Each week on Engage, we aim to share with you a selection of links to articles and  stories about the Australian aid program and international development that we find interesting or noteworthy. Here’s a snapshot of online stories this week:

• The Development Policy Centre’s deputy director Matthew Morris challenged a recent editorial in this week’s Canberra Times (Election creates new bed mates) that described the last year in PNG politics as ‘as a year of wasted time, inaction and serious delay in addressing PNG’s fundamental problems.’ As an advisor to PNG’s Independent Public Business Corporation, Matthew saw first-hand progress which he describes as ‘a remarkable achievement…. in a challenging environment’.
• As we all watch the Olympics in London, Young Ambassador for UNICEF Australia Isuru Devendra blogged on WhyDev.org about the power of sport in combating poverty in developing countries.
• On Think Tanks’ Enrique Mendizabal blogged about AusAID’s approach to revitalising the knowledge sector in Indonesia. Enrique says ‘the big innovation is that [AusAID has] replied, in public, and encouraged a discussion about the programme.’ This discussion is happening now here on Engage.
• New Zealand’s Ambassador to Indonesia and ASEAN, David Taylor, blogs about the how, what and why of their embassy’s use of social media as a set of tools for undertaking their diplomatic work. The NZ embassy in Indonesia launched a Facebook page in 2010 that now has more than 82,000 ‘likes’.
• Part three of Stephen Howes’ Australian aid in the Asian century series outlines
  the arguments that are commonly put forward against aid to Asia.
• This week we stumbled across a great post from earlier this year by Brian Atwood, chair of the OECD Development Assistance Committee. He talks about the benefits of transparency in development.