Comments

This provides a good basis report for further recommendations and decision making. Is this data survey inclusive of participants in remote areas accessible to Facebook?

Thanks for the very interesting blog post and congratulations on the quick turnaround of a survey of Facebook users in Papua New Guinea. Thanks also for the note at the end of the blog about how the survey was conducted. Do you have any information on the demographics of the survey respondents? For example, the breakdown of those in rural areas and urban areas, or the level of education. Thanks again. Dr Amanda H A Watson

Bula and Kia Ora Ryan, Is unsure whether your position is based purely on your research or you have stats | data to back your argument though the points I have raised remain as its common knowledge amongst Indigenous Fijian Communities both in Australia and Aotearoa NZ that some of these workers are plucked from Rural Indigenous Fijian Villages and we get to hear their personal stories in our Community Gatherings and via ON AIR Radio commentaries in Vosa vaka-Viti.

Thanks, Steven. Informative.

Thanks, Stephen for cutting through the mud. I appreciate your analysis! The 0.18 club is a grim one to be in indeed.

Thank you for your kind words and thoughtful question, Peter Graves. I am glad you found the article compelling. I will translate it into Pashto or Dari to ensure broader accessibility.

Congratulations to Matiullah Qazizada for this well-argued defence of educating Afghan girls. Will it be translated into Pashto and Dari, for local consumption? "The prohibition of girls’ education beyond Year 6 imposes a profound burden on Afghan society and the economy." It certainly does.

Thanks for publishing. I noticed that the BRAC report made no explicit comment on its work on microfinance, otherwise its oldest project: "Microfinance, introduced in 1974, is BRAC's oldest programme. It spans all districts of Bangladesh.[ It provides collateral-free loans to mostly poor, landless, rural women, enabling them to generate income and improve their standards of living. BRAC's microfinance program is estimated to give out around the equivalent of one billion dollars a year in loans." Are BRAC's microfinance loans underpinging this part of the current Brief: 1 in every 4 households who lifted themselves out of extreme poverty in Bangladesh in the last 13 years did so with Australia’s support. Approximately four million households lifted themselves out of extreme poverty in 2012-2024, It would be useful to remember that 20 years ago: 2005 was the International Year of Microfinance - Bangladesh's interim head of Government, Mohammad Yunus, being a well-known pioneer of microfinance.

Thanks Stephen - always good to read your analysis. I was rather disppointed to see - at the end - what should be the main outcome of all of Australia's budget "spending" - what did it achieve. How effective was it in achieving program objectives ? "now that's effective aid" should be asserted by formal evaluation of outcomes, even if the Government of the day/DFAT clearly wasn't so interested when it abolished the (former AusAID's) Development Effectiveness Committee in 2020. Having DFAT's Development Effectiveness and Enabling Division as an "ordinary" Division in one of Seven departmental Groups displays "just another bureaucratic organisation" approach. The Division in its entirety should be separated and report direct to the Secretary. And with respect, the amount of the Government Budget money allocated to Australia's aid (either up or down) is really not the main game. What demonstrable outcomes among intended recipients did those expenditures achieve ? Some alternative thoughts about the focus on results from our important aid expenditures.

I totally agree with this article and I think NCDC should take note of this issues and concerns raised as well as stats shown. Well done to the authors.

Thank you for your significant contribution to my bank of knowledge as a future leader of PIF.

What about this coming councillors' and presidential elections, is it or is it not constitutional?