Aid & Development

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

'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

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

In the wake of the Abbott Government's unforeseen but momentous decision last year to integrate the Australia's foreign aid agency, AusAID, into DFAT, the federal parliamentary committee system seems to have been enlisted by government and opposition to debate the aid policy gap. In early December

Are the BRICS challenging or converging with the international development system? New paper from IDS. An important piece via the Developmental Leadership Program about how a focus on climate change adaptation may actually serve to undermine women's security in the Pacific. Only about 18% of

Technological innovations are increasingly being used in disaster response. But they can present their own challenges: here's 5 best practices to keep in mind (HT @whydev). On 'Development Drums', Owen Barder talks with Nina Munk about her new book The Idealist, about about Jeffrey Sachs and the

After much speculation, many sleepless nights and seemingly endless rumour mongering, the leader of the opposition in Vanuatu , Ham Lini, last week withdrew a motion of no confidence in the government led by Moana Carcasses Kalosil. The 'no confidence' dance is well rehearsed in Vanuatu

Good overview from Stephen Howes on the rhetoric and the reality of Australia's aid objectives. Curious about where Chinese Aid is spent in Africa?  Nice Infograhic. Inside the politics of breastfeeding promotion: good Impatient Optimists blog post on the Gates Foundation. Zimbabwean President

Somewhere high in the dent of the shale grey mountains is a narrow water course. More than a stream, but not quite a river, it flows for four months of the year through the canyons of the various offshoot valleys towards the flat sandy vistas of the lower Panjshir River. The river itself tracks a

On her first visit to Papua New Guinea as Australian foreign minister, Julie Bishop has reconfirmed the high priority the Australia-Papua New Guinea relationship has for Australian foreign policy and declared her deep affection for the country.  A frequent visitor to PNG as shadow minister,

Last year, AidData and the Center for Global Development launched a massive online database of China's development financing in Africa. At the time, many concerns were raised about its methodology and the headline figure reported extensively in the media. As I explained at the time, 'understanding

In what may be the clearest sign yet that Fiji Prime Minister Commodore Frank Bainimarama (pictured) intends to make good on his promise to hold elections in 2014, he has announced that he will resign as head of the military on 28 February and stand for election. Bainimarama has promised that his

Garth Luke from World Vision Australia writes: Thanks for your useful posts on aid. I had a read of the Maxwell article which you quote and I don't think I would characterise it as you have below: "In one of these contributions, the ODI’s Simon Maxwell considers how development ministries

The OECD's Development Assistance Committee (DAC) just released detailed final aid figures for 2012. The database is hard to navigate but DAC has provided us with a handy infographic to help us compare donor countries. 2014 set to be a good year for Latin America. New Gallup household income data

Reviving a mid-December tradition established by former foreign minister Alexander Downer, Julie Bishop has just completed a three-day whirlwind trip to Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Nauru. As a backbencher, Bishop was part of Downer's delegation in December 2002*, and just as Downer did, Bishop