admin
Popular articles by admin
All articles by admin
Responding to family and sexual violence in Papua New Guinea to advance human rights
Ashlee co-authored a submission with Fiona Gunn of Femili PNG to the 2020 inquiry of the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Joint Standing Committee into the human rights issues of women and girls in the Pacific. Their submission focused on the response to family and sexual violence in PNG, and how Australia could support local
Continue reading...
Will ScoMo’s Pacific step up be an aid budget step back?
Analysis of the government’s launch of the Pacific Step-Up, co-authored with Matthew Dornan. Read blog >>
Continue reading...
Submission to DFAT’s Soft Power review
Ashlee authored the Development Policy Centre’s 2018 submission to the DFAT Soft Power review. Read the submission >>Read the related blog post >>
Continue reading...
Why Indonesia is right to limit NGOs post-disaster
Ashlee Betteridge writes on the recovery from the 2018 earthquake and tsunami in Sulawesi, and the government’s attempts to control an influx of foreign NGOs. Read blog >>
Continue reading...
Parliamentary aid oversight: time for a new approach
Co-authored with Stephen Howes, this blog post further analysed our work on parliamentary aid oversight. We were invited to parliament to speak about the issues outlined with the Foreign Affairs and Aid Subcommittee of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade. read blog >>
Continue reading...
Australian Aid Tracker
Launched in January 2016, the Australian Aid Tracker website draws on a range of data and Devpolicy analysis, and uses a variety of visualisation and charting tools to help bring the numbers on Australian aid to life. It’s an independent, user-friendly and up-to-date look at Australian aid. Ashlee Betteridge created and built the aid tracker site, with
Continue reading...
Evidence-based policy making in the tropics
Ashlee was a co-author of a chapter in the book ‘Hybrid Public Policy Innovations: contemporary policy beyond ideology’ (Routledge, 2018) with UPNG colleagues on evidence-based policymaking in developing countries. Read the summary blog here >>Read the discussion paper here >>Book details >>
Continue reading...
Public interest journalism and regional interests: implications for the Pacific and Australian aid
Ashlee made a submission to the 2017 Senate Select Committee on the Future of Public Interest Journalism. Read submission >>Read summary blog post >>
Continue reading...
Policy brief — Communication post-integration: reloading Australia’s efforts
In August 2016, Ashlee authored a Development Policy Centre policy brief titled ‘Communication post-integration: reloading Australia’s efforts’. The brief looked at why it is important to invest in aid communication, with a focus on web and social media, and gave suggestions for how DFAT can do better. It included qualitative and quantitative analysis of aid
Continue reading...
Communications for protection: a three-minute aid pitch
At the 2017 Australasian Aid Conference, a plenary session called ‘The three-minute aid pitch’ put nine proposals head to head, with the audience voting for their favourite. Out of the nine competitors, Ashlee won with a third of the audience vote with her pitch on the importance of improving communications on the aid program, particularly
Continue reading...
Outsourced labour: international surrogacy and women’s rights
Ashlee Betteridge writes on international surrogacy, and whether commercial surrogacy in a poor, developing country can ever be a fair or acceptable option. Read the full post.
Continue reading...
Global Gag Plus, family planning and Australian aid
Ashlee Betteridge and Camilla Burkot write on the US decision to reinstate the Global Gag Rule, and urge Australia not to follow suit. ‘Australia must stay strong and stick to the current family planning guidelines that put women’s empowerment at the forefront. It should also consider increasing the percentage of aid spending that goes towards
Continue reading...
Wonder Women aren’t (just) the stuff of fiction
Camilla Burkot and Ashlee Betteridge discuss the UN appointment of Wonder Woman as an ambassador for gender equality. ‘Why celebrate a cartoon character when there are so many real life women heroes (or, should we say, sheroes)? And why resort to tokenism via an online mascot when there are so many avenues for real and
Continue reading...
Australian development NGOs: the future is fragmented
Should more Australian development NGOs be merging to increase revenue and reduce competition? Ashlee Betteridge and Stephen Howes discuss. Read the full blog.
Continue reading...
Global Fund round five: Australia keeping up
Analysis with Camilla Burkot of the latest replenishment of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Read the full blog.
Continue reading...
Digital disruption and development: a tool but no silver bullet
A blog post based on my participation in a panel at ANU Asia-Pacific Week 2016. “…in development, it is important to recognise that digital disruption presents both challenges and opportunities. And like any part of development practice, it needs to be well-handled to see positive results.” Read full post.
Continue reading...
No orphanages, or just ‘good’ ones? Books and controversies from Cambodia’s Australian orphanage doyennes
Ashlee writes on Cambodia’s orphanage problem, the push to end residential care, and a new book by a high-profile Australian who has changed her view on the orphanage model. >> Read the blog
Continue reading...
The new Senate crossbench and aid
Ashlee summarised the views of the likely members of the Senate crossbench on Australian aid, climate change and refugees following the July 2016 Federal Election. >> Read the post (Photo credit: The Skewer)
Continue reading...
