Opinion pieces

1 - 10 of 130 results

The World's Generous Bushfire Response Highlights Our Foreign Aid Hypocrisy

Sunday, January 19, 2020

Foreign aid is often not the saviour people expect. Instead, it is confronting, a last resort and often received sadly. The reasons countries are given aid -- the traumas, the catastrophes, the crises and the chronic issues -- are often so damaging to individual and collective pride, worth and utility.

Opinion Pieces, Climate change, Asia and the Pacific, Climate Change

Three reasons to feel hopeful about the world's future – Claire Rogers

Sunday, December 29, 2019

Here are three pieces of hopeful news you wouldn’t have seen in your feed.

Opinion Pieces, Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Humanitarian

What we've learned since the 2004 tsunami, and why we can't afford to be complacent

Friday, December 27, 2019

Many people consider the 2004 tsunami a ‘once in a lifetime disaster’ but it’s possible that another disaster on that scale could strike again. I shudder at the thought.

Opinion Pieces, Asia and the Pacific, Tsunami

Building shock proof communities in the age of recurrent crises

Thursday, November 21, 2019

It’s barely made the news in Australia, but a record 45 million people are facing severe food insecurity in Southern Africa over the next six months, with nine million people already experiencing ‘crisis’ or ‘emergency’ levels of food insecurity. Prolonged droughts, flooding, back-to-back cyclones and environmental degradation have devastated a region heavily dependent on smallholder agriculture. The situation has been exacerbated by conflict and prolonged economic challenges.

Opinion Pieces, Africa

When is a Halloween Costume More Than Just Child’s Play?

Friday, November 1, 2019

I have always thought that when it comes to dressing up for Halloween we should let kids be kids. Adults tend to ruin everything.

Opinion Pieces, Human trafficking, Poverty, Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Middle East, Eastern Europe & Central Asia, Forced Marriage

World Vision Australia ambassador Samantha Harris on why she’s more than ‘just a model’

Wednesday, October 9, 2019

She’s been a successful model since she was just 11, but Samantha Harris says there’s much more to her than being a recognisable face.

Opinion Pieces, Asia and the Pacific, Aboriginal, Indigenous, International Day of the Girl Child, World Vision

The conflict we can't ignore

Monday, October 7, 2019

It was the shocking scene that jolted the world into caring once more about a forgotten war. Two months ago, a Syrian cameraman captured harrowing footage of a five-year-old girl, Riham, trying to rescue her baby sister from their bombed home in Idlib. Our hearts ached for the terrified father as he scrambled to his daughters’ aid, his face frozen in horror. We wept for little Riham as she reached for her sister dangling over the wreckage, her dress hooked on the debris. And our hearts broke when we learned that Riham, her mother and another sister later died, further driving up the statistics of a bloody battle that has claimed more than 400,000 lives.

Opinion Pieces, Middle East, Eastern Europe & Central Asia

Australia must do more to help children in the Pacific

Wednesday, August 7, 2019

Children’s drawings often evoke a sense of joy and mirth – whether it’s a wonky stick-figure family with a spotty dog, or holiday fun under an oversized sun. But this week, a crudely-drawn sketch by a young boy filled me with sadness. The window into his life depicts his father looming menacingly over his mother with a knife, poised to strike as she cowers in fright.

Opinion Pieces, Asia and the Pacific

Why the world must know what is happening on the frontline of the Ebola epidemic

Wednesday, August 7, 2019

On the dusty brown streets of Beni, we are too scared to shake hands with anyone we meet. We don’t hug or kiss each other on the cheek. This is Ebola ground zero. Locals have even developed a new greeting ritual. Those who know each other well – and understand Ebola’s deadly threat – raise their arms and touch elbows. The virus is the stuff of nightmares. It has claimed more than 1700 lives in the Democratic Republic of Congo in one year. In Beni, at least 337 men, women and child have succumbed to the illness.

Opinion Pieces, Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ebola

Aid work must never be linked with defence

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

As an aid worker with an American accent, I’m used to being the target of security threats. In South Sudan in 2016, humanitarian staff were subjected to horrific violence and harassment, with Americans often singled out. There were mock executions of Americans at checkpoints. In an attack on a residential compound, an American was badly beaten and told: “Tell your Embassy how we treated you”.

Opinion Pieces, Africa, Asia and the Pacific, AUSAID, Conflict, Emergencies, South Sudan