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In the Vanuatu national elections held on 19 March 2020, voters elected their third consecutive all-male parliament. Across 10 of Vanuatu's 18 constituencies, only 18 women contested the elections and were significantly outnumbered, representing only six per cent of all candidates.1 Women have been absent from national parliament since 2012, and only five women have held a position in parliament since independence. ; AusAID

Designing programs to address poverty and inequality for Australian Aboriginal communities over recent decades has proved problematic. There is a need for greater consideration of different cultural perspectives. A culturally appropriate evaluation framework can provide a range of strategies to embrace cultural difference. Evaluation anthropology, one of many culturally appropriate approaches, emphasises understanding of socio-cultural environments and contexts, and reflective practice to draw attention to cultural bias. This paper will define evaluation anthropology and then reflect on its usefulness in establishing an evaluation framework for a preliteracy program located in a remote Aboriginal community in Australia. The aims of the program are to improve school readiness through developing preliteracy (English language) skills in children aged 0-3 years. Developing an evaluation framework for the program required an approach that accounted for the socio-cultural aspects of literacy development. The lessons from this case study demonstrate the need for place-specific theory to inform program design and evaluation practice.

The contribution of Pacific women to climate negotiations is underacknowledged. Women may have limited roles as heads of delegations or the face of climate negotiations, yet behind the scenes they often play proactive leadership roles either as technical negotiators or coalition coordinators. Using a global talanoa methodology, the article traces the role of Pacific women in climate negotiations, with a focus on the Paris Climate Conference 2015. It finds that women take on leadership roles that have the potential to disrupt stereotypical gendered divisions of expertise. It also highlights how further in-depth research is required to ascertain whether the leadership space created by climate change negotiations can transform gender relations writ large. These counter narratives contribute to feminist research by highlighting that Pacific women are not passive victims of climate change. ; peer-reviewed

In this Discussion Paper, Hon. Ali'imalemanu Alofa Tuuau tells her story of becoming a member of the National Legislative Assembly in Samoa in 2016. Samoa ranks 166th out of 191 in global rankings on women's representation in national parliaments. While the quota system in Samoa guarantees women comprise 10 per cent of national parliamentary members, Hon. Ali'imalemanu's story reveals how the matai or chiefly system and its associated decisionmaking and language systems present significant hurdles for women with ambitions to become a member of parliament. The paper concludes with a message to all women who are thinking about stepping up for leadership roles.

Student learning abroad experiences are encouraged to develop students' intercultural understanding and global citizenship. This article reports internationally collaborative research exploring social work student short-term mobility programmes and international field education placements. Findings from interviews with staff from Australian schools of social work are presented. Themes developed from the data explore the establishment and ongoing resourcing and sustainability of international exchange programmes, including implications for risk and safety, relationships and partnerships, and reciprocity. The complex landscape of student international experiences is discussed, and it is proposed that the lack of adequate resourcing of learning abroad opportunities threatens their sustainability.

International student exchange is pursued by Australian schools of social work as a strategy to engage with the internationalisation agenda set by government, universities, and the profession. However, little concrete information about the nature and scope of these activities exists. The study reported here aimed to address this gap. Twenty-seven of the 30 Australian universities that offer social work programs participated in an online survey about international student exchange activities. The results indicate that a majority of schools (n = 23) do engage in such activities, with international field placements the most frequent form of exchange. Exchanges are most likely to be facilitated and managed by social work staff. The findings, and their implications for the development of good practice in international student exchange, are discussed. This research provides a "point-in-time" snapshot of international exchange in Australian social work education and a benchmark for future analyses of this expanding practice in the profession.