Australian Development Gateway

The Australian Development Gateway (ADG) strives to support members of the development community in their efforts to reduce poverty and enhance sustainable development in the Asia Pacific region. The site has been created with participation from members of government, private, academia and non-government organisations. User feedback mechanisms have been incorporated to guide future directions of the site. The site is optimised for low bandwidth access to enable the widest participation throughout the Asia Pacific region.

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Managing public expenditure

Paying for people: financing the skilled workers needed to deliver health & education services (335kb)

This Oxfam paper considers the extent of the problem of staff shortages in developing countries' public services and the resources and funding mechanisms required to address the gap.

It observes that education and health services in developing countries currently face a staffing shortfall of around two million teachers and more than four million health workers.

The paper discusses:
- Examples of how significant and sustained increases in investment have been successful in rapidly increasing staff numbers in health and education services
- Key elements of successful strategies to rapidly increase recruitment and training
- Estimates of the levels of investment required to meet the staffing shortfall and improve retention of existing staff
- Problems in how aid is currently being delivered and used
- The benefits of using sector-wide approach (SWAp) and government budget support, with a special focus on the gender implications

 

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