The Australian Development Assistance Agency (ADAA) was founded in 1974 under the Whitlam government, renamed the Australian Development Assistance Bureau (ADAB) in 1976, then the Australian International Development Assistance Bureau (AIDAB) in 1987, before becoming the Australian Agency for International Development, known as AusAID, in 1995. It was merged into DFAT without prior consultation by the Abbott government in 2014, with aid slashed to most regions apart from the Pacific region.
The agency saw a variety of names and formats. It was founded in 1974 under the WhitlamLabor government as the Australian Development Assistance Agency (ADAA) to fulfil a role that had previously been the responsibility of several departments.[2] One of the driving forces in its establishment was Sir John Crawford.[3] At this time it was a government department within the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.[4] It was renamed the Australian Development Assistance Bureau (ADAB) and brought under the Foreign Affairs and Trade portfolio in 1976 under the FraserLiberal government.[2]
It became the Australian International Development Assistance Bureau (AIDAB) under the Hawke government in 1987, before being renamed Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) by the Keating government in 1995.[2]
Soon after coming to power in September 2013, the Abbott government announced the integration of AusAID with DFAT, which was effected in November 2013. According to a consultant's later report, "The merger was conducted with no prior analysis and without consultation, particularly with AusAID".[4] The merger was fully implemented by June 2014, when Foreign Minister Julie Bishop announced a new paradigm for the Australian foreign aid program. She said that expanding opportunities for people, businesses and communities is the key to both promoting economic growth and reducing poverty. The aid program would now provide a sharper focus on investing in drivers of economic growth, including trade, infrastructure; education and health; and empowering women and girls to create new jobs and opportunities that lift people out of poverty. A later major stakeholder survey of the Australian aid program showed that the transition was as smooth as hoped, with staff continuity, staff expertise and predictability of funding all performing particularly poorly.[citation needed]
On Monday 21 September 2015, following a cabinet reshuffle by Australia's new Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, a new Ministerial position was created to cover management of Australia's aid program. Steven Ciobo became the first Minister for International Development and the Pacific, followed by Concetta Fierravanti-Wells six months later.[citation needed]
Today
As of 2021[update] "Australian Aid" is the branding used to identify projects supported by the Australian Government. The logo uses the name accompanied by a kangaroo, available in various combinations of black, red, blue and white. The logo "must be used on all aid-related products and activities funded by the Australian Government. The Australian Aid identifier is used to badge Australia aid programs, projects and products".[5] The program itself does not appear to be administered by a named unit, with information about Australian ODA on a DFAT web page titled "Australia’s development program".[6]Ewen McDonald is the inaugural Head of the Office of the Pacific (OTP),[7] as one of six groups reporting to secretary Frances Adamson.[8]
Funding variations
There have been repeated cuts to official development assistance (ODA, defined as "financial aid given by governments and other agencies to support the economic, environmental, social, and political development of developing countries"[4]) since the inception of the first agency. The level of 0.47% of gross domestic product during the Whitlam years was slashed to 0.33% under the Hawke and Keating governments, and has at times been even lower under the Howard government.[9] Cuts have not been limited to aid levels either; in mid-1996, the Howard government slashed the agency's running costs budget by 24% amidst a round of cost-cutting measures.[citation needed]
In 2005 John Howard committed Australia to double Australian aid to about $4 billion a year by 2010. At the time of the 2007–08 budget, the Government announced total aid of $3.2 billion and an expectation "to continue increasing development assistance, to $3.5 billion in 2008-09, $3.8 billion in 2009–10 and $4.3 billion in 2010–11".[citation needed]
The 2005–06 Annual Report recorded 18 staff in the senior executive service out of a total of 516 public servant staff. 68 AusAID public servants were serving long-term postings outside Australia. These figures do not include locally employed staff outside Australia.[citation needed]
Total Australian ODA in 2005–06 was A$2,605 million, not all of it administered by AusAID. AusAID administered $1,587 million of expenses in 2005–06 and also had departmental expenses (i.e. under its direct control) of A$78 million.
Over most of AusAID's existence, tenders providing services associated with aid programs were generally limited to firms from Australia or New Zealand, or firms doing substantial business in those countries; only in 2005 did the agency liberalise its guidelines to allow firms from the recipient country to apply for some tenders. The agency was considerably more liberal with construction contracts, allowing bidding from any company worldwide, though this has the effect of shutting out many potential bidders from recipient countries.[citation needed]
In 2002, as part of an international initiative, AusAID untied aid to Least Developed Countries. Since the White Paper in 2006, all AusAID procurement was untied (i.e. open to international firms) except for the Australia Indonesia Partnership for Reconstruction and Development (AIPRD).
