- Stephen Howes provides suggests how to reform the DFAT bureaucracy to improve the profile and performance of Australian aid.
- The paradox of connectivity, jobs destruction caused by technology, and insufficient education are World Bank President Jim Yong Kim’s three main worries for the year ahead.
- The Islamic Development Bank and the World Bank launched a report on the benefits of Islamic finance for aid and development projects, with a particular focus on infrastructure.
- The Jalalabad office of Save the Children in Afghanistan was attacked last week by ISIS, leaving six dead. As a result, humanitarian organisations are reassessing their presence in the region.
- An article from the Centre for Global Development argues that Nobel Prize winner Angus Deaton misrepresented World Bank data on the Global Poverty Line in a recent New York Times piece. Deaton stated that 5.3 million Americans were living below the World Bank's absolute poverty line, and that the US should redirect more of its foreign assistance to domestic causes to help reduce this number.
- Tess Newton Cain reviews Jack Corbett’s recent history of Australian aid, which reveals how deeply the fortunes of the aid program have been tied to political realism.
- The Economist describes how behavioural insights can enhance labour mobility in Bangladesh, encouraging farmers to work in the cities while waiting to harvest rice at home.
- According to the latest UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific report on sustainable energy, the region is on track with respect to energy access, energy efficiency, and renewable energy targets under Sustainable Development Goal 7.
Aid and development links: DFAT bureaucracy, Islamic finance, Americans in poverty, and more
Links from across the aid and development fields.
Sir Angus Deaton speaking on the US opioid crisis at the Brookings Institution, November 2017 (Photo: Brookings/Flickr)
Published 29 Jan 2018
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