Aidan Craney, PhD student at La Trobe, discusses the recent cuts to the Australian Volunteers for International Development program, and the potential impact of these cuts both within Australia and overseas. Recently the Australian Red Cross announced it was ceasing its global volunteer operations under the auspice of the Australian Volunteers for International Development (AVID*) program. Whilst this decision is not entirely surprising given recent … Continue reading The cost of volunteering

The final blog in this three-part series by Aidan Craney, PhD candidate at La Trobe University, focuses on remittances and labour migration as a means of poverty reduction.  16 April 2015 What if the most effective way to get money into the hands of the poor and to raise people out of poverty in less-developed states had nothing to do with aid whatsoever? There is solid evidence that … Continue reading Micro-donors and micro-beneficiaries

Research Fellow Tait Brimacombe reflects on her recent trip to the UK for the Developmental Leadership Program’s Annual Conference. See here for conference materials and additional information. 31 March 2015 In February I travelled to the UK with the Institute’s Director Chris Roche and Research Fellow Gillian Fletcher for the 2015 Developmental Leadership Program (DLP) Annual Conference. The day-long event welcomed over 120 delegates from a variety … Continue reading The Politics of Inequality

May Miller-Dawkins, Head of Research at Corelab, discusses the upcoming Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).  Our thanks go to May for this blog, and to the Overseas Development Institute for whom this research was originally published. The SDGs are due to replace the MDGs at the end of 2015.  The Institute is interested in the potential effects of the SDGs on those engaged in social change; for example, whether the incentives provided will … Continue reading 2015 may be important but it’s the long haul at the national level that counts