On 18 December 2008, the William J. Clinton Foundation released a list of all contributors. It included AusAID, which gave between US$10–25 million.[10]
In December 2014 the Abbott government announced significant cuts to Australia's foreign aid program. Treasurer Joe Hockey said that savings of $3.7 billion in the foreign aid program over the next four years would offset new commitments in defence and national security. These cuts, reflected in the 2015-16 Budget, meant that Australia's aid budget had fallen to $4 billion, down from a peak of $5.6 billion in 2012–13.[citation needed]
According to calculations by the Development Policy Centre at ANU, the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison government's budget cuts marked both the largest ever multi-year aid cuts (33%) and largest ever single year cut (20% and $1 billion in 2015–16). The cuts would see Australian aid fall to 0.22% of Gross National Income in 2017–18 and then to 0.21% in 2019–20, the lowest level in Australia's history.[11]
The 2015–16 Budget outlined the cuts. With the exception of Cambodia, Nepal and Timor-Leste, aid to countries in Asia was cut by 40%. The Pacific and Papua New Guinea (PNG) were only slightly cut, while Sub-Saharan Africa was slashed by 70%, and aid to the Middle East was cut by 43%. PNG replaced Indonesia as the largest recipient of Australian aid, receiving $477.4 million in 2015–16.[citation needed]
According to research conducted[when?] by the Development Policy Centre at ANU, Australia's declining aid expenditure puts it at odds with the aid budget trajectories that many other OECD countries are following. In 2013, the Conservative government in the UK became the first G7 donor to reach the OECD's 0.7% of GNI target, increasing its ODA by 27.8% on 2012 levels.[citation needed]
In May 2016 the government handed down the 2016/17 federal budget which confirmed the final round of Australian aid cuts, $224 million or 7.4% of the Australian aid program. This was the sixth-largest cut in any one year of the aid program's history. Increases to the aid program over the forward estimates (the next four years) were pegged to the rate of inflation.[citation needed]
Fairfax Media's Matt Wade reported that Australia's aid program, while only about 1% of budget expenditure, has made up around 25% of all budget cuts announced by the government for the period 2013–14 to 2018–19. The Lowy Institute's Jonathan Pryke reporte that these cuts have seen Australia tumble in international rankings and left Australia at an all-time low when it comes to its aid generosity as measured by aid as a proportion of Gross National Income.[citation needed]
According to the OECD, 2020 official development assistance from Australia decreased by 10.6% to US$2.6 billion.[12]
Girls dancing Dabkeh (Palestinian National Folkloric Dance) during the celebrations of the newly built WASH facilities by UNICEF and funded by AusAid, Al Shioukh elementary girls' school, Hebron, 2011.
AusAID also ran the Australian Youth Ambassadors for Development program, a volunteer program allowing Australians aged 18–30 to volunteer for up to a year in countries throughout Asia and the Pacific. Australian Aid partners with several Australian charities for its work, such as Leprosy Mission Australia, delivering awareness, prevention, treatment and rehabilitation projects in Timor-Leste, Indonesia and Nepal.[13][14]
The Department for International Development (DFID) was a ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom, from 1997 to 2020. It was responsible for administering foreign aid internationally.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, also known as the Foreign Minister, is the minister of state of the Commonwealth of Australia charged with overseeing the creation and implementation of international diplomacy, relations and foreign affairs policy, as the head of the foreign affairs section of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The current Foreign Minister is Senator Penny Wong, who was appointed by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in May 2022 following the 2022 federal election.
Official development assistance (ODA) is a category used by the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to measure foreign aid. The DAC first adopted the concept in 1969. It is widely used as an indicator of international aid flow. It refers to material resources given by the governments of richer countries to promote the economic development of poorer countries and the welfare of their people. The donor government agency may disburse such resources to the government of the recipient country or through other organizations. Most ODA is in the form of grants, but some is measured as the concessional value in soft (low-interest) loans.
Development aid is a type of aid given by governments and other agencies to support the economic, environmental, social, and political development of developing countries. It is distinguished from humanitarian aid by aiming at a sustained improvement in the conditions in a developing country, rather than short-term relief. The overarching term is foreign aid. The amount of foreign aid is measured though official development assistance (ODA). This is a category used by the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to measure foreign aid.
In international relations, aid is – from the perspective of governments – a voluntary transfer of resources from one country to another. The type of aid given may be classified according to various factors, including its intended purpose, the terms or conditions under which it is given, its source, and its level of urgency. For example, aid may be classified based on urgency into emergency aid and development aid.
Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) is the brand used by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark when it provides humanitarian aid and development assistance to other countries, with focus on developing countries. There is no distinct Danida organisation within the Ministry.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) is the department of the Australian federal government responsible for foreign policy and relations, international aid, consular services and trade and investment. Australia's total official development assistance (ODA) decreased in 2022 due to differences in Australia's financial year reporting and the timing of its COVID-19-related expenditure, representing 0.19% of gross national income (GNI).
An export credit agency or investment insurance agency is a private or quasi-governmental institution that acts as an intermediary between national governments and exporters to issue export insurance solutions and guarantees for financing. The financing can take the form of credits or credit insurance and guarantees or both, depending on the mandate the ECA has been given by its government. ECAs can also offer credit or cover on their own account. This does not differ from normal banking activities. Some agencies are government-sponsored, others private, and others a combination of the two.
The Japan International Cooperation Agency, also known as JICA, is a governmental agency that delivers the bulk of Official Development Assistance (ODA) for the government of Japan. It is chartered with assisting economic and social growth in developing countries and promoting international cooperation. According to the OECD, Japan's total official development assistance (ODA) increased in 2022 due to an increase in its bilateral lending, which included support to Ukraine. ODA represented 0.39% of gross national income (GNI). The OECD's Development Assistance Committee published a peer review of Japan's development cooperation in October 2020. JICA was led by Shinichi Kitaoka, the former President of the International University of Japan, from 2015 to 2022. On 1 April 2022, Professor Akihiko Tanaka assumed the presidency.
Japan emerged as one of the largest foreign aid donors in the world during the 1980s.
Tied aid is a kind of foreign aid. It must be spent on products and services provided by companies from the country providing the aid or in a group of specified countries.
Nepal relies heavily on foreign aid, and donors coordinate development aid policy through the Nepal Development Forum, whose members include donor countries, international financial institutions, and inter-governmental organizations. Japan is Nepal's largest bilateral aid donor, and the World Bank and Asian Development Bank are the largest multilateral donors. Donors have been reported as losing confidence in Nepal as a result of political interference and corruption in poverty relief efforts as well as the country's apparently poor capacity to utilize aid. According to World Bank figures, official development assistance increased from US$8.2 million in 1960 to US$369 million in 2003 and then fell to US$177 million in 2004. According to Nepal's Ministry of Finance, total foreign aid committed in fiscal year (FY) 2003 was US$555 million, with 63.3 percent in grants and 36.7 percent in loans. In FY2004, total foreign aid committed was US$320 million, of which 37.7 percent was grants and 62.3 percent, loans. In June 2004, active World Bank credits totaled US$302 million, with the greatest portions allocated to the financial sector and to energy and mining. By the end of 2012, the outstanding World Bank IDA loan totaled $ 1.48 billionArchived 2015-05-05 at the Wayback Machine.
The Directorate-General for International Partnerships is the European Commission department responsible for international development policy. It operates under the authority of the European Commissioner for International Partnerships, Jutta Urpilainen.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) Development Assistance Committee (DAC) is a forum to discuss issues surrounding aid, development and poverty reduction in developing countries. It describes itself as being the "venue and voice" of the world's major donor countries.
The New Zealand Aid Programme is the New Zealand Government's international aid and development agency. The New Zealand Aid Programme is managed by the Pacific and Development Group in the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT). Previously a semi-autonomous body known as the New Zealand Agency for International Development (NZAID), it was reintegrated back into MFAT as the International Development Group following a restructure in 2009. Its Māori name is Nga Hoe Tuputupu-mai-tawhiti – the paddles that bring growth from afar. The Head of the New Zealand Aid Programme is Jonathan Kings, a lawyer and public servant. According to the OECD, New Zealand’s total official development assistance (ODA) decreased in 2022 due to fewer disbursements within its three-year budget cycle and represented 0.23% of gross national income (GNI).
The Korea International Cooperation Agency was established in 1991 by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of South Korea as a governmental organization for Official Development Assistance (ODA). KOICA's goal is to enhance the effectiveness of South Korea's grant aid programs for developing countries by implementing the government's grant aid and technical cooperation programs. KOICA is led by three-year-term president of the board who is appointed by the President upon the recommendation of Foreign Minister.
The Minister for International Development and the Pacific is the minister of state of the Commonwealth of Australia charged with oversight of government policy related to international development and the Pacific islands. It is currently held by Pat Conroy.
Chinese foreign aid may be considered as both governmental (official) and private development aid and humanitarian aid originating from the People's Republic of China.
Irish Aid is the Government of Ireland's official international development aid programme. Irish Aid is managed by the Development Co-Operation and Africa Division (DCAD) of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA). According to the OECD, Ireland’s total ODA increased in 2022, mostly due to higher in-donor refugee costs and higher contributions to international organisations. ODA represented 0.64% of gross national income (GNI). The Irish Aid programme is an integral part of Ireland's foreign policy.
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