Africa is the furthest off track in achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals, which aim to help 2 billion people worldwide climb out of poverty towards a better life. With great geographic and cultural richness and significant natural resources, there are areas that are moving ahead. But for millions, the future looks bleak.

In sub-Saharan Africa, 30% of people are malnourished, and 1 in every 6 children dies before the age of 5, with almost 90% of all children living with HIV/AIDS. African women face a 1-in-22 chance of dying in pregnancy or childbirth – more than 300 times higher than industrialised countries. Governance is poor.

Why has development proved so challenging for Africa? Is it locked into a cycle of dysfunction?

The Australian government is increasing its aid and development focus on Africa, particularly in food security and agriculture, maternal and child health, and water and sanitation.

Are these the areas to focus on? What about governance reforms to overcome corruption and allow business to prosper? Empowering women to speak up and to lead? Can aid lead to long-term change or is local economic activity the real engine of growth and development?

Venue

Hyatt Regency, 99 Adelaide Terrace, Perth (5.30pm - 7pm)

Date & time

Tuesday, 22 September 2009 5:30 PM

SPEAKERS

Melissa Parke – Federal Member for Fremantle

Melissa was elected as the federal member for Fremantle in the November 2007 election that marked the beginning of the new Rudd Labor Government. Before entering parliament, she worked as a senior lawyer in the United Nations – with the UN peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, in Gaza to assist Palestinian refugees, and in the Office of the Under-Secretary-General for Management in New York where she was responsible for oversight of the internal system of administration of justice, as well for establishing the UN Ethics Office, including instituting programs for whistleblower protection, financial disclosure, ethics training and advice and standards of conduct. In 2006 Melissa took up a legal position in the UN International Independent Investigation Commission in Beirut, investigating the assassination of the former Lebanese Prime Minister, Rafik Hariri. At this time, Melissa also became the Deputy Chief of Staff of UNIIIC. Prior to joining the UN, Melissa was a lecturer in the law school at Murdoch University and, before that, the solicitor in charge at the Bunbury Community Legal Centre. It was in this role that Melissa's strong sense of a public service vocation was formed through her direct experience of working with people who could not afford private legal advice or representation.

Rudo Kwaramba – National Director of World Vision Uganda

Rudo was previously Director of Advocacy, Communications and Education with World Vision UK, and before that National Director of World Vision Zimbabwe. She played a leading role in the UK Channel 4 TV documentary series, Millionaires Mission, filmed in Uganda. Rudo was born in Zimbabwe and is a human rights lawyer by profession. From private practice she moved into defending the rights of women survivors of gender violence through the Musasa Project. She then worked for a year as an Associate Protection Officer with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees before returning to the Musasa Project as Director. Rudo has served as an Executive Board Member for Zimbabwe of Women in Law and Development in Africa; a trustee of the Gateway Trust, managing a Christian education group of schools in Harare; and has been a member of the Advisory Board for the UNDP Government of Zimbabwe Capacity Building Project on Conflict Transformation. Rudo was also the chairperson for the National Association of Non Governmental Organisations.

Sam Makinda – Professor of Politics and International Studies, School of Social Sciences and Humanities at Murdoch University.

Sam, who is a member of the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia-Pacific, served on the Australian Foreign Minister's National Consultative Committee for International Security Issues from 2001 to 2008. In 2007 and 2009, he was invited by the Kenyan Government to serve as a consultant to the biennial conference of Kenya's ambassadors and high commissioners. He also helped to establish a new Foreign Service Institute for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Nairobi. Sam previously worked with the Foreign Affairs Group in the Parliamentary Research Service in Canberra, where he briefed Members of House of Representatives, Senators, Ministers and Parliamentary Committees on various international security issues. Sam has research experience in transnational terrorism, global governance, arms control, and security in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa. He has been a Research Associate at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London and a Guest Scholar at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC. Sam has also been a Visiting Fellow at Cambridge University's Global Security Programme, and a Senior Associate Member of St. Antony's College at the University of Oxford on two occasions.

MODERATOR

Dr Jane Hutchison – Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Studies, Murdoch University

Jane is Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Studies and a Fellow of the Asia Research Centre at Murdoch University. She is co-Chair of the Development Studies Program, Member of Asia Research Centre Management Committee, and Alternate Chair of the Student Appeals Committee. Jane’s research interests cover urban land reform and poverty in the Philippines, particularly the political economy of currently proposed slum-eradication programs. She has written various journal articles and book chapters on these themes, and is the co-editor of Organising Labour in Globalising Asia. Since 2004 she has been a member of the Oxfam Australia Board and since 2008 Chair of the Board's Governance Committee.

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