The Evolution of Australia-Western Samoa Bilateral Aid Programmes: Case Studies in Human Resources Development

Abstract

Foreign aid is a topic of fascinating discourse. The differences among individuals' ideological disposition, donors' rationales, recipient countries' perceptions and beneficiaries' expectations demonstrate the complexities surrounding the aid policy environment. Added to these complexities are frustrations resulting from bureaucratic operational imperatives. Research into the processes of aid policy interaction between two countries with vastly different socio-cultural, political and economic aspirations is therefore a complicated endeavour. This study examines the impact of Australian bilateral aid policies on Western Samoa's policy making process focusing on selected Human Resources Development programmes and projects. The study tests the applicability of prominent Western constructed policy making models to policy making processes in Australia and Western Samoa. The appropriateness of Western models to Western Samoa in particular is examined, in the light of that country's political and bureaucratic decision-making systems. This exercise revealed that shortcomings of aid programmes and projects were not entirely donors' faults as the author believed initially. Outcomes of the study suggested that inadequate consultation between Australia and Western Samoa explained the shortcomings of selected programmes and projects. These shortcomings were associated with the policy formulation processes, bureaucracy's operational systems and procedures, and variables specific to the implementation locality. Effectively, most difficulties and shortcomings of the selected case studies happened during the implementation stage.