Australia’s “new aid paradigm,” a phrase coined last week by Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, hopes to achieve much more value for money by setting performance benchmarks, getting the private sector to become even more involved in development work and encouraging new ideas to make aid better by setting up an innovation hub within the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
This focus on innovation should be celebrated, but Australia should also explore how to maximize output from its development dollars by looking for where additional value can be extracted from its current investments, Mel Dunn, vice president of international development at top DFAT contractor URS Australia, told Devex.
“I think there’s a whole of opportunity within the existing construct of the aid program to extract additional value,” Dunn said. “What I hope doesn’t happen is that in looking for the next miracle in innovation — which I hope is around the corner — we don’t overlook where there’s an immediate possibility to leverage initial investment.