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Jul 28, 2024 | 
samoaobserver.ws | Richard Curtain |Stephen Howes |Victoria Cooper |Maholopa Laveil
Child marriage is a global problem that cuts across countries, cultures, and religions – and the ASEAN region is no exception. Child marriage is considered a form of forced marriage as children cannot consent. Girls are the primary, but not exclusive, target and the numbers are high. For example, 11% of women in Vietnam (majority being ethnic Mong women), 33% of Laos females and an estimated 1.2 million females aged 20 to 24 in Indonesia, marry before the age of 18.
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Jul 23, 2024 | 
devpolicy.org | Maholopa Laveil
In Papua New Guinea, special support grants (SSGs) are allocated by the national government to provinces with resource projects to fund capital projects.
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Jun 12, 2024 | 
devpolicy.org | Maholopa Laveil
In Papua New Guinea, no province outside of Bougainville has pushed harder for autonomy than New Ireland. Since signing a service delivery partnership with the national government to begin the autonomy process in 2018, New Ireland has developed a framework for political, administrative and fiscal autonomy which it intends to present to the national government.
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Mar 17, 2024 | 
devpolicy.org | Maholopa Laveil
In this third post in a three-part series focusing on subnational government financing in PNG, I look at governance arrangements for provinces, districts and local-level governments (LLGs). Governance around subnational government finances in PNG has been lacking.
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Mar 12, 2024 | 
devpolicy.org | Maholopa Laveil
In a previous post, I discussed how provincial revenue in PNG has performed over time, how inequitably it is distributed, and how inadequate it is given aspirations for provincial autonomy. Here I discuss how subnational government — provincial, district and local level government (LLG) — spending has evolved over time, and the problems subnational governments face in accessing funds. The focus of this post is on subnational spending reported by and paid for by the national government.
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Mar 4, 2024 | 
devpolicy.org | Maholopa Laveil
Papua New Guinea’s provinces raise their own revenue to help fund the services they deliver. Though reported by the Department of Treasury and the National Economic and Fiscal Commission (NEFC), not much is known about how provincial revenue has performed over time. In this post, I discuss how provincial revenue has performed since 2007, and assess the extent to which provincial revenue has been able to meet costs.
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Jan 12, 2024 | 
openforum.com.au | Maholopa Laveil
2023 signified recognition of Papua New Guinea’s (PNG) growing geostrategic importance in the region. PNG signed a Defence Cooperation Agreement with the United States and a security agreement with Australia, to counter China’s growing military presence in the Pacific. PNG also hosted other foreign leaders from Australia, India, France, Indonesia and Hungary — discussing issues ranging from environmental conservation to boosting trade and education assistance.
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Oct 31, 2023 | 
lowyinstitute.org | Maholopa Laveil
Data on official development finance is hard to come by in Papua New Guinea. The Lowy Institute’s Pacific Aid Map fills some of the gap, this year revealing that loans (which come with varying rates of interest obligations) are on the rise while grants (provided for specific projects) have stagnated between 2008 and 2021. That shift should be seen as a warning: PNG must carefully manage the increasing debt to safeguard development gains.
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Aug 15, 2023 | 
lowyinstitute.org | Maholopa Laveil
We’re asking contributors to put together their own collected observations like this one – and as always, if you’ve got an idea to pitch for The Interpreter, drop a line via the contact details on the About page. Nothing is as it seems in Australia’s closest neighbour, Papua New Guinea. Just last month the United Nations Population Fund revised down its estimate of PNG’s population from 17 million to 11.8 million, which finally sits comfortably with the PNG government.
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Aug 8, 2023 | 
tandfonline.com | Terence Wood |Maholopa Laveil |Michael Kabuni
ABSTRACTThis paper focuses on the 2022 general elections in Papua New Guinea, covering both electoral quality and election outcomes. Overall, the 2022 elections were very troubled. In parts of the country, serious violence and electoral fraud were major issues. In other parts of the country, polling was less fraught. However, some problems, such as the roll, were serious almost everywhere. In terms of election outcomes, one outcome – only two women won seats – was predictable.
