Human Resources Development Section

Promoting HRD in the region: the work of AusAID

INTERVIEW: Michael Pilbrow, AusAID

Australia has long played an important role in development of the Asia-Pacific region. We spoke with Mr Michael Pilbrow, Counsellor, Technical and Economic Cooperation, at the Australian Embassy in Bangkok about the work of AusAID and its role in the future development of the region.

1. How has AusAID responded to the economic crisis in Asia and what effects did the crisis have on Australia's overall aid policy and implementation?

The Australian Government responded very quickly to the economic crisis in Asia in many countries. For example in Thailand, we were planning to phase out our aid to Thailand by the year 2000, and that process of graduation was already in place by the time of the crisis. Soon after the crisis we reassessed the situation and held discussions with the Thai government. We then decided to continue to work in Thailand for a few more years, focusing on helping the Thai Government to respond to the crisis in both the economic and financial sectors, promoting good governance, and mitigating the impact of the crisis on the poor and disadvantaged. In other countries in Asia, we had well-established and long-term programmes already in place that continued, but the focus in places such as Indonesia, Philippines, and Viet Nam shifted to include specific crisis responses.

2. One of AusAID's main focuses is "investing in human resources ". How does this manifest itself in AusAID programmes and how important is Human Resources Development in AusAID's overall strategy in the region?

We see human resources development as a really key fundamental building block of any attempt to improve good governance and build capacity in any country, and this is particularly true since the crisis. For example, in Thailand, the first thing we did was to fund 80 Thai Government scholarships that the Thai Government no longer had the budget to fund. Rather than letting those students miss out, we funded them to study in Australia, because in the long term, having a well-trained, educated pool of people is very important. So our scholarship programme is one component. We also do a lot of short-course training for key Government officials. And in all our big projects, in areas such as HIV/AIDS prevention and care or the science and engineering sector, if you break down the projects, most of the activities involve human resources development in one way or another. So it is fair to say that virtually every activity we do has a human resources development element, which we believe is essential if we are to ensure that the benefits of development activities are sustainable.

3. What are AusAID's other priorities for the region?

Good governance is a key area for AusAID. Within good governance, AusAID focuses on four key areas: (1) improving economic and financial management; (2) strengthening public sector management, (3) promoting effective legal systems and the rule of law, and (4) fostering the development of civil society. For example, in Thailand, we have supported activities to strengthen the Bank of Thailand, the new human rights commission, the national counter-corruption commission, and the electoral commission.

In addition, in terms of our regional programmes, we focus a lot on issues that have cross-boundary implications, such as HIV/AIDS, the environment, drug abuse, trafficking in women and children, and legal training. In each of these areas, we have activities that involve the cooperation of a number of countries, and often the coordination and support of regional and international bodies, such as the United Nations, ASEAN and APEC.

4. With Official Development Assistance decreasing in recent years, what strategies does AusAID have for ensuring the delivery of aid programmes to the region?

A key focus of the Australian Government over the last few years has been a tighter focus on 'quality'. The Government has the view that it is not the volume of assistance that really counts; it is the quality of what you do. So we have a much stronger quality focus, and even our own internal systems for monitoring projects have become stronger. All staff have an increased responsibility for monitoring and reporting on the progress of projects. In addition, AusAID has set up a group called "QAG", the Quality Assurance Group, which does more formal monitoring and evaluation on projects, not just evaluations after projects have finished, but checks to see that all the systems are in place throughout the project. So this is one fundamental development in AusAID, the focus on quality. This has also been combined with a strengthened public information campaign in Australia. Surveys have shown that most Australians support the work of the aid programme, but they like to know that the money is being spent well. So the focus on quality has also translated into sharing the results of AusAID's work, so that people can see that taxpayer funds are being successful in contributing to poverty alleviation in developing countries.

5. AusAID documents refer to Australia's Aid programme as providing "aid that is identifiably Australian." What do you mean by that and why is it important for Australia to deliver "identifiably Australian" aid programmes?

Australian identity is achieved by providing assistance in areas in which Australia has something to offer. There is no point in helping a country in a sector that we do not have expertise in, so we really try to focus on areas where we can provide high level assistance, particularly through our bilateral programmes where we have Australian experts working in the field. The focus, of course, is not to provide jobs for Australians but to make sure that whatever country we are working with gets the best of what Australia has to offer.

6. How has the increasing globalization of the world economy impacted on Australia's approach to aid and development?

What we have increasingly seen over the past few years is that a lot of the needs of the developing countries relate to economic management in a globalized world. Some people, particularly in the past, have said that aid should focus on direct transfers of money to the poor, but what we see, for example with the impact of the economic crisis on the poor, is that actually providing assistance at the economic management level has a huge impact on the poor in the long term. So globalization means that we really need to have a strong focus on helping countries get their economic fundamentals right, and to manage their economies in this era of globalization. We are thus trying to help countries maximize the benefits of globalization and mitigate the negative impacts. For example, in the Mekong Subregion, we have provided legal training to key policy makers and legal practitioners. This has involved the provision of training to senior legal people on issues such as international trade and the banking sector, to allow the countries to understand, and if possible improve, legal frameworks across borders so that the subregion can work and trade together in a globalized world. Our priorities are, of course, set in consultation with the governments we work with, and at this stage, the governments want us to continue to do this type of work. So I think that as the globalization momentum continues to build, AusAID will continue to focus on helping countries get their economic fundamentals right, at the same time ensuring that adverse impacts on people, especially the poorest, are minimised.