Development Policy Centre Podcast

Speakers: The Hon Sir Julius Chan MP, GCL GCMG KBE CBE, Governor, New Ireland Province, Papua New Guinea; His Excellency Mr Charles Lepani, Papua New Guinea’s High Commissioner to Australia; Mr Bill Farmer AO, Former Australian High Commissioner to Papua New Guinea. Born on a remote island to a migrant Chinese father and an indigenous mother, Sir Julius Chan overcame poverty, discrimination and family tragedy to become one of Papua New Guinea’s longest-serving and most influential politicians. His memoir, 'Playing the Game', is an important autobiography by one of most prominent and influential founding fathers of modern Papua New Guinea. This book launch was presented by the Development Policy Centre at Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University, in partnership with The Pacific Institute and The State, Society and Governance in Melanesia Program, ANU College of Asia & the Pacific.

Speakers: Sahar Yassin, Humanitarian Advocacy Lead, World Vision Jordan; Emma Wanchap, Acting Manager of Policy and Government Relations, World Vision Australia; Kevin Boreham, Lecturer, ANU College of Law; Stephen Howes, Director, Development Policy Centre. How do we even begin to think about the scale of the Syrian conflict, when so many lives are endangered every day? World Vision and Europe’s largest independent economics consultancy, Frontier Economics, released its report 'The Cost of Conflict for Children: Five Years of the Syria Crisis'. Panellists from The Australian National University and World Vision’s Jordan and Melbourne offices discussed the findings of this report, field perspectives and their implications for international law, policy and the operations of humanitarian organisations responding to this global crisis.

Research Officer Ashlee Betteridge interviewed Abdul Wasey Mullahzada, outgoing Medical Coordinator for Médecins Sans Frontières‎ (MSF) in Papua New Guinea, about MSF's new report on the family and sexual violence epidemic in PNG, ‘Return to Abuser’.

As the Syrian conflict reaches five years, much of the humanitarian world’s attention is focused on addressing the needs of the millions of refugees who have fled. But there are also many who have remained within Syria’s borders, and those who have stayed to serve them. Dr Lama Mouakea is among them. She is the Executive Director of the Syrian Family Planning Association (SFPA), a member association of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF). Camilla Burkot recently met with her to discuss SFPA’s work and the challenges that Syrian women and girls, in particular, are facing.

Over one million refugees and asylum seekers entered Europe in 2015, and over 100,000 entered in the first two months of 2016 alone, according to IOM estimates. What has the impact been on European aid budgets and policies? In this interview, Camilla Burkot discusses these and related issues with Wolfgang Jamann, Secretary General and CEO of CARE International. Blog available here: http://devpolicy.org/aid-refugees-europe-interview-wolfgang-jamann-20160309 Full transcript available here: http://devpolicy.org/pdf/blog/Transcript_interview-with-Wolfgang-Jamann-23Feb2016.pdf

Chair: Chris Roche, La Trobe University In this submitted interactive session panellists at the 2016 Australasian Aid Conference, panellists discussed and debated forces that have led to change and continuity, and the aid policy making process more broadly. Panellists: David Hudson, La Trobe University and ANU; Jo Spratt, ANU; Ben Day, ANU; and Jennifer vanHeerde-Hudson, La Trobe University and ANU.

Speaker: Dr Mark Dybul, Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Dr Dybul has worked on HIV and public health for more than 25 years as a clinician, scientist, teacher and administrator. After graduating from Georgetown Medical School in Washington DC, Dybul joined the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, where he conducted basic and clinical studies on HIV virology, immunology and treatment optimisation, including the first randomised, controlled trial with combination antiretroviral therapy in Africa. Dybul became a founding architect and driving force in the formation of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, better known as PEPFAR. After serving as Chief Medical Officer, Assistant, Deputy and Acting Director, he was appointed as its leader in 2006, becoming U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, with the rank of Ambassador at the level of an Assistant Secretary of State. He served until early 2009. Before coming to the Global Fund, Dybul was co-direc

This submitted panel, developed in conjunction with the Secure Livelihoods Research Consortium (SLRC), discussed livelihoods, basic services and social protection in conflict-affected situations in eight countries – DRC, Uganda, South Sudan, Sierra Leone, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka – based on a six-year panel research program led by a team based at the Overseas Development Institute (ODI).

Speaker: Kitty van der Heijden, Director, World Resources Institute Europe Office Topic: After the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and with massive funding commitments coming out of the Paris climate change discussions, the international community now faces the real work of translating vision and commitment into action. Some countries think the SDGs will make little difference to their development effort; others are anticipating major changes. So are the SDGs more than a PR device? Will they make a difference? What will public, private and non-governmental actors need to do better, more, or differently to achieve the SDGs? Strategy alignment, integration of economic, social and environmental dimensions into decision making and the respect of the core principles of inclusion will be key factors for success. In a universal framework, policy coherence for sustainable development, both domestic and international, is equally essential. What can we learn from the early adopters on the policy s

Speaker: Peter Varghese is the Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Mr Varghese took up his position as Secretary on 3 December 2012. Prior to that, Mr Varghese held a wide range of senior positions in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Canberra and overseas. He was Australia’s High Commissioner to India (2009 to 2012) and Malaysia (2000 to 2002), and also served in Tokyo, Washington, and Vienna. Mr Varghese was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 2010 for distinguished service to public administration, and was awarded a Doctor of Letters honoris causa by the University of Queensland in July 2013 in recognition of his distinguished service to diplomacy and Australian public service.

