Aid to conflict-affected countries : lessons for donors

Investigates how aid might prevent conflicts from breaking out or becoming worse.

Aid to conflict-affected countries : lessons for donors

The first section looks at the implications of conflict for aid effectiveness and selectivity. We argue that, while aid is generally effective in promoting growth and by implication reducing poverty, it is more effective in promoting growth in post-conflict countries. We then consider the implications of these findings for donor selectivity models and for assessment of donor performance in allocating development aid among recipient countries. We argue that, while further research on aid effectiveness in post-conflict scenarios is needed, existing selectivity models should be augmented with, inter alia, post-conflict variables, and donors should be evaluated on the basis, inter alia, of the share of their aid budgets allocated to countries experiencing post-conflict episodes. We also argue for aid delivered in the form of projects to countries with weak institutions in early post-conflict years. The second section focuses on policies for donors operating in conflict-affected countries. We set out five of the most important principles: (1) focus on broad-based recovery from war; (2) to achieve a broad-based recovery, get involved before the conflict ends; (3) focus on poverty, but avoid ‘wish lists’; (4) help to reduce insecurity so aid can contribute more effectively to growth and poverty reduction; and (5) in economic reform, focus on improving public expenditure management and revenue mobilisation. The third section concludes by emphasising the fact that there is no hard or fast dividing line between ‘war’ and ‘peace’ and that it may take many years for a society to become truly ‘post’-conflict’. Donors, therefore, need to prepare for the long haul.

Contribution of Australian cardiologists, general practitioners and dietitians to adult cardiac patients’ dietary behavioural change

Aim:  To investigate the use of behavioural change techniques by cardiologists, general practitioners and dietitians in adult cardiac patients within 12 months of their cardiac event.
Method:  Quantitative cross-sectional surveys. Frequency analyses were conducted on the respondents' answers to questionnaire items. Chi-squared test of independence compared responses of the three professional groups on the questionnaire items. Analyses of variance were conducted to explore the impact of the independent variables: age, sex and time worked on the behavioural change techniques used by the respondents.
Results:  The respondents included 248 general practitioners (30% response), 189 cardiologists (47% response) and 180 dietitians (60% response). General practitioners and cardiologists acted mainly as advocates for dietary change in the dietary management process. Dietitians provided nutrition knowledge and a range of techniques to assist dietary behavioural change. Cardiologists and dietitians shared little nutrition information with general practitioners (cardiologists with general practitioners = 8%, dietitians with general practitioners = 49%).
Conclusion:  The present study shows that cardiac patients may have insufficient access to knowledge of nutrition and techniques to assist them with dietary behavioural change.

The continued underrepresentation of girls in post-compulsory information technology courses : a direct challenge to teacher education

The participation rates of girls in post-compulsory information technology courses of Australian universities and high schools have remained low (less than 30%), despite three decades of research and analysis. In seeking to better understand this phenomenon, this paper draws upon data collected during an Australian Research Council Linkage project to investigate first, the reasons that teachers and students in contemporary Australian high schools put forward to account for girls' underrepresentation; second, the assumptions about gender that underpin these explanations; and third, the extent to which teachers appear able to respond to the full range of factors shaping girls' decision making. The paper argues that attempts to improve girls' participation rates might continue to falter unless teacher education programs explicitly prepare teachers to conceptualise educational reforms based on understandings of post-structural perspectives on gender; perspectives that challenge the more common explanations for girls' behaviour associated with both essentialist and socialisation mindsets.

Hurdling the barriers : enabling student pathways from VET to higher education in building and construction management

Building effective pathways for students to transfer from and between education sectors and qualifications has been the subject of extensive research, policy development and practice over the last 20 years, both in Australia and internationally. Different researchers and policy-makers have examined this topic from various angles, but all from the perspective that improved pathways constitute an essential feature in a more flexible and integrated tertiary education system.