Jodie Goodman
Jodie holds a Bachelor of Asian Studies (Specialist) and a Bachelor of Arts in Community Development from Murdoch University. After obtaining her first class Honours degree in Sustainable Development and Asian Studies, Jodie joined the Asia Research Centre as a PhD student, working on the Australian Research Council funded project ‘Social Capital, Natural Resources and Local Governance in Indonesia’. This project aims to investigate the changing dynamics of community development and natural resource management in Indonesia with the mainstreaming of the social capital concept in both donor and government programming. Social capital refers to the idea that norms of trust and reciprocity that arise from networks and successful collective action can then be drawn on for sustainable community development.
Jodie’s thesis will look specifically at the impacts of the Indonesian government’s PNPM and AusAid’s ACCESS programs on patterns of participation in local governance and natural resource management and the implications for equitable and sustainable community-driven development. The PNPM program has now been rolled out to every village across Indonesia while the ACCESS program focuses on building local resilience and community driven development in some of Indonesia’s poorest regions. The significance of these two programs for both Indonesian government policy and Australian government aid policy makes research into how these programs unfold on the ground and how they can be improved crucial to their poverty reduction strategies.
In exploring social capital formation and its links to increased capacity for collective action, institutional responsiveness and equitable and sustainable outcomes, this study will contribute to a better understanding of whether and how such programs can be designed to benefit the most disadvantaged groups, as well as the wider community, and how the capture of collective goods by powerful local and outside interests can be resisted. It will also contribute to an enhanced understanding of whether and how stocks of ‘social capital’ can improve environmental outcomes of sustainable natural resource management.
Jodie is one of twenty post-graduate recipients of the 2010 Prime Minister’s Australia Asia Endeavour Awards. The Prime Minister’s Australia Asia Endeavour Awards provide scholarships for the ‘best and brightest’ university students from Australia and Asia.
They provide the unique opportunity for postgraduates and undergraduates to undertake not only international study and research, but also internships or work placements. The Awards aim to build deep and enduring education and professional linkages between Australia and Asia. They also provide an opportunity for Australian universities and the Australian Government to work in partnership to identify and reward high calibre scholars.
This award will provide funding for Jodie to conduct her fieldwork in Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia, throughout 2010-2011.
Postgraduate Researcher, Asia Research Centre, Murdoch University, South Street, Murdoch, WA 6150. Fax: 9360 6381, Email: J.Goodman@murdoch.edu.au
