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:

• An opinion piece in the Phnom Penh Post discusses how good nutrition can lead to a better future. The piece is co-signed by Annette Dixon, the World Bank country director for Cambodia; Mark Gooding, the British ambassador to Cambodia; and Penny Richards, Australia’s ambassador to Cambodia.
• Poor political governance in Solomon Islands – what can donors do? In his most recent blog post about problems of political governance in Solomon Islands, Terence Wood focuses on the mechanisms through which donors might improve political governance suggested by Tobias Hague.
• All that glisters: the golden thread and complexity—this is the second of three blog posts (by Owen Barder) looking at development policy through the lens of complexity thinking.
• With the Pacific Islands Forum happening this week, Danielle Cave started a blog series on Australia’s Pacific Islands strategy. In part 1 of the series, she outlined two elements that characterise Australia’s Pacific policy—first, Australia’s tendency to project its own domestic issues into the region, and second, Australia’s crowded and distracted foreign policy agenda and fixation on UN diplomacy. In part 2, she throws in a third premise: the dominance of Australia’s aid program.
• Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced at the Pacific Islands Forum that Pacific island countries will be given assistance to empower women and to promote gender equality, under a major new regional initiative. The $320 million Pacific Women Shaping Pacific Development initiative will expand women’s leadership and economic and social opportunities in the region.
• “The recent High Court judgement in Australia upholding legislation to enforce plain packaging for tobacco products provides a good opportunity to look at the impacts of tobacco in low and middle income countries, and what’s needed to stem the tide of poverty and mortality they cause.”—Sam Byfield discusses Tobacco, Poverty and the Need for Global Action in his blog post on WhyDev.
• Andrew Anton Mako discusses PNG’s experience with rapid revenue growth and lessons for the future.