Book review : Humanitarian aid in post-Soviet countries : an anthropological perspective

Review of Laetitia Atlani-Duault, Humanitarian Aid in Post-Soviet Countries: An Anthropological Perspective. London & New York: Routledge, 2007, xiiþ146 pp., £75.00 h/b.

Towards using ICT to enhance flow of information to aid farmer sustainability in Sri Lanka

Farmers need information at all stages of the farming life cycle to make optimal decisions. The required information includes not only prior knowledge but also real time (dynamic) information such as market prices and current production levels. Some valuable information needed by the farmers is produced by government organizations and is available in different locations in different formats. Although farmer is the most important stakeholder in agriculture, there has not been much effort to provide the essential information to farmers on a real time basis. This lack of information is creating many difficulties for farmers as they are not being able to make the correct decisions relating to their farming activities. Through field studies we have identified information required by farmers at various stages of the farming cycle and official sources where this information is available. Next we developed an information flow model that connects various information sources to farmers’ information needs. Based on these findings we are now developing a mobile phone based information system to deliver the required information to farmers in real time.

The robust result in meta-analysis of aid effectiveness : a response to Mekasha and Tarp

In this response to Mekasha and Tarp (2013) we show that contrary to what they state, their study validates our basic analysis. They confirm that the literature finds that aid is of little economic importance in generating growth. The results also show that the literature systematically selects control variables for their effect on aid effectiveness. We argue that their choice of the random effects model is not appropriate for the problem at hand, and that the way they use multiple meta-regression analysis contradicts the robust results reached at the basic analysis.

Indigenous students' persistence in higher education in Australia: contextualising models of change from psychology to understand and aid students' practices at a cultural interface

The need to address the substantial inequities that exist between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians in higher education is widely recognised. Those factors that affect the performance of Indigenous students in tertiary education have been reasonably well documented across different institutions, disciplines, and programme levels but there has, to date, been less consideration of the processes by which Indigenous students either persist or desist in higher education. This paper aims to present a conceptual understanding of academic persistence that can inform the delivery of tailored academic support interventions to Indigenous students who are at high risk of leaving higher education.

Development aid and growth in transition countries

Empirical studies normally analyze diverse and heterogeneous groups of countries, producing very mixed evidence on the effectiveness of development aid in promoting growth. We focus on whether aid promotes economic growth in transitional economies. We find that aid, on average, has had a positive impact on growth for this specific group of countries. This result is robust to samples, estimators, and the use of alternate instruments to address endogeneity. Aid effectiveness is not conditional on good policy and there is little evidence of non-linear growth effects arising from aid.

Aid and institutions in transition economies

We investigate whether aid contributed to institutional development in transition economies. We find that aid flows have a positive effect on democratization, especially on constraints on the executive and political participation. At the same time, total aid has no effect on overall quality of governance, while US aid appears to have a negative impact on some dimensions of governance. Aid's differential impact on democracy and governance is consistent with uneven development of institutions and the democracy consolidation hypothesis. We also find that aid has a non-linear effect on democracy. Openness has a positive effect on both democracy and good governance. Oil resources have an adverse effect on democracy. Adult mortality, civil war and adherence to Islam are all detrimental to good governance.

Innovative delivery mechanisms: Australian aid partnership with churches in Papua New Guinea

The Australian Aid programme is currently valued at AUD5 billion. The majority of this aid flows to the Asia Pacific region with Papua New Guinea and Indonesia being the largest recipients. In addition to traditional delivery mechanisms-bilateral and multilateral-the Australian Government has piloted a small partnership activity with Churches in Papua New Guinea. This paper will consider this model and the benefit it brings. Possible extension of this partnership model to non-Christian religious faiths in other countries, such as Islamic nationwide organisations in Indonesia, is also discussed.

Delivering mental health first aid training in Australian workplaces: exploring instructors' experiences

 The impact of common mental illnesses in the workplace can be reduced by encouraging support from co-workers and promoting early professional help-seeking. The Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) course is an evidence-based effective program designed to encourage social support and early help-seeking in the general community. However, little is known about whether the course meets the needs of workplaces. The current study aimed to gain a better understanding of how the course is being delivered in Australian workplaces and invite feedback on how it could be tailored for this delivery setting. This study used a purpose-designed survey to explore 120 MHFA instructors’ experiences of delivering the course in workplaces. The results indicated that MHFA is most commonly deployed in the human service and education sectors to assist workers with helping clients, rather than helping co-workers. The results also suggest ways in which the MHFA course could be tailored for workplaces, as well as further support instructors require to deliver courses in workplace settings.