Speakers: Frank Jotzo, Crawford School (chair); Howard Bamsey, Adjunct Professor, Regulatory Institutions Network, ANU and formerly Australia’s Special Envoy on Climate Change; Jaehyoung Lee, Professor, Korea University School of Law and Legal Advisor to Korean delegation to UN climate change negotiations; Professor Stephen Howes, Director, Development Policy Centre, ANU. The Paris negotiations on climate change are a critical event for anyone with an interest in international development. This international panel, with leading analysts from Australia and Korea, analysed Paris outcomes and their consequences.

Speakers: Julia Newton-Howes, Chief Executive, CARE Australia; Eun Mee Kim, Dean and Professor, Graduate School of International Studies and Director, Institute for Development and Human Security, Ewha Womans University; Ye Jiang, Director of the Institute for Global Governance Studies, Shanghai Institutes for International Studies (SIIS); Professor, School of International and Public Affairs, Shanghai Jiao Tong University; Anthea Mulakala, Asia Foundation (chair). Are the new Sustainable Development Goals relevant for Asia? What if anything will they mean for domestic and development cooperation policies and practices of the Asian powers, such as China, Korea and Indonesia? What difference, if any, will the SDGs make for Asia?

Presentations: Designing context-relevant development programs: a problem-focused political economy analysis tool for aid practitioners (Lisa Denney, Overseas Development Institute); Everyday political analysis (David Hudson, University College London; Heather Marquette, University of Birmingham; and Sam Waldock, UK Department for International Development, Rwanda); How large, traditional aid programs can be politically smart: experience from Southeast Asia (Thomas Parks, DFAT); The evaluation of politics and the politics of evaluation: playing the game to change the rules? (Chris Roche, La Trobe University and Irene Guijt, Oxfam Great Britain). This panel discussion was part of the 2016 Australasian Aid Conference. All conference presentation slides available at: https://devpolicy.crawford.anu.edu.au/annual-australasian-aid-conference/2016/abstracts

Speakers: Terence Wood, Research Fellow, Development Policy Centre, and co-author of the 2015 aid stakeholder survey; Richard Moore, Former Deputy Director General, AusAID; Marc Purcell, CEO of the Australian Council for International Development; and Alison Baker, Principal, Development Assistance, GHD: Stephen Howes (chair). This session at the 2016 Australasian Aid Conference provided an opportunity for discussion of the results of the 2015 Australian Aid Stakeholder Survey, and more generally on Australian aid policy issues. All conference presentation slides available at: https://devpolicy.crawford.anu.edu.au/annual-australasian-aid-conference/2016/abstracts

Speakers: Gordon Hein, Timor Sharan, and Zack Warren, The Asia Foundation; Professor William Maley, Bell School, ANU; and Professor Stephen Howes, Development Policy Centre, Crawford School, ANU. The findings of The Asia Foundation’s latest Survey of the Afghan People are being released at an important moment for Afghanistan. Crucial questions of security, economic stability, and reconciliation face the administration of President Ashraf Ghani and CEO Abdullah Abdullah. An atmosphere of increasing civilian casualties and unrest threaten the fragile but significant progress the country has made toward peace and prosperity over the past decade. The 2015 survey, based on face-to-face interviews with a nationally representative sample of nearly 9,500 Afghan citizens, reveals their views on a range of issues including security, the economy, essential services, governance and political participation, corruption, justice, and gender equality. This year’s survey includes several new questions, including youth issues,

Bob McMullan, former MP and Parliamentary Secretary for International Development, and current Executive Director of the EBRD, delivered the dinner speech at the 2016 Australasian Aid Conference. The conference was hosted by the Development Policy Centre and The Asia Foundation at Crawford School of Public Policy, ANU, on 10-11 February.

Speaker: Terence Wood, Research Fellow, Development Policy Centre, ANU. In 2013 the Development Policy Centre conducted the first ever comprehensive survey of Australia’s aid stakeholders, canvasing their views of the Australian aid program. Since then Australian aid has changed dramatically: AusAID is no more, the focus of aid has shifted, and the aid budget has been cut dramatically. In 2015 the Centre re-ran the stakeholder survey, and the data from the two surveys provides a unique opportunity to examine the impacts of these changes. In his presentation Terence Wood revealed what the 2015 Australian aid stakeholder found. He looked at what has gotten better, and what has gotten worse, and offered suggestions for improving Australian aid. Find the survey results here: https://devpolicy.crawford.anu.edu.au/aid-stakeholder-survey/2015 Find all AAC2016 presentations here: https://devpolicy.crawford.anu.edu.au/annual-australasian-aid-conference/2016/abstracts

In this installment of Pacific Conversations, Tess Newton Cain interviews Fe’iloakitau Kaho Tevi about green growth, activism & Pacific regionalism. Fe'i Tevi is a Port Vila-based sustainable development consultant with experience in diplomacy, international relations and civil society activism and advocacy.

Vincent Bernard is the Geneva-based head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Forum for Law and Policy, and Editor-in-Chief of the International Review of the Red Cross. During his recent visit to Canberra as part of the ICRC’s global cycle on the principles guiding humanitarian action, Vincent sat down with Camilla Burkot to discuss the militarisation of aid and the role of humanitarian actors in contemporary conflicts.

On Wednesday 9 December 2015, the Development Policy Centre hosted a forum to discuss and debate two recent aid evaluations by DFAT’s Office of Development Effectiveness (ODE). The event addressed the issue of development partnerships with a focus on two recent ODE evaluations of the Australian NGO Cooperation Program (ANCP) and Australia’s non-core funding to the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank. The multilateral banks and NGOs represent two of the Australian aid program’s more important delivery partners, and the evaluations contain a number of important findings and recommendations. This recording is of the second session of the forum, discussing the evaluation of the Australian NGO Cooperation Program (ANCP). This forum was the latest in a regular series built around ODE evaluations. It was presented by the Development Policy Centre at Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University.