By Tara Davda and Priya Chattier Gender-responsive coronavirus policies are not only smart economics, but provide opportunities to do the right thing. As coronavirus spreads, government spending, and lots of it, has been the order of the day. Most of the analysis has focused on the economic impact of these responses, with scant attention paid to …
Five messages for the new Australian aid performance framework: a collective view from MERL wonks
By Lavinia Tyrrel, Lucy Moore, David Green, Damien Sweeney, Linda Kelly and Chris Roche At the recent 2020 Australasian AID Conference (AAC), we (the Abt Governance & Development Practice, Praxis, LTU and Clear Horizon) spent 90 blissful minutes locked away in a room full of practitioners and policy makers debating the strengths and weaknesses of …
If Randomised Control Trials (RCTs) improve global development outcomes – why then are we still fighting about them?
By Priya Chattier Have Randomised Control Trials (RCTs) contributed to reducing global poverty by generating rigorous scientific evidence which is turned into effective public policy? While the ‘randomistas’ proffer RCTs as the most rigorous approach to impact evaluation, there has been a pushback from critics on its gold-standard claim. This debate was at the heart …
Gender and COVID-19: Could coronavirus undo progress on Australia’s gains in ending violence against women and girls?
This is part one in a three-part gender and COVID-19 blog series. In recent weeks and months, we have watched the coronavirus pandemic sweep the globe and now reach the Pacific. While both women and men are susceptible to this virus, isolation and community lock downs create gender-specific challenges, particularly a heightened risk of domestic …
The Women’s movement: so much momentum, but still miles to go
By Priya Chattier In light of COVID-19, the 64th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) to be held in New York was cancelled. The annual event usually brings together delegates from member states to report on their commitments to Beijing Platform for Action (BPA) on gender equality and women’s empowerment. …
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The Worry of Governance: Coronavirus and Emergency Politics
By Graham Teskey You can also find a version of this blog on the Abt Associates website Pandemics are depressingly common in human history. We all know about the plague, cholera and the Spanish ’flu. What Dani Rodrick called ‘hyper-globalisation’ has stormed across the world since the end of the cold war and has resulted …
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Education in a pandemic: five messages that Australia’s aid program could consider now
By Reiko Take After much debate in the media about whether it is safe for the community, teachers and children themselves to continue going to school,[1] the Australian Capital Territory and Victoria in Australia are going ahead with student-free schooling. Whilst the symptoms and deaths of children from COVID-19 have been lower in comparison to …
In search of a strategic aid program: five messages for the new Australian aid policy
by Jacqui de Lacy and Lavinia Tyrrel The new international development framework presents a strategic choice for Australia: will it use its development program to ‘gain influence’, to counter the growing power of China? Or will it tackle deeper but more intractable drivers of regional conflict, economic stagnation and inequality? The decision about where Australia comes down on …
Why aren’t aid projects making better use of research and evidence, and what can we do about it?
By Lavinia Tyrrel and Priya Chattier Does research and evidence really make a tangible difference in Australian aid for development? Or are we just kidding ourselves that we are solving complex development challenges and making a lasting impact? And if we are, how can we make better use of research and evidence that not only …
Is there a role for donors in helping to change restrictive gender norms?
by Gillian Brown Reducing gender gaps and removing barriers to gender equality are good for economic and social development of countries, communities and families – the evidence is irrefutable: see, for example, here and here. Governments across the Southeast Asia region have made commitments to this effect, and donors have adopted different strategies and approaches to support them in …
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Hanging out in men’s bathrooms: is it time to rethink what ‘evidence’ means in international development?
What constitutes ‘sufficient evidence’ for aid program and policy makers to take decisions – about budgets, activities and so on – in aid and development? Have been talking about this with academics, officials, NGOs, project managers and donors for a number of years now. Ever since working with The Asia Foundation (TAF) where the question …
The one that Australian aid forgot? Trying to put the R back in MERL
By Priya Chattier and Lavinia Tyrrel Spent last week at the second of three workshops on how to better use research in aid and development[1]. Lots of good discussion, but seemed we were all tip-toeing around the elephant in the room: does anyone else care about this (prioritising research and analysis in aid) other than …
Continue reading The one that Australian aid forgot? Trying to put the R back in MERL
Governance and Development Soapbox 