By Graham Teskey This blog can be downloaded as a pdf at the bottom of this post. ‘Good’ governance—a mix of liberal democracy and free market institutions—is often claimed to be necessary for poverty reduction, growth and development1. Abt Associates does not subscribe to this view for the reason that there is no evidence to support …
Tag: development
Digital Solutions in Health: why Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning should be a critical part of Pacific countries’ investment
Didar Ali, Technical Advisor – Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning The unrecognizeable medical staff uses digital tablet to review medical chart. I was pleased to attend the three-day Indo-Pacific Digital Health Users Forum in Fiji last week, where I learned about the increased use of technology in the health sector, the Pacific context and the …
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
Are we divorced yet – or just arguing?
Somebody once said (George Bernard Shaw or Oscar Wilde would be pretty good guesses), that America and England are two countries separated by the same language. I have similar sensations on the (thankfully few) occasions I attend annual conferences on this, that or the other. As the Australian National University’s (ANU) Annual Australasian Aid Conference …
Write for us
We are always looking for exciting guest content. We publish commentary on official development assistance, foreign aid, governance, economics, corruption, foreign policy, and all things relating to developing countries. Perhaps you have some research that you’d like to share, or an opinion piece on the politics of development? Maybe you were inspired by a book …
Bushfires and the Pacific: lessons for Australia’s new aid policy?
Bushfires and the Pacific. Two things that rarely go together in the same sentence. Yet the last few weeks have seen support for Australian communities devastated by fire emerge from – what some may see as – unexpected quarters. Support was expressed by Fiji’s Prime Minister on social media. Vanuatu has committed around 250,000 AUD …
Continue reading Bushfires and the Pacific: lessons for Australia’s new aid policy?
Theory of Change and Theory of Action: What’s the difference and why does it matter?
I have been fortunate enough to spend much of the last three months working on the designs of several health and governance programs across PNG, South Asia, and Africa. One thing that has struck me, regardless of which donor or country we work in, is the ongoing confusion in the aid industry regarding theories of …
Boundary riding, dual worlds and critical friends: reflections from the field
Ayesha from Papua New Guinea and Lilis from Indonesia* I sat down with Ayesha and Lilis (two rising stars from Abt-managed Australian Government funded aid projects in Indonesia and PNG) and said “tell me something interesting”. I was not disappointed. I was stuck by Ayesha’s idea of 'boundary riding’. Ayehsa – herself an Australian-Papua New …
Continue reading Boundary riding, dual worlds and critical friends: reflections from the field
Take-up and Doubt: where have we got to on Thinking and Working Politically?
By Duncan Green of Oxfam and the brains behind From Poverty to Power Spent yesterday at a Washington workshop on ‘From Thinking Politically to Working Politically’, organized by Abt Associates, whose Graham Teskey is one of the TWP gurus. What struck me most was the combination of the spreading acceptance of TWP approaches within the aid …
Continue reading Take-up and Doubt: where have we got to on Thinking and Working Politically?
Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning for Complex Programs in Complex Contexts: Three Facility Case Studies
By Tara Davda and Lavinia Tyrrel Aid is complex, and it is delivered in complex contexts. Any seasoned development practitioner would agree with this. For most of us, aid is about supporting positive change, and change necessarily means a renegotiation of power and resources. It means understanding the interests, motivations and incentives of those with …
Women in the Australian international aid sector
*Blog originally posted on 8/3/19 (International Women's Day) Today is International Women’s Day (IWD). A day to celebrate women’s achievements, and forge a more gender-balanced world. Abt Associates’ aid programs overseas are marking this day with events in country. These events bring focus to the tireless efforts of the men, women, local organisations, governments, donors …
Continue reading Women in the Australian international aid sector
Getting Past the Rhetoric #2: Managing for ‘Thinking and Working Politically’ in Large Facilities
The first blog discussed what donors could be looking for at tender, to ensure bidders can actually ‘do TWP’ in practice. This blog looks at what it takes for donors to incentivise TWP once implementation has begun. Drawing on our experiences mobilizing and managing three big facilities in Indonesia, Timor Leste and PNG, here’s what I …
Governance and Development Soapbox 