From the Lowy Institute Blog

I have been reading with interest the recent debate in the Interpreter regarding the true purpose of aid.  I recently completed a Masters thesis looking at an element of our aid program that is promoted as development, but probably fits better as diplomacy – Australian Development Scholarships.  While these scholarships are now part of the Australia Awards family, they are offered to prospective students from a variety of developing nations, for study at Australian TAFEs and Universities. 

 

The links between aid, development and diplomacy are easy to see in the ADS, just a little below the surface (and the shiny PR).  My thesis argued that the scholarships are actually a much better tool of diplomacy than development.  And one could now argue that Australia’s seat on the UN Security Council has been ‘bought’ by hundreds of these scholarships, particularly in Africa and the Caribbean.  But the ongoing, long term diplomatic impact of thousands of students educated in Australia returning home to their lives thankful of the opportunities given to the by the Australian Government will also be a significant diplomatic ‘win’. 

 

But, these awards are funded by AusAID, considered Overseas Development Assistance, and one of our largest Education Sector programs.  They are also ‘aid’ spent for the most part in Australia on university and TAFE fees, living allowances and other costs.  And development outcomes from the scholarships are hard to track, attribute and demonstrate.

 

If we’re looking for a good case study to start a debate about Australia’s confused aid/development/diplomacy conundrum with, Development Scholarships could be a good place to start.