ANUASA Submission to Crawford Review

Below are selected parts of the submission of the ANU African Student Association (ANUASA) to the 2017 Review of the Crawford School of Public Policy at The Australian National University. More on the report of the review panel later.

Augustus Panton, a PhD Candidate |in Economics at the Crawford School, met with the review panel who congratulated ANUASA for its submission.

“As Australia positions itself as a key partner of Africa, the role of the Australian National
University cannot be overemphasized. As Australia’s National University and a top global
research institution, the lack of an established and coordinated research forum on Africa.

“ANU is a noticeable concern, particularly considering Australia’s strong economic partnership with Africa. Amongst several other functions, the proposed institute can champion the coordination of scholarly research on Africa, bringing together scholarly evidence aimed at informing public policy. This will greatly benefit Australian policymakers and private sector and their African counterparts in promoting trade and investment and sustainable development in Africa.

The proposed institute could also be instrumental in organizing scholarly events centered on African policy issues, greatly enriching the learning experience of African Students and others with interest in Africa.  Below are some student contributions.

The strength of the Crawford brand with external stakeholders
Currently, no Australian university has an African Studies Institute. The prospect of having
an African Studies Institute could bring together African studies and scholars, in Australian
foreign policy in Africa, provide many gains for both Africa and Australia, and aid policy decision making.

ANU is the leading university in Australia and part of the top 20 universities in the world,
therefore developing the institute of African studies will make ANU forward looking, as ANU
will be in a position to make positive influence not only to the Asia-pacific but Africa.

Impact on public policy
Governance, conflicts and lack of accountability are among issues hindering development in Africa, and having studies as well as research in these areas can assist in identifying policies and structures required for solving these issues.

The impact of our social media activities and areas for development
It is almost impossible to publish anything in the development policy blog. Having an Afric an Institute situated at the Crawford school could improve the visibility of the numerous work done by Crawford researchers and multidisciplinary research done on Africa”

 

AFSAAP ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2018

From the Secretary of the African Studies Association of Australasia and the Pacific (AFSAAP)

AFSAAP ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2018
Africa in Transition: Governance, Society and Culture
Call for Papers
The African Studies Association of Australasia and the Pacific (AFSAAP) cal ls for proposals for preorganized panels, roundtables, thematic conversations and individual papers for its 41st annual meeting to be held at UNSW, Sydney from November 21st to November 23rd 2018.

AFSAAP invites ‘papers that engage with, but are not limited to, the theme: Africa in Transition:Governance, Society and Culture. As always, we bring together scholars working in different disciplines. We invite participants to contribute theoretically innovative and empirically grounded papers, panels and presentations that enhance our understanding of these issues. Though the central focus will be on this broader theme, we also welcome contributions on other topics that consider Africa, or Africa/Australia/Pacific relations and Africans in the region.’

‘Abstracts of proposed papers, panels and roundtables should be sent by July 1st, 2018 to Dr. Anne Bartlett, International Studies, Morven Brown 230, UNSW, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia. Email: a.bartlett@unsw.edu.au
A preliminary program will be announced by August 1st, 2018. Late
proposals for papers will be considered only if space is available. All proposals will be peer reviewed by the program committee. Registration and conference fees must be paid before presenters will beplaced in the formal conference program.’
Please check the AFSAAP website for more details:
www.afsaap.org.au

AFRICA AND THE A U S T R A L A S I A N A I D CONFERENCE 2018

A U S T R A L A S I A N  A I D CONFERENCE

CRAWFORD SCHOOL ANU

14th FEBRUARY 2018

Panel 3d – Should Australian ODA re-engage in Africa?

Sally Moyle, CARE Australia

Fessehaie Abraham, Crawford School ANU
» view presentation  ( This can also be seen as an Appendix to his submission to the Senate Inquiry https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Foreign_Affairs_Defence_and_Trade/TradeinvestmentAfrica/Submissions )

Bob McMullen of the Crawford School presented the introduction to the session, asking whether the 21st would be the African Century ? He said that If the aim of aid is to alleviate poverty, then aid has to go where poverty is, that is Africa. Australia stresses the importance of giving aid to ‘our region’. But how then does Mongolia qualify as being in ‘our region’ ?

There were a number of points that secured widespread agreement in the general discussion which followed: (1) Australia should only increase aid to Africa IF the overall size of the aid budget increases. (2) There are already too many European aid donors to Africa resulting in piecemeal aid. (3) Australia should only give aid in sectors where we have special expertise such as mining regulation and some areas of agriculture where ACIAR should lead the way. (4) Scholarships to Africa are a good form of aid and build expertise and important people-to people links.

The only people who spoke in favour of giving a larger share of the existing Australian aid pie to Africa were the Africans who commented, and  Professor Helen Ware who favoured reducing aid to the Pacific, which receives the highest per capita aid by several multiples, and of diverting the savings to assisting to reduce the harmful impacts of mining and to increasing agricultural outputs in dry land areas where Australia has specialised expertise in low technology improvements.

 

Why There is No Such Thing as Institutionless Politics: Lessons From Africa

ANU School of Politics & International Relations SPIR Seminar Series 2018
________________________________________

Why There is No Such Thing as Institutionless Politics: Lessons From Africa

Professor Nicholas Cheeseman
(University of Birmingham) will present the findings from his latest book, Institutions and Democracy in Africa: How the rules of the game shape political developments (Cambridge University Press, 2018).

Many of his interviews and insights can be found on the website that he founded and co-edits, www.democracyinafrica.org.

Thursday 5 April 2018, 12:00 – 2:00 pm

L.J. Hume Centre, Copland Building (24), 1st Floor, Room 1171
(Closest Street: Corner of Childers Street and University Avenue)

Lunch will be provided at the seminar after the Q&A session.

 

Enquiries
Feodor Snagovsky: feodor.snagovsky@anu.edu.au