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.

US aid cuts won't hit Pakistan where it hurts

Washington’s decision last week to suspend $800 million in military aid to Pakistan should not have come as a surprise to anyone who has been following recent developments in the US-Pakistan relationship. But it is difficult to see what the US will gain from such a move.

The Pakistani leadership has expressed concern over US actions and the head of Pakistan’s intelligence services is now heading to Washington for high-level talks, but the prognosis remains poor for the relationship between the two countries.

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.

Scaling-up foreign aid : will the 'big push' work?

International donors are substantially scaling-up aid programmes. At the same time, there are widespread reservations over how much aid recipient countries can use effectively. Such concerns are supported by the aid effectiveness literature which finds that there are limits to the amounts of aid recipients can efficiently absorb. This article demonstrates that a ‘big push’ in foreign aid will not lead to diminishing returns as long as donors get the inter-country allocation of aid right. This is true even if donors provide aid at levels equal to the well-known target of 0.7 per cent of their gross national income

Aid allocation and fragile states

This chapter summarizes research on aid allocation and effectiveness, highlighting the current findings of recent research on aid allocation to fragile states. Fragile states are defined by the donor community as those with either critically poor policies or poorly performing institutions, or both. The chapter examines the research findings in the broader context of research and analysis on how aid should and is being allocated across all developing countries. Various aid allocation models and their implications for aid to fragile states are considered. The chapter also looks at types of instruments and their sequencing in fragile states.

Does aid improve democracy and governance? A meta-regression analysis

The paper provides a systematic and quantitative review of the empirical evidence on the effects of development aid on democracy and governance. We find that aid has had, on average, a zero or negative effect on democracy, except that it has had a positive effect on democratization in European transitional economies. Aid had a positive effect on governance during the Cold War period but has had no effect on governance in the post-Cold War period.

Can a modelling exercise be developed to aid and foster sustainable planning processes and guide the future growth of a small coastal Australian city?

Over the past few decades coastal cities around the world have grown at an incredible rate. With this growth have come major challenges relating to land use planning, social relationships, economic development, bio diversity and the ecological footprint. Three forces are working to influence the growth rate in coastal cities. They include: -population growth (i.e. the type and quantity of human demand for land), the existing and future properties of the land (i.e. current land status or changes due to nature and human activities), and finally technical changes to a land system (i.e. rezoning or the influence of other external factors). The goal of this research was to determine whether a planning framework could model the three (population growth, the existing and future properties of land and technical changes to a land system) variables in order to assist smaller councils undertaking long term land use planning decisions. The test site for the research was the City of Portland in western Victoria, Australia.

Ausaid and capacity building: sustainability of an education aid project

This thesis is concerned with the effects and sustainability of internationally funded schools in Indonesia that have been established by the AusAID. By exploring and reviewing the constraints in maintaining the sustainability of aid projects, this research provides an actual description of an education-based aid project in Indonesia in the post-funding period.