The New Zealand Aid Programme is the New Zealand Government's international aid and development agency. NZAID is division of New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Previously a semi-autonomous body, it was reintegrated back into the Ministry as the International Development Group following a restructure in 2009. Its Māori name is Nga Hoe Tuputupu-mai-tawhiti – the paddles that bring growth from afar. The Head of the New Zealand Aid Programme is Jonathan Kings, a lawyer and public servant.
History
NZAID was established in 2002 by the Fifth Labour Government with the launching of a new overseas aid policy, "Towards a Safe and Just World Free of Poverty". The establishment of NZAID as a semi-autonomous body marked a significant shift in the management of New Zealand official development assistance. Prior to 2002, ODA had been managed by MFAT using largely non-specialist staff, policies and procedures. A Ministerial Review in 2001 found that New Zealand's management of ODA lacked a clear mission: "Management and staff are pursuing poorly defined development assistance, foreign policy and trade objectives. There is a serious confusion of purpose. At the implementing end, desk officers are uncertain and concerned about the core mission of their work." The 2001 Review found that NZ ODA lacked focus; poverty analyses on which to base decisions; systematic analysis of past performance; and systematic use of good practice in aid design and delivery. The rotational staffing system had led to the relevant area of MFAT being regarded as "both a training ground for diplomats and a dumping ground for non-performers". Basic issues of staff and document management were found wanting. The establishment of NZAID was a response to these and other problems. The Cabinet Minute 28/8 which mandated the creation of NZAID "set the following major directions for New Zealand's ODA:
Elimination of poverty as the central focus of NZAID, which would need to be incorporated in a new policy framework.
A complete overhaul of the NZODA policy framework that would need to be strategic, accountable and focused, based on international best practice in ODA.
Bilateral programmes to be based on country-based poverty analysis and country programme strategies.
A core focus on the Pacific should be maintained.
Development Assistance to the Cook Islands, Niue and Tokelau should remain within the NZODA programme.
A bilateral assessment framework should consider the degree to which the ODA programme was too dispersed, and a strategic approach to funding multilateral allocations should be adopted.
A new education strategy should be developed that would give greater prominence to basic education needs and individual country circumstances.
NZODA should mainstream human rights, gender and environment throughout its operations.
A framework should be developed for determining the level of contributions to regional and multilateral institutions.
Monitoring and evaluation systems to measure the impact of New Zealand ODA should be established.
NZODA should develop 'centres of excellence' in aid delivery."
The mission statement of the New Zealand Aid Programme expresses a desire to "support sustainable development in order to reduce poverty and contribute to a more secure, equitable and prosperous world". This includes carefully targeting aid dollars towards activities and projects that are likely to result in tangible differences to the quality of people's lives, particularly in the Pacific region.
Programmes
Sustainable Development Fund
New Zealand Partnerships for International Development
Area of operation
In 2009, Cabinet agreed to the mission statement and directed that within this the core focus be sustainable economic development. Cabinet also directed that the Pacific remain the core geographic focus and receive an increased portion of New Zealand's ODA.
Controversy and criticism
In 2008, the Office of the Controller and Auditor-General and Audit New Zealand released critical reports on NZAID procedures and systems, leading to negative comments in New Zealand Parliament and critical media coverage. NZAID has responded with a programme to "strengthen internal systems and processes". NGOs in New Zealand have defended the performance of NZAID. The most significant NGO criticism of the New Zealand aid programme is that it should be larger. The New Zealand National Party have claimed that overseas aid needs "fresh thinking" and that "Over many years and various Governments, New Zealand aid has encouraged the growth of political structures and bureaucracy that are not sustainable." and that "there is no evidence that the major problems identified in the 2005 report by Professor Marilyn Waring have been rectified." Trevor Loudon, a member of the free market liberalACT Party, has criticised NZAID as an organisation, and individuals within it, for having a "socialist bent" and funding organisations that are "more political than aid oriented". However, there has been noticeably less criticism of this sort in New Zealand than in Australia.
