World Vision Australia today welcomed the release of the new road map for Australia’s aid program.
World Vision Chief Executive, Tim Costello said he was pleased to see a continued focus on poverty reduction, human development, health, education and the empowerment of women.
“These are important enablers of economic growth,” he said.
The Government has also put more flesh on the bones of how its ‘aid for trade’ approach will be implemented.
“Helping poor people access international markets is important, however we want to make sure the benefits of investment in ‘aid for trade' really do reach poor farmers and struggling labourers’ pockets,” Tim Costello said.
He also welcomed the Government’s commitment to a new innovation fund in the aid program. It has great potential to improve the wellbeing of the most vulnerable people in our region.
“This new fund, open to all actors in the aid community, has the potential to seed new partnerships for more effective aid delivery.”
Cross-sector partnerships bringing together the resources of governments, the ingenuity of businesses and the community connections of NGOs are a critical part of the future of aid and development.
World Vision welcomes the opportunity to enhance and grow many new and existing cross-sector partnerships.
"Innovation to solve emerging and intractable problems is really important. It'll be great to have the fresh thinking of new partners along with the experience of those who have been doing this for a long time,” Mr Costello said. “No single organisation or sector is the silver bullet to these challenges. We can work together to find new solutions."
World Vision also welcomes the Minister’s confirmation that the diversion of money to domestic asylum seeker costs has ended. This has been a long standing call of many in the aid community.
However Mr Costello said we need to remember that this new aid policy roadmap comes in the context of a flat-lining aid budget and a decline in its generosity. It will be critical in this environment that every dollar is spent as effectively as possible.
Mr Costello said rigorous monitoring of effectiveness was necessary to ensure the benefits of openness to international markets reached the world’s most vulnerable, particularly children.
World Vision looks forward to working closely with the Government as it develops the detail around new benchmarks.
“We want to ensure that efficiency does not come at the expense of effectiveness and short term targets are not set at the expense of long term outcomes.”
Media contact: Kris Gough – 0481 005 468 / kris.gough@worldvision.com.au