Monash Memo - 16 May 2001

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Monash scoops tenders for aid projects

Monash International has won an unprecedented number of tenders for training projects funded by the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) and the World Bank.

The courses will be delivered by Monash University's Privatisation and Public Accountability Centre (PPAC), the Castan Centre for Human Rights Law and the School of Asian Languages and Studies.

More than 120 Indonesian and Thai government officials and 24 Indonesian journalists will undertake the courses before the end of the year.

Monash International manager of development assistance Mr Paul Verwoert said winning so many AusAID tenders reflected Monash's academic expertise in international areas of need.

"The main training need in the region since the Asian financial crisis has been in the area of good governance - Monash has the expertise and is well placed to meet this need," he said.

PPAC director Professor Graeme Hodge said the centre was already delivering courses in district and provincial planning and accountability in public sector management to Indonesian officials.

"There are 49 delegates being trained in good governance by Monash's own staff as well as representatives from the Victorian public sector and independent consultants," he said.

Another PACC course in participation decentralisation and civil society will be held in Thailand next month.

Castan Centre director Professor David Kinley said Monash had also started one human rights course for 14 Indonesian delegates.

"The purpose is not to provide Indonesians with a model of human rights law, but to give them a perspective on how Australia implements its international human rights obligations," he said.

He said the delegates would meet representatives from up to 50 institutions, including the Federal Government, Amnesty International, Red Cross, Federal Police, drug rehabilitation units, and Aboriginal legal and health services.

Mr Basoeki Koesasi, convenor of the School of Asian Languages and Studies' Indonesian department, is delivering a journalism course to 24 correspondents from the Indonesian ANTARA news agency.

Supported by the Gippsland campus's Department of Journalism, the journalists will improve their skills and see how IT can be applied to the media.

The program includes talks with senior journalists at The Age and a visit to the Herald and Weekly Times' production centre.

In another coup for Monash International, 40 Indonesians will visit Australia in June for commercial law training by Law lecturer Mr Judd Epstein, which is being funded by the World Bank.