Comments

This is a great article and an issue that we in the development world need to face head on. The sexual misconduct scandal is an issue of power, and as you so well point out, Kuntala, so is the positioning of mostly western expatriates as the 'saviours' of the developing world. You are right that all forms of inequality and power abuse are closely connected. We need to face the issues of race and class if we are to achieve gender equality, for example, and poverty itself is a power relation. I do want to make one point, though, and that is that even though sex workers should be supported to achieve agency and power in their own lives and societies, and CARE Australia, for example, does exactly that in the countries where we work, this does not mean that the Haiti situation was anything but an egregious abuse of power. In emergency situations, in particular, INGO representatives are at least perceived to have power over the distribution of humanitarian resources. Lines are blurred between community members and direct program beneficiaries and sex workers themselves are likely to come from those communities. It would be nearly impossible for clients of sex workers to make a clear assessment of whether the worker was empowered or exploited, but in emergency contexts, there would be a good chance it was the latter. To be careless of these issues and to prioritise sexual entitlement is an unacceptable abuse of power. I take your point that the way expatriates (myself included) behave, too often blind to our own privilege, is an issue of power too. But we can't really compare someone dancing to the Bee Gees (horrible as that is!) to the abuse of power and assertion of male sexual entitlement that we have seen through the misconduct scandal. There is not just a spectrum -there are also red lines that cannot be crossed. We INGOs need to do better on all of these fronts, and to recognise our own place in the landscape of power.

Some say that in PNG rule of law is a joke. The Dr Albert Schram incident is to be expected given the trends of recent years. It's no surprise really. There are claims that PNG is ruled by a Mafia and that it is even turning into a Mafia state. Dr Schram's treatment by an apparatus of the state - the police - and the injustice meted out to him supports claims about a Mafia-like state. But this is not just about Schram. it far bigger than that. It's a reflection of the serious situation that the country is in as the rule of law deteriorates.

This is embarrassing for all stakeholders.

Loud & Clear! Thank you Mr. Stephen Howes

Thank you. A very thought provoking article.

Why does AU contunue to ignore that a Vanuatu private sector led initiative is already building a cable to SI without aid support? VU has awarded the cable supply contract to a USA supplier (not China). The enormous AU cable grant to SI and PNG is distorting the market.

Very well written, thank you. Self-awareness is one of the most important skills for an aid worker.

Excellent article!

I’ve been waiting for an article like this! Thank you especially for your explication of the immorality of non participatory development and for noting that the NGO sector repeatedly called sex workers in Haiti ‘prostitutes’. You are right, we weren’t shocked by Haiti but I was genuinely shocked by the sector’s representation of the women being ‘used’ by their staff. It was highly offensive and extremely disappointing from a feminist perspective.

To add to Peter's aid 'success' examples, microfinance has over more than 3 decades, developed into a widely used method for moving people out of poverty. By making small collateral free loans available to even the poorest people, families are given a dignified self-employment opportunity. It has been shown over the years that microfinance clients – mostly women - improve their living standards, educate their children and become respected members of their community. With persistent encouragement by NGOs, Australian aid has supported microfinance programs. I wonder if it still does?

Can I suggest a somewhat different slant to that question, which I do suggest should alternatively read: "when will the Australian public believe in the merits of Australia's aid" ? The big picture surely is the excuse given by the very Minister in charge of the aid budget - no increase, because the Australian people don't believe in it. Thus abrogating her role to argue in favour of her responsibilities. There does seem somewhat of a disconnect between the people who believe in aid and those who decide the aid budget, with the unbelievers seemingly in between. Result is - the aid budget keeps being cut, despite the appropriateness of your original question. There is rarely good news about successes in the outcomes from our aid budget - either from the Foreign Minister or her junior. Much less from the NGOs actually in the field spending money from Australia's aid budget. And by "good news", I mean publicly - in the media and other places where the voter can be informed. Not quietly circulating in NGO offices or DFAT cabinets. I once helped fund an AusAID program in Afghanistan - training women to be paralegals and act as defence counsel in domestic violence cases. I appreciate the security situation affecting civilians in that country, but that is just one example of what I would call success. At the time of the World Summit for Children in 1990, 40,000 children were dying each day from preventable causes. In 2016, UNICEF estimated that figure to be 15,000 https://www.unicef.org.au/about-us/media/october-2017/7-000-newborns-die-every-day-worldwide-despite-st Still preventable, but that does represent progress and results, by aid donors and aid recipients - over a long time. That's what's lacking in your comments above - bringing about changes for the better among the people of our world.

Thank you Julie and Nicola for helping us. Personally, being part of the process of this partnership initiative two years ago has helped me to understand my new environment now in a regional program that face the same situation like we had in 2015-2016. best