Local Govt Forum

15 May 2020 Author: Anne Booth, SOAS It is now widely believed that the distribution of income in Indonesia has become more skewed since the fall of Suharto in 1998. Even commentators who extoll positive economic developments post-Suharto accept that Indonesia’s upper income groups are doing better than its poorest. Others who are more sceptical of  reformasi ’s achievements argue that inequalities are  now much worse  than under Suharto. In the 2016 report  Indonesia’s Rising Divide , the World Bank claimed that ‘inequality in Indonesia is rising rapidly’, and that the increase in the Gini coefficient of household consumption expenditure in the 1990s and the 2000s was one of the highest in the Asia. Data on the share of total wealth owned by the top one per cent of households  published by Credit Suisse  shows that Indonesia had one of the most skewed distributions in the world in 2014, surpassed only by Thailand and Russia. Other analysts tend to support ...

10 May 2020 Author: Belinda Townsend, ANU As of  10 May  over four million COVID-19 cases had been reported worldwide, with 280,000 confirmed deaths. The pandemic has highlighted the need for strong national health systems and regional infectious disease monitoring. Rising global health tensions urge the need for governments to prioritise international mechanisms that promote affordable access to new treatments and vaccines. As China reports fewer cases of COVID-19, it is  seeking to portray  itself as a global health leader by supplying medical experts, equipment and resources overseas. Chinese President Xi Jinping has expressed China’s ambition for a ‘ Health Silk Road ’ with partner countries of its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). On  21 March  China sent 100,000 medical masks and 776 protective suits to Spain via existing BRI railway infrastructure. China’s Health Silk Road has its origins in a 2015  three-year plan  for health cooperation as ...

15 May 2020 Author: Anil Paudel, Right4Children Nepal’s  2015 Constitution  guarantees education as a fundamental right to all citizens, with free and compulsory basic education and free education up to the secondary level. The  2018 Act  Relating to Compulsory and Free Education translates the constitutional provision into practice. Education is among Nepal’s top policy priorities — it accounts for around  15 per cent  of the annual national budget — but the current system is lagging behind these lofty goals. Over half of total education spending funds basic education — from pre-primary to eighth-grade — and about a quarter is spent on secondary education — ninth-grade to 12th-grade. Around 8 per cent supports tertiary education and the lowest share of the education budget — 3.0 to 3.5 per cent — is spent on technical and vocational education and training (TVET). Achieving universal basic education is the main priority of the Nepalese government, with its ...