By Dr Annemarie Reerink Although there has been much talk about women’s representation in Australia’s 47th Parliament, we have yet to hear how this government would prioritise local women’s leadership in our region. Yet, the political transition in Canberra and the new government’s aspirations for a “reset” with the Indo-Pacific region present a significant opportunity …
Author: Governance Practice
Grappling with localisation
By Graham Teskey My colleague Dr Priya Chattier and I have just published a working paper on the Abt Governance Soapbox Website, entitled “Localisation: what could it mean for contractors?”. We wrote this paper due to our increasing frustration with the sheer unreality of the literature (and speeches) emerging within the development community on the …
What does ‘inclusive growth’ mean for women with disabilities?
By Dulce Natividade Fátima da Cunha and Rebecca Devitt Magdalena Soares, a Timor Leste woman with a disability, knows how to be resourceful. Self-taught to read and write, she has never been to school. Yet Magdalena is determined to be the best version of herself. In Magdalena’s words, ‘people stare at me often because of …
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Yu Tru’: The scheme that could cut poverty in PNG, how industry ‘insiders’ tried to stop it and how a team of ‘outsiders’ used TWP to push back
by Tara Davda Why do ‘insiders’ resist new technologies? A new paper, Working Politically and Adaptively in Practice: The Case Study of ‘YuTru’, examines this question. Drawn from a series of interviews and key reports, it examines the ‘Yu Tru’ scheme (an Australian Government funded, now private sector-led, digital trust framework), and explores the obstacles …
Advancing the UK’s new aid agenda
By Graham Teskey FCDO/Flickr There has been much disgruntlement over the past year regarding the demise of UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), its take-over by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), and the savage cuts in the aid budget. As distant but interested observers, what can we be optimistic about? Before his ignominious …
How to do Adaptive Management in 15 easy steps – from a top new toolkit
This is the second part of a review of a new paper written by Graham Teskey and Lavinia Tyrrel. Find the first post on the Soapbox here. The review was written by Oxfam's Duncan Green and featured on the From Poverty to Power blog. Yesterday I summarized the thinking behind an important new toolkit on adaptive management. …
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Review of ‘Implementing adaptive management: A front-line effort. Is there an emerging practice?’
Oxfam's Duncan Green (From Poverty to Power) reviews Graham Teskey and Lavinia Tyrrel's new paper. In recent years, I’ve been one of a crowd of people thinking and pontificating about ‘adaptive management’. The debate has been rather dominated by academics and thinktankers, fond of hand-waving generalizations and rather better at taking down the bad stuff …
Accountability is the path to better governance in PNG
by Justice Gua When we look at progress in decentralisation in Papua New Guinea over the last 20 years – the sole continuous and overriding policy priority of successive governments – many challenges remain to improve downstream service delivery. Programming for “social accountability” shifts the focus from governmentto governance. It’s about the difficult stuff, even it’s …
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Accountability in PNG: Green for Go or Red for Stop?
By Graham Teskey. Accountability_in_PNG_by_Graham_Teskey Download
From anger to action: three things Australia must do at home to continue being a gender champion abroad
by Leisa Gibson and Lavinia Tyrrel Content warning: This post discusses sexual assault Anger. Frustration. Despondency. Trauma. Solidarity. These are the emotions we, and many other women like us, have felt in Australia this past fortnight. Recent events in Canberra have once again brought to light stories of violence, harassment and discrimination against women and …
PEA Update 7: Working politically and adaptively in practice.
Frameworks for applying political insight in practice. This blog forms part of a series of internal Political Economy Analysis (PEA) updates compiled by Priya Chattier/Tara Davda, with general wisdom by Graham Teskey and Lavinia Tyrrel. Thanks to Leisa Gibson/Priya for GESI support. We will aim to publish these every fortnight or so. Watch this space. …
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Reflections from an Ex-Vice President: The political / civil service divide
Image credit: Shutterstock; Illustration by POGO The relationship between public servants and ministers is critical to sound, ‘evidence-based’ policy making. Ideally, in a Weberian public service, officials feel empowered to speak truth to power, and offer free and frank advice without fear of bullying or other adverse reprisals. Sadly, as we have seen in both …
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Governance and Development Soapbox 