Statistics contained in the Year Book are the most recent available at the time of preparation. In many cases, the ABS website and the websites of other organisations provide access to more recent data. Each Year Book table or graph and the bibliography at the end of each chapter provides hyperlinks to the most up to date data release where available.
AUSTRALIA'S OVERSEAS AID PROGRAM
Across the world, 1.4 billion people live in extreme poverty, existing on less than US$1.25 a day. Of these:
In November 2010, the Government commissioned the Independent Review of Aid Effectiveness – the first independent review of the aid program in 15 years. The review panel was broadly asked to examine the efficiency and effectiveness of the aid program, and to make recommendations to improve its structure and delivery. The panel consulted extensively, both domestically and internationally, with governments and non-government organisations, with think-tanks, other donors, with Australian business, and a range of government departments. The review found that Australia has a good aid program, which performs effectively by global donor standards. It made 39 recommendations to improve the program, covering:
The Government welcomed the findings of the review, and in response to it released An Effective Aid Program for Australia: Making a Real Difference – Delivering Real Results. This publication sets out the government’s overall aid strategy through to 2015–16.
WHAT OUR AID PROGRAM LOOKS LIKE
The Australian Government is committed to the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which set out a series of targets, such as halving the proportion of people who suffer from hunger, and reducing the number of children under the age of five who die. The targets were agreed by the international community, as a way to make a reduce global poverty by 2015. In 2011, the international community was on track to achieve some of these goals, but not all. More information on the MDGs can be found at http://www.ausaid.gov.au/keyaid/mdg.cfm.
Recognising that we needed to increase our efforts, both of Australia’s major political parties have agreed to a target of allocating 0.5% of Australia’s gross national income (GNI) to official development assistance (ODA) by 2015.
In 2011–12, Australia is progressing towards reaching this target, with an ODA budget of $4,836 million, representing approximately 0.35% of GNI (graph 1). If we increase the ODA budget as projected to 0.5% of GNI, by 2015–16 Australia should rank around the international average in terms of how much aid we provide as a proportion of GNI. In dollar terms, Australia was the 11th largest donor in 2010, and by 2015–16, we expect to be ranked between the 6th and 8th largest.
As stated in the Government’s overseas aid policy statement An Effective Aid Program for Australia, the fundamental purpose of Australian aid is to help people overcome poverty. This also serves Australia’s national interests by promoting stability and prosperity both in our region and beyond. We focus our effort in areas where Australia can make a difference and where our resources can most effectively and efficiently be deployed.
Guided by our support for the MDGs, Australia’s development assistance program has five overarching goals (figure 2). These are:
1. save lives
2. promote opportunities for all
3. support sustainable economic development
4. promote effective governance and
5. provide humanitarian and disaster responses.
HOW WE PROVIDE AID
The main vehicle for delivering Australian aid is through country and regional programs. Australia’s aid program is underpinned by strong partnerships with the governments of the countries we are helping. These are genuine partnerships with development challenges and responses discussed and agreed to by the countries. The main considerations for determining how we will help are:
Because the circumstances of each country or region are unique, Australia’s aid program looks different in each country.
As well as agreeing to what we will do, our partnership strategies also set out how we will deliver the planned program, focusing on the best way to achieve real and sustainable results. We use a mixture of:
Previously, the majority of the aid program was delivered on AusAID’s behalf by commercial contractors, but this is changing as evidence increasingly suggests that other mechanisms, such as using partner government systems or civil society organisations, may be more effective. For example, the proportion of our program being delivered by international and Australian NGOs has increased from around 7.5% to 13% since 2005–06.
Australian non-government organisations (NGOs) are important partners in delivering Australian development assistance to poor and vulnerable people around the world. NGOs extend the reach of Australia’s aid program by helping out where there may be no other Australian aid presence. They can therefore directly reach the poorest and most vulnerable people, helping and empowering them, particularly in emergency situations where quick and flexible responses are needed.
In 2010–11, Australian NGOs received approximately 7% of official development assistance, or approximately $289 million. In addition to this government funding, they also raised over $1 billion in funding from the Australian public to support their own international community development and volunteer programs in more than 100 countries. Whether government or privately-funded, NGOs implement a broad range of activities to assist developing countries, such as improving maternal and child health, water supply, sanitation, hygiene, education, livelihoods and microfinance. With AusAID funding, it is estimated that each year Australian NGOs facilitate improved access to basic services and training for over 1 million people.
An example of the co-operation that can exist between Australian government and non-government organisations in delivering development assistance is the 2011 Australian response to the Horn of Africa crisis, where more than 13 million people required urgent humanitarian aid. The Australian Government initially provided $6.2 million to Australian NGO partners to support humanitarian activities in the Horn of Africa, and subsequently matched an additional $13.5 million of public donations that were raised through the Dollar-for-Dollar campaign.