Ashlee Betteridge

All articles by Development Policy Centre Blog

Interview with Daisy Plana of the PNG Family and Sexual Violence Case Management Centre on gender-based violence in PNG. Read the interview. Listen to a podcast.
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Beyond human rights: ending child marriage as a development imperative

Read the full post on child marriage on the Devpolicy Blog. (Image from Too Young To Wed)
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Australian aid and Cambodia’s troubled rail project

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has released a damning Compliance Panel Review (CPR) report of a controversial railway redevelopment project in Cambodia, which was supported by Australian aid. Activists have long challenged the project’s forced resettlement of thousands of poor families who had made makeshift homes along disused railway tracks, alleging inadequate compensation, threats, harassment,
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Soap operas and Sesame Street: examples for the Australia Network?

Why don’t Bananas in Pyjamas sleep under mosquito nets or speak Tok Pisin? They are a tropical fruit. If we are looking to shake up the Australia Network, could television be an area where development and diplomacy harmonise? Read the full post.
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Policy brief: A parliamentary committee on aid? Issues and options

Parliamentary committee inquiries into the Australian aid program over the last decade have been few and far between, even as the aid program has grown massively. A parliamentary committee or subcommittee could improve parliamentary oversight of the Australian aid program and deliver a number of benefits. I co-authored a policy brief with Stephen Howes on
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Why we need to talk about periods: menstrual hygiene management in development practice

Read the full post on the Devpolicy Blog. This post was also republished by Magdalene Indonesia. (Photo credit: Echawalu Photography)
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Why do some men rape? Looking for reasons behind gender based violence in Asia and the Pacific

Blog post on the findings of a new UN report on gender based violence in Asia and the Pacific. Read the post here.  
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SWEDOW cows and rotting apricots: bad food aid proposals gaining support of MPs

Just as the US is pushing to reform its long criticised food aid program, Queensland graziers and Victorian stonefruit growers are calling on the Australian government to purchase and send surplus livestock and agricultural products to developing countries in the name of ‘helping’ – and their idea is being backed by some federal MPs. Ashlee Betteridge writes
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An ex-volunteer’s perspective on improving the Australian Volunteers program

How can the Australian Volunteers for International Development program be improved? Ashlee Betteridge makes suggestions based on her own experience ahead of the ODE review of the program. Read the blog post. Listen to Ashlee’s interview on Radio Australia’s Pacific Beat.
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Orphanage tourism: cute kids, cashed up tourists, poor outcomes

At Tonlee Sap lake in Cambodia, apparently hope doesn’t float — except for those making a profit out of an exploitative form of orphanage tourism. What is the best policy approach to tackle the burgeoning orphanage ‘industry’ in countries like Cambodia? Read a blog post on this issue for the Development Policy Centre here.
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Asian Development Bank defies G20 — China Daily, AsiaOne, East Asia Forum, AFR

There’s a strong and welcome trend toward appointing the leaders of major international organisations through competitive processes-except in Asia. The Asian Development Bank, whose president has just stepped down to head Japan’s central bank, looks set to appoint its new president just as it has always done: in a hurry, behind closed doors, without competition,
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Avoiding four degrees

A four degree rise in the world’s temperature can be prevented, but it requires governments around the world to focus on greener, more inclusive growth, said a World Bank climate change expert at a Development Policy Centre event. “Climate change threatens to roll back decades of development and it will be the poor in every country who
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Development and Aid Buzzes

In my work at the Development Policy Centre, I was responsible for compiling the Development Buzz publications, as well as starting and compiling the Aid Buzz. Aid Buzz — round-up of the latest news in Australian aid. Example 1 Example 2 Example 3 Development Buzz- round-up of international development news and issues. Example 1 Example
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Engaging the public to tackle global poverty

Will oversimplified communications messages from NGOs lead to fundraising fatigue?  Recent reports from the UK hint that it might be time to move on from Live Aid styled messages. Read full blog post.
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The economic costs of gender-based violence

To mark the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence, I wrote this post for the Development Policy Centre Blog on the economic costs of gender-based violence.  The blog calls for more comprehensive measures of the full costs of violence at the macro and micro levels and for stronger policy action.
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Government aid agencies join private donations push

Development Policy Centre blog post on government aid agency attempts to boost fundraising figures for the Horn of Africa famine. The ongoing Horn of Africa crisis has spawned hundreds, if not thousands, of large and small fundraising campaigns around the world. However, the response has been sluggish and funds are still significantly below what is needed.
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Mixed messages: communicating the challenges of development

A complex Catch 22 situation exists in communicating the work of aid agencies and NGOs. Organisations face the question of whether they should clearly acknowledge the challenges in delivering aid and programs in developing countries, or solely present a positive, optimistic view of the transformative powers of development. It’s a difficult line to toe. While
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Peter O’Neill: revitalizing the Australia-PNG relationship

A summary and photographs of Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O’Neill’s speech at the Australian National University for the Development Policy Centre. “The O’Neill-Namah government has a solid development agenda and is looking to improve governance, invest in infrastructure and deliver better education and health services to Papua New Guineans. This was the crux
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Data dumping for development: Turning stats into stories

The World Bank’s open data policy recently celebrated its first anniversary. The New York Times  marked the occasion with a detailed story by Stephanie Strom, outlining the changing attitudes to transparency at the institution, and proclaiming that the Bank’s data could one day become more valuable than its lending and infrastructure projects. The availability of World Bank data
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