Are PNG’s family and sexual violence police units working?
Ashlee summarised and assessed a recent evaluation of PNG’s family and sexual violence policing units on the Devpolicy Blog. Read the full blog post here.
Continue reading...
Scholarships and women’s leadership: power, privilege and measurement
Ashlee analysed a recent evaluation of the impact of Australia Award scholarships on women’s leadership in developing countries. While overall, she felt the evaluation was positive, she highlighted gaps in the analysis and in the use of tracer studies of former scholarship recipients. Read the full blog post here.
Continue reading...
Debating the point of international volunteering
Ashlee participated in a panel event at the University of Melbourne on 19 November 2015, hosted by the Australian Red Cross, to debate the merits of international volunteering. The event was titled ‘Dispelling the White Knight Complex’. Panellists included: Marc Purcell, ACFID; Peter Devereux, Curtin University; Ashlee Betteridge, Development Policy Centre; and Chrisanta Muli, Oxfam Australia. The event was chaired
Continue reading...
The persistently high cost of Pacific remittances
With Stephen Howes, Ashlee analysed the World Bank’s Remittance Prices Worldwide database to show that, despite efforts by government in Australia and NZ, the cost of sending remittances to Pacific island countries had not decreased in more than two years. Read the full blog post here. Ashlee also gave two radio interviews on the findings
Continue reading...
Women, the workforce, resources and violence: getting PNG companies to respond
Ashlee interviewed Dr Linda van Leeuwen on the role of the private sector in combatting and responding to family and sexual violence in Papua New Guinea. Read the full interview on Devpolicy Blog.
Continue reading...
The SDGs, gender and Beyoncé: feminist, but not flawless
In a fun take on gender in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs, now known as The Global Goals), Ashlee draws inspiration from a Beyoncé song to analyse the feminist credentials of the goals. The verdict? The goals are feminist, but not flawless. And there is much work to do if they are to achieve their ambitions
Continue reading...
Fifty years of coordination against the odds: a history of ACFID
On the Devpolicy Blog, Ashlee reviews a new book by ANU academic Patrick Kilby on the history of the Australian Council for International Development. Read the review here.
Continue reading...
Coverage of cuts to Australian Volunteer program in 2015 budget
Ashlee analysed the impact of the 30 per cent cut to the Australian Volunteers for International Development in the 2015 Federal Budget on the Devpolicy Blog. In an analysis piece, she looked at what the cut could mean for the future of the program. “Consolidation seems to be the only logical step. But even then,
Continue reading...
Women’s economic empowerment and Australian aid: more work to be done
Ashlee Betteridge and Stephen Howes review the Office of Development Effectiveness Evaluation on women’s economic empowerment and Australian aid. Read the full post here.
Continue reading...
Dame Carol Kidu on why things are getting tougher for PNG’s women
Ashlee interviewed Dame Carol Kidu, a tireless campaigner for the rights of women and girls in Papua New Guinea, in October 2014 for the Devpolicy Blog. Read the full interview here.
Continue reading...
Coverage of gender-based violence issues in PNG and the Pacific
Through the ‘In Brief’ section of the Devpolicy Blog and interviews, Ashlee has been covering the latest news and research on gender-based violence in PNG and the Pacific region. Interview examples: Voice and agency: Jeni Klugman on the World Bank’s gender empowerment report (23 October 2014) PNG’s violence epidemic and the medical response: in conversation with
Continue reading...
Book review: Indonesia Etc. by Elizabeth Pisani
A recent book review of Indonesia Etc. for the Devpolicy Blog. Elizabeth Pisani, a former newswire journalist who was based in Jakarta during the Suharto era before making a career change into epidemiology, has previously brought us The Wisdom of Whores: Bureaucrats, Brothels, and the Business of AIDS. Her latest offering, Indonesia Etc.: Exploring the Improbable Nation, takes
Continue reading...
Indonesia, Australia and aid
Ashlee wrote a popular and widely circulated op-ed style piece for the Devpolicy Blog, after aid to Indonesia was implicated in the diplomatic fallout surrounding the executions of two Australians in Indonesia for drug trafficking. Read the full piece here. It was also republished on the website of the College of Asia and the Pacific at ANU.
Continue reading...
Coverage of developments in Australian aid
Through the ‘In Brief’ section of the Devpolicy Blog, Ashlee regularly covers the latest developments in Australian aid and development policy. Some examples: International development and Pacific elevated in Turnbull reshuffle (20 September 2015) Julie Bishop on the aid cuts: “fair and appropriate” (19 May 2015) More aid cuts? It’s news to Julie Bishop (23 March
Continue reading...
Why is Timor-Leste trying to restrict the media?
This blog post analyses the proposed media law in Timor-Leste, which some commentators fear threatens press freedom, in the context of the wider challenges facing the Timor-Leste media. Read the full post on the Devpolicy Blog.
Continue reading...
