Road and Development: Insights from the Australian Aid Program

I had a fascinating chance to listen to a forum with the Australian Aid on their Program called “Philippine Provincial Roads Management Facility. One thing I particularly would like to share is how they operationalize and integrate good governance to improving the road system. In a nutshell, road is a public good and political at that. People see the quality of roads as primary direct indicators of the quality of governance. Moreover, roads are our economic arteries that bring prosperity and breaks isolation that breeds poverty and ignorance. This is a good way of focusing its aid for development.

In summary, the Australian Aid "incentivizes" governance reform by allowing the government to draw up their own development stages and meeting each stage signifies another aid contribution. This process allows the local governments to assess and develop their own processes opening up a bigger space for creativity, innovation and engagement from civil society. The program also taps local labor in the development and/or maintenance of roads stimulating local economies.

In development economics, we’ve been taught that developing countries lack the needed capital injections to propel economic growth. One way of filling that need is foreign direct investments or foreign aid. In this case, foreign aid for development is a boost in our efforts to move this country forward. Above all that, development can only work if the major stakeholders of the local community are involved where they participate in their own development. In this manner – commitment in our own development, whether with aid or with our own means, this country will surely develop in the long-run.