Pacific aid enters a New Era: Launch of the 2023 Pacific Aid Map update
The sixth annual Lowy Institute Pacific Aid Map reveals a new era of development financing that is characterised by new priorities and new financial instruments to support a Pacific region facing myriad challenges, including climate change.
On Tuesday 31 October lead researcher Alexandre Dayant launched the 2023 update to the Pacific Aid Map with a special video event. Alex was joined by Research Fellow Dr Jessica Collins and FDC Pacific Fellow Maholopa Laveil for a discussion facilitated by the Institute's Lead Economist and Director of the Indo-Pacific Development Centre Roland Rajah.
Covering 82 donors, tens of thousands of projects and activities, 70 million datapoints and more than US$44 billion in spending, the Lowy Institute Pacific Aid Map is the largest and most comprehensive database of Official Development Finance — grants, loans, and other forms of assistance — ever assembled for the Pacific. The 2023 update now includes data on every aid project in the Pacific Islands region from 2008 to 2021.
Participants
Alexandre Dayant is the Deputy Director of the Indo-Pacific Development Centre and Project Lead for the Lowy Institute Pacific Aid Map and Southeast Asia Aid Map. His work focuses on development economics and geoeconomics in both regions.
Dr Jessica Collins is a Research Fellow in the Pacific Islands Program at the Lowy Institute. She has undertaken research projects on the development benefits of Pacific remittances, and trends in financing to advance women’s development. She comments widely on Australia’s policy in the Pacific and publishes on Pacific women’s political representation.
Maholopa (Maho) Laveil is the inaugural FDC Pacific Fellow at the Lowy Institute. He works in the Institute’s Pacific Islands Program as part of a one-year secondment from the University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG).
Roland Rajah is Director of the Indo-Pacific Development Centre, a dedicated policy research centre within the Lowy Institute. A development economist by background, Roland has extensive experience working across both emerging Asia and the small island developing states of the Pacific, notably with the Asian Development Bank, Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), and the Reserve Bank of Australia.