Combatting the family and sexual violence epidemic in Papua New Guinea: submission to parliamentary inquiry
Minister for Foreign Affairs, The Hon Julie Bishop MP, asked the human rights subcommittee of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade to inquire into and report on the human rights issues confronting women and girls in the Indian Ocean – Asia Pacific region. Given the wide scope of the terms of
Continue reading...
Australian aid and the Asia Pacific: how much will change?
An overview of the recent developments and changes in Australian aid for the cogitAsia blog at the Center for International & Strategic Studies. Read the full blog post here.
Continue reading...
Hi, I’m Ashlee.
Welcome to my online portfolio. I am an experienced writer, communicator, researcher and project manager with a strong interest in international aid and development policy and the Asia-Pacific region. I currently work part-time as an independent development consultant, and part-time as the Communications and Visibility Manager for the Australian Humanitarian Partnership, a DFAT-funded initiative. Previously
Continue reading...
Video: Birth registration in Timor-Leste — Plan
I filmed and edited this video on birth registration in Timor-Leste to train colleagues on basic video production skills, while sharing information on the importance of birth registration. Video narrated by Maria Nunes. View on YouTube.
Continue reading...
Plan Timor-Leste: Photography in campaigns
My photography in Timor-Leste has been used in multiple campaigns by Plan International. Because I am a Girl campaign – featured photo on international website (see featured image above). Plan 75th anniversary/Count Every Child – featured photo gallery
Continue reading...
Photography — Plan Timor-Leste
At Plan Timor-Leste part of my responsibilities include taking professional quality photographs in the field, as well as providing basic photography training to staff. The photographs are used to promote Plan’s work internationally. View a slideshow of images taken for Plan Timor-Leste.
Continue reading...
Sweet business success for women in Lautem — AlertNet/Plan
Maria (28) prepares cake batter in her kitchen in Louro, Lautem, Timor Leste while her son looks on. After receiving vocational training from Plan, she has started a small baking business with four other women. Plan/Ashlee Betteridge A story on a successful bakery project started by women participating in one of Plan Timor-Leste’s youth livelihoods
Continue reading...
Photography — Floriade 2011
Photographs from the 2011 Floriade festival in Canberra, Australia. View full set here.
Continue reading...
Photography — New Orleans
Gumbo, jazz, Po’ Boys and poverty. New Orleans sure is a tapestry. I spent Christmas 2010 in the Big Easy and took a lot of photographs. View the slideshow here. Also, see this blog post about how the Christmas quiet laid bare the problems with poverty in the city.
Continue reading...
Feature — Touring the Sidoarjo Mudflow
Indonesian politicians have suggested the Lapindo mudflow disaster site near Sidoarjo, East Java, could be turned into an ecological tourism attraction. However, those that have already been taking disaster tourists around the area for more than four years disagree. Written in May 2010, published online March 2011. Read the story here
Continue reading...
Photography — Malaysian Eats
In 2009 and 2010, I spent several weeks in Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Melaka in Malaysia exploring the local food scene. View an image slideshow here (opens in new window)
Continue reading...
Photography — Sidoarjo Mudflow Disaster
The Sidoarjo mudflow disaster has affected numerous villages in the Porong subdistrict of East Java, leaving many homeless. The mud volcano, which continues to expel mud at a rate of 30,000-100,000 cubic metres a day, is believed to have been triggered in 2006 by poor practices used by the oil company PT Lapindo Brantas when
Continue reading...
Yogyakarta Travel Guide — Travelfish
I compiled the original travel guide for Yogyakarta in Central Java for Southeast Asia’s most respected independent travel site, Travelfish, during mid-2010. Work included researching history and general information, writing detailed guides to attractions, hotel and guesthouse reviews and photography. View the guide here
Continue reading...
Aceh’s Tsunami Museum a Hollow Attempt — Jakarta Globe
Aceh’s Tsunami Museum is full of possibility. Unfortunately, that’s about all it is full of at the moment. The walls designed for exhibitions remain bare and white. The top floor, which includes a rooftop garden that has been designed to be used as an escape point should another tsunami ever strike, remains closed to visitors.
Continue reading...
Piece of Mind: Travelers’ Visa Woes on the Road — Jakarta Globe
The failings of Indonesia’s travel visa system is the one of the topics of conversation among travelers in the nation’s hostels and guesthouses. Read full story online. Published in the Jakarta Globe newspaper on May 18, 2010.
Continue reading...
Piece of Mind: Studying Bahasa Indonesia, One Word at a Time — Jakarta Globe
I’m currently holed up in Yogyakarta, spending six hours a day doing intensive one-on-one Indonesian language classes and the rest of the time wandering around my neighborhood in a dazed state, like I’ve become stoned on the complexity of transitive and intransitive verbs. Read the full story online. Published in the Jakarta Globe newspaper on
Continue reading...
Nasi Campur: Rice With a Side of Serendipity — Jakarta Globe
Every nasi campur has a story. Six short reviews of restaurants and street stalls in Bali selling one of Indonesia’s classic dishes. Photos and story by Ashlee Betteridge. Published in the Jakarta Globe newspaper, April 2, 2010. Read the story online
Continue reading...