Late last year, governments around the world sent billions of dollars of foreign aid to countries devastated by Typhoon Haiyan, such as the Philippines.
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However, after a series of cuts to foreign aid budgets, including Australia's, experts from Australia and neighbouring countries are questioning the future of aid and international development.
Despite substantial economic growth, widening inequalities in income are creating a world of "haves and have-nots", which experts say government policies and programs do not reflect.
How to ensure the world's poorest people benefit from global economic growth was discussed at a conference hosted by the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) in November.
The Development Futures: Alternative pathways to end poverty conference could not have come at a more important time, says UTS Associate Professor Juliet Willetts, research director of the Institute for Sustainable Futures, which convened the conference.
"Poverty and inequality are being overlaid with global issues – climate change, natural disasters, declining resources and the urbanisation of many developing countries," says Professor Willetts.
"It's clear that bold alternatives for sustainable development are needed," she says.
"With recently announced cuts to Australia's national aid budget and the approaching end date in 2015 for the Millennium Development Goals, Australia is at a crossroads in our role as a global citizen. With the means to effect change on the lives of the poor, it is our responsibility to rethink future approaches to ending poverty."
Before the federal election in September, then opposition treasurer Joe Hockey said growth in foreign aid would be cut by $4.5 billion over the forward estimates to help fund essential infrastructure in Australia.
In the US in December, a bipartisan budget deal was drawn up to cut international food aid to millions who needed it, thanks to a continued requirement to ship American food abroad rather than buying from local producers.
In contrast, in Britain, the Conservative government has said it will approve a £1billion increase in foreign aid after years of cuts.
The UTS conference, co-convened by the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID), covered a wide range of challenges and opportunities facing the development sector.
Despite a significant reduction in the number of people living in extreme poverty during the past two decades, about 2.4 billion people live on less than $US2 a day, says ACFID executive director Marc Purcell.
"We are also confronted by a new challenge with three-quarters of the world's poor living in middle-income countries," Mr Purcell says.
"The conference heard about promising new approaches to sustainable development and key challenges, including how the sector can grow public awareness and work with the media in a changing, fast-paced environment."
The Development Futures: Alternative pathways to end poverty summit, the fourth ACFID University Network conference, was held on November 21-22, 2013. For more information, visit www.development-futures.com.
For more Brink stories go to http://newsroom.uts.edu.au/brink
This story written and produced by the University of Technology, Sydney, for Brink, a publication distributed monthly in The Sydney Morning Herald
