-global-learnings-and-conversations-20190417/

https://devpolicy.org/accessing-justice-police-responses-to-domestic-violence-20181212/

Enjoy,

The GWH Team

Welcome to Episode 89 of Good Will Hunters from the Development Policy Centre. Today on the show I speak to Leonard Blazeby.

Leonard is the outgoing Head of Mission for the International Committee of the Red Cross, the ICRC, in Australia. At the end of our interview, you’ll hear about the very big and exciting role that Leonard is taking on next.

Since joining the ICRC in 2000, Leonard has held a variety of positions across Africa, Europe and the Pacific. He worked for eight years in Africa, serving as Deputy Head of Delegation in Southern Africa, legal adviser in Zimbabwe and communications coordinator in the Horn of Africa. He then served in the ICRC’s Geneva headquarters for more than four years. He has been the Australian Head of Mission since 2012.

In the episode Leonard and I discuss Leonard’s distinguished career working with the ICRC in vulnerable communities around the world, the challenges that he’s faced in his work, and how the international humanitarian sector has evolved, or in Leonard’s words, professionalised. We discuss the threat multiplier affect of Covid-19 and the impact its having is on already conflict-affected communities. On a lighter note, we also discuss some of the innovative partnerships the ICRC has entered into, including with the vide game Fortnite.

If you’re interested in today’s podcast, you might also be interested in a new Devpolicy Blog which shows an unprecedented divergence between defence spending and aid spending in Australia.

https://devpolicy.org/defence-and-aid-unprecedented-divergence-20200728/

Stephen Howes, the Devpolicy Director, shows that adjusting for inflation Australian defence spending is projected to grow by 20 billion dollars to 2030, whereas aid spending isn’t projected to grow at all. Given the humanitarian crises and trends we’re seeing all around us, and discussed in today’s episode, that trend may prove problematic. For more, go to devpolicy.org.

Enjoy,

The GWH Team

Welcome to Episode 88 of Good Will Hunters from the Development Policy Centre.

Today on the show I speak to Jemma Mackinnon and Kerry McCarthy, about their experience of the Seasonal Worker Programme, as farm owners and managers.

The Seasonal Worker Programme is a scheme that allows Pacific Islanders and Timor-Leste citizens to come to Australia to pick fruit. It’s incredibly popular in the Pacific, and has been growing rapidly reaching above 10,000 workers last year.

Especially in an era of tight aid budgets, looking at alternative ways to partner with the Pacific is key, and labour mobility benefits both Australia and the Pacific.

Jemma is the Human Resources and Seasonal Worker Programme Manager for Mountford Berries in Langford Tasmania. The farm employs approximately 60 seasonal workers from Timor-Leste and Tonga. Kerry is the Co-owner of GraceKate Farms which is located on the Darling Downs in Queensland. The farm has employed workers from Solomon Islands through the Seasonal Worker Programme since 2012.

In the episode Jemma, Kerry, and I discuss the Seasonal Worker Programme and the challenges Covid-19 has posed. We discuss how prior to Covid-19, being selected for the programme felt like winning the lottery for workers from the Pacific, but this year that experience has changed dramatically, as workers have been stranded, in some cases unable to go home and in other cases unable to return to Australia.

We discuss the implications this has for the workers themselves, as well as the growing fear amongst farm owners of having a labour shortage come harvest season, and what can be done.

https://devpolicy.org/why-do-canada-and-germany-allow-in-seasonal-and-other-workers-but-australia-and-new-zealand-do-not-20200724/

https://devpolicy.org/medicare-family-separation-and-temporary-migrants-20200715/

https://devpolicy.org/tag/seasonal-worker-program/

Enjoy the episode,

The GWH Team

Welcome to Episode 87 of Good Will Hunters from the Development Policy Centre. Today on the show I speak to Joanna Lindner Pradela.

Joanna is the Director of Knowledge Translation at the International Women’s Development Agency, the IWDA, overseeing research, policy, advocacy and movement strengthening work as well as IWDA’s flagship program to redefine how poverty is measured, Equality Insights.

The IWDA is the leading Australian NGO focused on women's rights and gender equality in Asia Pacific.

In the episode Joanna and I discuss feminist foreign policy, why it has yet to be implemented in Australia, and what an Australian feminist foreign policy might look like. We also discuss the IWDA’s Individual Deprivation Measure , as an innovative gender-sensitive poverty measure.

https://devpolicy.org/a-feminist-foreign-policy-for-australia-establishing-australia-as-a-global-leader-on-gender-equality-20200420/

https://devpolicy.org/gender-in-the-2019-20-australian-aid-budget-20190507/

The Development Policy Centre is running its annual fundraising appeal. The Centre provides critical support to this podcast and of course runs the Devpolicy Blog and undertakes important research around aid and development. If you appreciate this podcast and the Devpolicy blog, please make a tax deductible donation at devpolicy.org/donate.

Enjoy the episode,

The GWH Team