Aid Adviser Numbers Slashed
16 February 2011 at 3:01 pm
A quarter of all advisers to Australia’s foreign aid program are to be phased out after a major review of Australia’s aid spending.
Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd welcomed the recommendations of the Joint Adviser Review, which identified that 257 adviser positions – a quarter of all advisers – can be phased out within two years.
Rudd says the recommendations of the review will ensure that Australian investment in overseas aid is used efficiently and effectively.
He says that over the past decade, the Australian aid program has come to rely increasingly on highly paid advisers as its preferred form of aid – that is now changing.
Rudd says cutting the number of aid advisers will build on efforts that have already seen reliance on in-country advisers in Australia’s aid program drop from an average in 1996-2007 of 42 per cent of overseas development aid to an average 34 per cent since 2008.
The review of the technical adviser positions in bilateral aid programs was announced by the Government in May 2010.
The Government says that as a result of the Review there are now clear measures in place to ensure that when an adviser is used, it is the most effective and appropriate response to an identified development priority.
The Review, conducted jointly with partner governments, assessed 952 adviser positions across 20 country programs. All five of the Review’s recommendations were accepted by the Government.
Mr Rudd also announced that an Adviser Remuneration Framework will now be applied to all commercially contracted advisers funded by AusAID, capping the maximum salaries and allowances payable.
For more information, go to http://www.ausaid.gov.au/publications/pdf/adviser-review-feb2011.doc
