Context matters: unpacking gender equality in development

The World Bank reports that nearly 2.4 billion women globally do not have the same economic rights as men. Women are more likely to be impoverished than men, and these disparities are more pronounced in countries in the Global South. Even though international policies have been developed to promote gender equality, their impact is uneven. In today’s piece, Hilda Aboagyewaa Agyekum, PhD candidate at the Crawford School of Public Policy, ANU, examines the influence of culture and context on the interpretation and implementation of gender policies, drawing on examples from Africa.

Gender, IssuesPower to Persuade15 November 2023Gender Inequity, international aid and development, United Nations

International development and gender: A return of the “invisible” woman?

Dr Adrian Bazbauers (@AdrianBazbauers) of the Public Service Research Group, UNSW Canberra discusses his new analysis of how multilateral development banks approach gender.

Who matters at the World Bank?

Dr Kim Moloney (@Global_Academic) of Hamad Bin Khalifa University shares a preview of her new book Who Matters at the World Bank: Bureaucrats, Policy Change, and Public Sector Governance, which tells the story of civil servant influence and the rise of public sector reform at the World Bank (read a sample chapter here).

Solomon Islands-China security pact: A feminist foreign policy answer

The recently-negotiated pact between the Solomon Islands and China has been a high-profile point of contention in the lead-up to the Federal election. Much of the debate has been focused on what Australia did - or did not do - that has led to the Solomon Islands turning to China. In today’s analysis, Joanna Pradela (@JojoMaia) of the International Women’s Development Agency (@IWDA and @Equal_Insights) applies a feminist lens to consider how Australia could learn to be a better partner to its Pacific neighbours. This piece originally appeared in The Interpreter, published by The Lowy Institute (@LowyInstitute), and is republished with permission. You can view the article in its original format here.

Civil society participation in the UN Sustainable Development Goals

University of Queensland PhD candidate Joanna Horton (@joanna_horton) and ARC DECRA Senior Research Fellow Dr Kiah Smith discuss their research on civil society participation in the implementation of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. For more on their work, see Dr Smith’s DECRA website Fair Food Futures.

IssuesPower to Persuade14 February 2022international aid and development, United Nations

Gender in the 2019-20 Australian aid budget

During election season, and too often throughout the year, Australians are particularly focused on how government policy impacts on home ground - but Australia’s regional role in promoting gender equality and reducing poverty should also be a core consideration for voters. Years of cuts to what was already a modest aid budget is having a negative impact on women who are already in tough situations. While the government says it is prioritising gender equality measures, in today’s contribution to the federal election series Roslyn Dundas (@RoslynDundas) of Care Australia, and Caroline Lambert (@DocLambertSays), Alice Ridge (@AliceJaneRidge) and Elena Robertson, all of International Women’s Development Agency argue that women’s needs are not compartmentalised. This analysis draws on their report entitled ‘From rhetoric to reality: towards a feminist foreign policy’. This piece originally appeared on the DevPolicy blog.

The complex intersection between aid facilities and aid effectiveness

Are Australia’s aid facilities part of a “cartel of good intentions?” The Crawford School of Public Policy’s Stephen Howes unpacks the complex problem of aid facilities and their impacts on aid effectiveness.

Issues, Service DeliveryPower to Persuade3 May 2019international aid and development

How the Sustainable Development Goals can help change the way we evaluate Federal Budgets and election platforms

Election season is on us again, and Twitter feeds and daily news updates are full of potential elected leaders making policy promises and giving warnings about how the opposing parties won’t be able to bring us the Australia we need.

But how do we know what the Australia we need is? Depending on political leaning and personal values, this is going to vary from voter to voter. But when deciding on which policies to support, it can be useful to try and have a framework by which to evaluate platforms and the societies they are wishing to create. Megan Weier suggests that, if we want an Australia in which there is a ‘fair go for all’ (the classic Australian dream), the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a useful benchmark to look to.

Financing climate action in the Pacific: Why we need to move past solutions based exclusively on views from the top

Effective climate change action needs a lot of money. However, in the Pacific it is not just about delivering dollars. Kirsty Anantharajah gives us three key problems with global climate financing approaches, and offers three possible pathways out.

Where’s the Gender-osity? Women lose as the federal government reduces the aid budget to record lows

A fall-out from the Federal budget that is not on every Australian’s radar is the staggering cuts to the international aid program. In today’s piece, Stacey Batterham (@s_batt) of the Oaktree Foundation (@OaktreeAU) argues that a commitment to promoting gender equality via the Australian aid program is undermined by the dearth of funding available to programs that make a critical difference to women and their families.

Cuts to Australia’s aid budget impacts women

Under the Coalition Government, Australia’s International Aid budget has suffered unprecedented cuts, and is on target to soon fall to its lowest level on record – a fact few people are aware of. Additionally, since AusAID was merged with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) in 2013, aid is now directly and intentionally tied to Australia’s economic partnerships abroad. The gendered nature of poverty means the budget cuts and shift in focus are likely to unequally disadvantage women and their children. Today’s Scorecard analyses the gendered benefits and risks reflected in Australia’s aid budget.

Australia: The refugee policy chameleon

Large sections of the media focus too narrowly on the 'evils' of asylum-seeking. Gabriella Barnes from World Vision Australia's Field Partnerships team weighs in with a more sensible approach to the national policy debate. A better understanding of Australia's obligations to comply with the Refugee Convention--from a human rights rather than a security perspective--would be a good start. This is the last post in this week's series on asylum seekers.

A human rights lens on unemployment and welfare- to-work

Do we have the 'right' to a job, with decent working conditions, and to be protected from unemployment? In this post, social policy researcher Dr Veronica Sheen explores the humans rights implications of Australian labour market policy and activation schemes.

Doing Development Differently: Report back from the two mind- blowing days at Harvard

Duncan Green, strategic adviser for Oxfam GB and author of ‘From Poverty to Power’ offers some tips, observations and concerns about 'Doing Development Differently' that are likely to strike a chord for readers in the social and health sectors too.

Thanks to Duncan for permission to republish the article, originally published on his blog.

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