Kate Griffiths, MSc Student

Kate has an Honours degree in Human Geography from the University of Sydney. She began her Masters (research) part-time in 2008. Kate hopes to complete her Masters in 2011. Kate is also employed full time at the AMRC as a Research Officer.

The topic of Kate's Masters is Cultures of Aid: Chinese aid to Cambodia. Cambodia is one of the poorest countries in Southeast Asia. The United Nations Human Development Index ranks Cambodia as 131 out of 177 countries in terms of quality of life. It is also an aid dependent country, with nearly half Cambodia’s annual budget coming from aid. Since the Paris Peace Accords in 1991 and subsequent United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) period, western donors have flooded into Cambodia, allocating aid according to the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) development consensus. Recently, however, another donor has come to the fore in Cambodia, and that is China. China has strong historical, social and economic links with Cambodia but is often considered a ‘rogue’ donor by the western (or ‘traditional’) donors as China does not conform with DAC policy on aid and development. Kate's thesis explores aid cultures in Cambodia, in particular the encounter between Chinese aid and traditional aid in Cambodia. It will explore these aid cultures in light of three primary research questions: How do those with different cultural sets come together in certain contexts, e.g. aid; what cultural encounters do we see in this mix: e.g. between traditional donors and new donors; how do discourses around ‘the other’ play into aid dialogues in Cambodia?

Supervisor: Professor Philip Hirsch
Assoc. Supervisor: Professor John Connell

School of Geosciences
Madsen Building (F09), Rm 470
University of Sydney, NSW, 2006
Tel: (+612) 9351 7796
Fax: (+612) 9351 8627
Email:

Selected publications

• Wokker, C., Santos, P., Ros, B., Griffiths, K. (forthcoming) Irrigation Water Productivity in Cambodian Rice Systems. CDRI Working Paper: Phnom Penh
• Wokker, C., Santos, P., Ros, B., Griffiths, K. (forthcoming) The Value of Irrigation to Productivity in Cambodian Rice Systems. CDRI Policy Brief: Phnom Penh.
• Chann, S., Wales, N., Griffiths, K (2011) Investigating land cover change in Cambodia. CDRI Policy Brief: Phnom Penh
• Griffiths, K (2010) comments on 'China and western-led aid structures in Cambodia' 1 July 2010 in Brautigam, D. China in Africa: The Real Story
• Griffiths, K (2010) 'Aid cultures in Cambodia – Traditional donors and China' Paper presented at Association of American Geographers (AAG) conference , 14-18 April, Washington DC, USA.
• Griffiths, K (2009) 'Aid Cultures: Chinese aid in Cambodia' Paper presented at Institute of Australian Geograpers (IAG) conference, 28 Sept - 1 Oct, Cairns, Australia.
• Phalla, C., Hirsch, P., Somatra, K.S., Sovannarith, S., Vanny, S., Daravy K., Neave, M., Griffiths, K., Wales N., Gillespie, J., Kimkong, H., Vuthy, L., Keamony, N., Phallika, C., and Sopheak, C. (2008). Framing research on water resources management and governance in Cambodia: A literature review. Working Paper 37. Cambodia Development Resource Institute: Phnom Penh
• Griffiths, K (2008) 'Geography of Chinese Aid'. Paper presented at Southeast Asian Geographers Association (SEAGA) conference, 3-6 June, Manila, Philippines.
• Hirsch, P and Griffiths, K (2006) 'Thailand' in Japanese Official Development Assistance in the Asian Region: Building Institutional Capacity in Asia 2005-2006, The Research Institute for Asia and the Pacific (RIAP), University of Sydney.