NEWS & EVENTS
Afghan utopia becomes a much grimmer reality
It was envisaged as an Afghan utopia for returned asylum seekers - a purposebuilt housing estate with running water, jobs, schools and small businesses on the outskirts of the capital, Kabul.Funded by Australian taxpayers for about $8 million, the AliceGhan project...
Rich companies bag $1.8bn in foreign aid
They have raked in $1.81 billion in taxpayer-funded contracts, but the lack of scrutiny of their profits is under challenge, as are the huge sums given to agencies such as the World Bank, which receives $450 million a year.Aid experts and the Opposition are demanding...
International Groups call on Vanuatu Government to respect rights of ni-Vanuatu and allow protests against WTO
The letter is being released in the lead up to International Human Rights Day on December 10th 2011 and comes after the Vanuatu Government for a second time refused a march permit on the grounds that it would cause instability in the governmentTo view letter please...
BIGGEST STUDY OF LARGE LAND DEALS TO DATE WARNS OF THREATS TO POOR – Four key failures of governance harm the rural poor in developing nations
More than 40 organisations collaborated on the Global Commercial Pressures on Land Research Project, which synthesised 27 case studies, thematic studies and regional overviews.The report also includes the latest data from the ongoing Land Matrix project to monitor...
Food for thought: exploring food security in the Pacific
The discussion paper raises several issues, including the need to improve and advocate using traditional techniques to reduce the dependency on governments and NGOs in times of natural disaster. Agricultural productivity has declined in previous decades...
Civil society statement to the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness
1. We value our inclusion as equals at the HLF-4 negotiating table alongside governments and donors; expect to replicate this practice at national levels, welcome the opportunity to join world leaders, governments, donors, parliamentarians, private sector and...
Guidelines to prevent land grabbing
“The threat of land grabbing has reminded us how vital access to land is for 500 million food-insecure households around the world,” UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food Olivier De Schutter said ahead of this month’s meeting in Rome of the UN Committee on World...
AID POLICY: Donors still far from transparent
The aid watchdog checked on whether donors publish information about their budgets, their allocation and procurement policies, or audit reports on their own performance. And what about their country programmes? Did they publish their strategies, projected budgets,...
Pacific warned of hidden dangers in Obama’s new TPP push
The free trade deal has been given new impetus at today's APEC meeting, in Hawaii, with United States President, Barak Obama, saying he wants to see a text for an agreement finished in 2012 and by Japan's decision to join the talks.At this stage, no Pacific Island...
AID/WATCH review of the Review : TRACKING THE AID REVIEW
AusAID has moved quickly to implement the ‘Australian Multilateral Assessment’, a process recommended by the Government’s Independent Review of Aid Effectiveness. This process is designed to assess multilateral institutions by ranking them against a...
AID/WATCH Fundraiser – People & Planet 2012 Diary & Wall Calendar Out Now
People & Planet is published by a partnership of 49 not-for-profit Australian social justice and environment organisations, and raises funds for the work of these organisations in promoting a just, sustainable world.Perfect for daily use, both the diary and...
People, not military objectives, should be the focus of aid to Afghanistan
Over the years, we've seen some tremendous progress. The number of children in school has increased from 1 million under the Taliban to 7 million today, a number unmatched in Afghanistan's history. The number of girls in school has increased from almost nothing to...
A new direction for international co-operation
One of the many revolutions taking place in the world of international aid and co-operation is the rebirth of a movement that challenges what is now generally described as the 'traditional' aid model. Instead of a vertical donor-recipient approach to aid giving,...
Lost at sea – Exporting free trade policy to the Pacific
All the textbook theory on free trade is in stark contrast to the practical reality of Pacific lives. Small populations, long distance from markets and low economies of scale, all put the Pacific at a disadvantage when it comes international competitiveness. Of course...
MDG targets are overlooking inequality
The incomes of the richest sections of society are soaring in the UK, China and India, and in most other countries as well. The poorest groups are seeing slow improvements at best, and often decline. Recent estimates indicate that at the current rate it will take more...
Media Release: Will Australia and New Zealand really allow sovereignty to Pacific Countries on Trade Decisions
AFTINET and AID/WATCH welcome the clear indication that Australia and New Zealand, in noting without objection the Pacific Leaders Meeting outcomes, has accepted the right of the Forum Island Countries to have sovereign control over decisions about the Office of the...
Island Leaders Drowned Out At Forum
Speaking to journalists at last week’s Pacific Islands Forum, President Anote Tong of Kiribati had a few words to say about the problems facing the islands of the South Pacific.'You know what the reality of life is? In our life, there will always be...
Pacific islands accuse Australia’s aid agency of coercion
The confidential documents show Pacific island countries could abandon trade talks at a regional leaders' forum next week unless Australia stops pressuring the funding of Pacific trade negotiators.Prime Minister Julia Gillard is expected to attend the leaders' summit...