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From Rhency Legaspi on How Tuvalu is doing repatriation
Did the repatriation flight from NZ push through?
From Michael Maley on The diabolically difficult mid-term review
Actually, towards the end of my career I sought whenever possible to configure projects cheaply, and with the smallest possible foreign footprint. Partly that was to try to keep the cost under the AusAID threshold which took one from relatively un-bureaucratic work into the world of grandiose designs, reviews, reports, M&E matrices etc. But I also wanted to avoid the situation in which a large international team becomes a structure within a structure, talking among themselves rather than working with those they are supposed to be helping.
From Gordon Peake on The diabolically difficult mid-term review
Couldn't agree with you more, Michael. So much time spent on trying to measure the immeasurable.
One figure that sticks in my mind is 60% - the amount of time Martha McIntyre estimated she spent in her job in a police program writing reports and describing achievements. It doesn't seem a good use of anyone's time.
Thanks for the positive feedback
From Gordon Peake on The diabolically difficult mid-term review
Thanks so much, Stacey. I appreciate your kind feedback and will check out the Tonga report. And you are right: all credit to MFAT for putting the report on line. (By contrast, few reports of Australian funded policing programs make their way online)
From having received lots of private feedback on the blog, my sense is that this is not a problem restricted to law and justice programs alone! Some of the tales I heard were very much in the 'not sure whether to laugh or cry' category. All best, and thanks again
From Mike Rose on Food as if by magic: how can Australia thank its seasonal workers?
Hi Satish. Thanks for engaging. You're absolutely right that making sure our seasonal workers are paid and looked after properly has to be the first priority. As far as I can see, with the occasional unfortunate exception, so far the SWP has worked pretty well in making sure this happens, and now seems poised to grow further. This being the case, I hope that it will increasingly foster closer economic and person-to-person ties between Australia the Pacific- public recognition of the essential work that seasonal workers do could be part of that.
From Mike Rose on Food as if by magic: how can Australia thank its seasonal workers?
Hi Carol. People such as yourself who are willing to go the extra mile to help out are an often unheralded part of what makes the SWP possible- rural Australia at its best. Regulation and monitoring are essential, but a supportive community is necessary if either are to be really effective.
From Michael Maley on The diabolically difficult mid-term review
Thanks for an interesting post. One thing that has struck me over the years is that while most people agree that governance support is a long-term undertaking, people too often seek to meet bureaucratic requirements by specifying short-term, often quantitative, performance indicators. And too often, what's important isn't measurable, and what's measurable isn't important. For example, in the field in which I used to work, electoral assistance, by far the most crucial (though usually unstated) objective was to build a culture of honesty and independence, of the type which would cause an administrator faced with political pressure to stand up for proper practice. This is the sort of thing which can only be tested when it actually happens, and one lived in hope that it never would.
From Carol on Food as if by magic: how can Australia thank its seasonal workers?
Local communities can be of help. I sourced 12 blankets for Ni Van in the neighbourhood. I have requested they return them to me for storage for next winter.
From Mike Rose on Food as if by magic: how can Australia thank its seasonal workers?
Thanks Kate. Hopefully putting it up on the Development Policy blog is a good first step. We'll see where it goes from there.
From Mike Rose on Food as if by magic: how can Australia thank its seasonal workers?
Thanks for your comments Uday. I've just downloaded the NITI policy paper and will pursue with interest. The context is certainly different from that prevailing in Australia (the issue here tends to be more about the lack of labour than the lack of money), although as you point out the ethical challenges stemming from the invisible nature of much agricultural work are fairly universal.
From Walter Cameron Malau on Constituency Development Funds and electoral politics in Solomon Islands: part one