AID TO PAKISTAN ON SCHEDULE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CANBERRA 000963

NOFORN
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/26/2019
TAGS: AS EAID EFIN PK
SUBJECT: AID TO PAKISTAN ON SCHEDULE

REF: SECSTATE 108183

Classified By: Political and Econcomic Counselor Edgard Kagan for reaso
ns 1.4 (b)(d)


1. (C/NF) SUMMARY: At the Tokyo Donor's Conference Australia
announced the doubling of its aid to Pakistan. A significant
portion of the promised aid has already been dispersed.
Australia is on pace to fulfill its obligation by 2011, but
has declined to provide budget support to Pakistan's
government. Like Australia's military mission in
Afghanistan, aid programs in Pakistan are targeted in
specific geographic and subject areas. This appears to be
the government's preferred model for international
development assistance. END SUMMARY.

Aid Doubled in Tokyo
--------------


2. (C) During the Tokyo Donors' Conference, Australia
doubled its commitment for 2009-10 and 2010-11 to a total of
$111 million ($120 million Australian). The increase is
driven by investments in programs focusing on maternal,
newborn, and child HEALTH along with primary education.
Prior to the conference, Australia had already committed
approximately $27 million in aid to Pakistan for this fiscal
year. Pakistan Section Director Jane Lambert of the
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade stressed that the
additional spending announced in Tokyo is entirely new, and
indicated that she believes other countries may have simply
"rebadged" existing aid programs. The $111 million figure
represents the entire Australian aid program to Pakistan.


3. (C) The boundaries of Australia's aid programs are very
well defined. Geographically, Australian aid to Pakistan is
focused on Balochistan, a province on the Afghan border.
Australian aid throughout the rest of the country is limited
to a few specific sectors. The largest aid efforts have
focused on primary education, agriculture, and prenatal and
early childhood health. This follows the pattern set by the
Australian military in Afghanistan, where Afghanistan's
military force is almost entirely committed to missions in
one province. Lambert says that this is by design.
Australia has chosen to focus aid efforts on areas where it
sees a need and believes it can make a measurable difference.


Dispersal On Track
--------------


4. (C/NF) Australia is on track to meet all of its
obligations to Pakistan by June 2011 (the end of the
Australian fiscal year) according to Australian Agency for
International Development's (AusAID) Pakistan Country
Director Nadira Mailewa. Of the $54 million pledged for
2009-10 at the Tokyo Donors Conference, nearly all has
already been disbursed or committed to a specific program.
Qalready been disbursed or committed to a specific program.
According to Lambert, a significant portion of the money for
2010-11 has already been committed as well. Under the
Australian system, money for foreign aid must be assigned to
a specific project well in advance. While Lambert says this
means that Pakistan can be confident in the timely dispersal
of Australian aid, she also believes it hinders the aid
program's flexibility at times.

No Direct Aid To Pakistani Government
--------------

CANBERRA 00000963 002 OF 002




5. (C/NF) None of Australia's aid to Pakistan is given
directly to the Pakistani government. Lambert noted that the
non-paper (reftel) urged countries to disburse their pledges
for direct budget support to the Pakistani Government, but
Australia has made no such pledges. The full $111 million
pledged was for programs run either through international
organizations, NGOs or in a few cases directly by AusAID.


6. (C/NF) Lambert realizes that Pakistan would prefer that
money be given to the government, but said Australia is
unwilling to do so. AusAID's Mailewa said that the decision
was made not to donate directly to the government because
Australia is not convinced that the Pakistani system has the
capacity to absorb all of the money and distribute it
properly. She also said that mechanisms for monitoring and
evaluation, required by Australian law, are in place with all
existing programs, but would be impossible were the money
given to the government directly. Both Lambert and Mailewa
emphasized that there had been close consultation with the
Pakistani government while developing the aid program.

Keep "Friends" Separate from Donors
--------------


7. (C/NF) Lambert worried that the Friends of a Democratic
Pakistan (FODP),of which Australia is a founding member, was
in danger of becoming a perpetual donor organization. She
stressed the need to keep the FODP delinked from donor
activities like the Tokyo Donors' Conference. However, she
did believe that the FODP should play a greater role in donor
coordination and tracking, noting that some countries like
China and Saudi Arabia have given huge amounts of aid to
Pakistan with virtually no international accounting of where
the aid money went.

A Pattern Emerging
--------------


8. (C/NF) COMMENT: Australia has strictly defined their role
in Pakistan both geographically and by sector. Given limited
resources, Australia has chosen to be a major player within
specific subjects and regions rather than have a more limited
impact on a broader range of issues. This strategy allows
Australia to have a more tangible impact on Pakistan's
development, making it easier to sell aid programs to the
public and empowering the government. The similarity of the
civilian efforts in Pakistan to the military model in
Afghanistan suggests that this specialization is emerging as
a favored model for Australia's international involvement.
END COMMENT.

CLUNE