More effective aid policy? AusAID and the global development agenda

A first glance at almost any policy document generated by a bilateral or multilateral donor agency reveals a familiar rhetoric of participation, partnership, community, good governance, growth, and strong democracy as key ingredients for a successful development program. While some critics of this rhetoric argue that this is merely a recasting of old aid agendas, there are others who confirm that recent rethinking of aid policies and agendas are sincere efforts to address poverty reduction and ensure aid effectiveness. Education has been proposed as an indispensable element to achieving the aforementioned goals of development policy rhetoric, not least in the eight UN Millennium Development Goals. This paper examines the role of the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) in the current global development environment with particular focus on education policy in the Asia-Pacific region. How does AusAID's education policy align with international goals for poverty reduction and sustainable development? How does AusAID co-ordinate its education policy priorities with other development agencies and recipient governments? To enable an exploration of these questions, this paper provides a comparative analysis of AusAID's approach to its educational development programs in Papua New Guinea and Cambodia. [Author abstract]