Aid – Neena Bhandari

Rich Asia Pacific nations rank poorly on development policies

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 21.09.2018 (SciDev.Net): The richer Asia-Pacific countries and the US do poorly on the 2018 Commitment to Development Index (CDI), which ranks 27 wealthy countries according to how well their aid, trade, environment and migration policies support low and middle-income countries in poverty alleviation, good governance and security.

Published annually by the Center for Global Development (CGD), the index is based on benefits policies of some members of the OECD’s (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) Development Assistance Committee provide to about five billion people living in poor countries.

New Zealand ranks 13th, the highest ranked Asia Pacific country, Australia 14th, the US 23rd, Japan 24th and South Korea comes last at 27th in the CDI released on 18 September by the CGD, a nonprofit think-tank with offices in London and Washington DC.

Continue reading on SciDev.Net Asia & Pacific Edition

© Copyright Neena Bhandari. All rights reserved. Republication, copying or using information from neenabhandari.com content is expressly prohibited without the permission of the writer and the media outlet syndicating or publishing the article.

It’s not just about more, but better aid

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 19.08.2010 (IPS): Australia’s foreign aid budget is likely to double by 2015, but civil society groups say this is far from enough if it is to keep to its “fair share” of commitments to poorer countries.

In fact, they would like the government – including a new one that may come after the Aug. 21 polls – to commit not only to meeting the yardstick of aid funds reaching 0.7 percent of Gross National Income (GNI) but to having better- quality official development assistance.

The 72-member Australian Council for International Development (ACFID), an independent association of Australian non-profit aid organisations, is spearheading calls for political parties to commit Australia to playing its full part in helping poorer countries achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a set of development targets from maternal mortality to education that the world’s governments pledged to meet by 2015. Continue reading →