How to advocate for foreign aid: Q&A with Australia's international development minister

MELBOURNE — Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, the minister for international development and the Pacific, has pushed for greater collaboration across sectors to better communicate the importance of international aid to the general public. Last week, she spoke at the Australian Council for International Development 2017 National Conference on the successes she has seen, challenges faced, and what she believes to be the best path for progress. Sitting down with Devex after her speech, she expanded her call for action, outlining the advocacy role governments and nongovernmental organizations can play. The interview has been edited for length and clarity. In your speech, you presented a strong message to NGOs to play a bigger role in supporting the advocacy and education of the Australian public on the aid program and budget — also a key theme of the conference. What is the key information to take away? One of the important things is that it’s important that we take the Australian public with us and support our Australian aid. Clearly there is a changing political paradigm and this is something I’ve been talking about ever since I’ve been the minister. Instead of just focusing on what we are doing, it is important to focus on why we are doing it and even more importantly on what is the direct benefit to Australia. Now, we know that the stability, security, and prosperity of our region is second only to the defense of Australia. So that puts what we do and everything we do as far as our foreign aid is concerned squarely in those parameters. And that is why the more we link what we do and the more we join the dots about our activities — whether it’s in the Pacific or Indo-Pacific, where 90 percent of our aid is focused — the better we can explain the benefits for the Australian public. Is there any particular demographic that could be better targeted by improved information on the aid program and its value? There a strong sense, I think, that most Australians believe we are either spending too much or spending just the right amount. It’s important that we get the message across that Australian aid is actually something that benefits Australia. That’s a shift that needs to occur. And that’s something that is going to take the collective efforts of government, the NGO sector, private sector, and a whole ambit of people. We are working very, very closely with all of these networks, but the reality is that that perception is increasing. There’s more work to be done. Your role in Parliament enables you to speak with colleagues on the work of the Australian Aid program and challenges for the Pacific. How do you go about communicating the value and benefits? Obviously I go out and about and trek around. I’ve done 24 trips to the Pacific alone in the last 14 to 15 months. What I do, and whether it is in the Senate or wherever I go, I tie back whatever we are doing to our goal of stability, security, and prosperity — and what the benefits are to Australia. So whether it is about self-security, whether it is about transnational crime, whether it is about domestic violence — whatever the subject is, it’s important that whatever we do in a particular country contributes to the economic growth and economic stability of that country and then in turn contributes to our economic and political stability of the region. That, in turn, feeds into our goal of a stable, secure, and prosperous region. In your speech today you discussed creating a “one-stop shop” for public engagement and contributions, and joint funding appeals for humanitarian crises, which could enhance public understanding and perception of what humanitarian agencies do. Can you discuss more about how this would work? Often what happens in a humanitarian crisis is that you’ve got different entities -- whether they are government, nongovernment, U.N. or others that work to respond. One of the things that is really important is to have effective responses so you’re not wasting resources but you’re actually responding in the most effective way possible. And often when you do respond in a crisis, you are responding to requests that have been made by governments. And what we have actually found is, particularly in our own region, that often when there is a crisis everybody wants to help. But often, particularly when you are helping in developing countries, that may ultimately lead to a whole lot of containers, for example, just being left at the port because nobody thought of the logistics of getting those containers out and to help people. The response to Tropical Cyclone Winston was very good because it was coordinated by the government. We’re trying to help governments and support governments to capacity-build in terms of disaster response management, and as a result we’re starting to see a much more smooth response. And because of the fact we are now helping to get countries ready ahead of time, every dollar that we spend in terms of readiness means there is $15 that’s saved at the other end. Effectively we’re working at the top of the cliff rather than the bottom of the cliff. So all of this combines. If we start to having that effectively “one-stop shop,” it means that we’re not going to have potentially a waste of resources, potentially having NGOs and/or collaborators falling all over each other. And that’s what really needs to be done after a crisis; you need to target the aid where it is needed the most. And does that “one-stop shop” help in communicating back to donors how money is being spent? Of course. If I can give you this anecdote. When Tropical Cyclone Winston happened, the first thing that the Australian public saw was the devastation in Fiji. Fiji has about three-quarters of a million tourists a year; half of those are Australian. So all of a sudden there was this sort of “Goodness me, do I go to Fiji on my holiday?” We went out, myself and the high commissioner and others, and had a breakfast which brought all the tourism operators together. And we said the best thing that you can do to help the people of Fiji is to actually take your holiday and go to Fiji. And we saw more tourists going from Australia after Tropical Cyclone Winston than we did before. Now, that’s only a little story, but it demonstrates that getting that positive message out and getting a constructive message out — the Australian public were receptive. One of the things that I found out was, by refocusing and focusing our Australian aid in our region, Australians understand that concept of helping your neighbor. And that is what we have seen. Devex is supporting the ACFID National Conference as a media partner. Follow discussion from the conference which took place on November 1 and 2 using the hashtag #ACFID2017. Read more international development news online, and subscribe to The Development Newswire to receive the latest from the world’s leading donors and decision-makers — emailed to you free every business day.