PRESS RELEASE

May 1 2009

NZAID restructure a step backwards for aid programme
The NGO community is deeply disappointed over today’s announced restructure of NZAID, which will see it folded back into the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT). This will mean that humanitarian aid is tied to New Zealand foreign policy.

TEAR Fund executive director Stephen Tollestrup said the restructure is a step backwards for New Zealand’s aid programme and while Foreign Minister Murray McCully claims he followed a review process, the NGO community was never invited to make constructive comment on the changes which are reported to have been made 10 days before this announcement.

While we remain skeptical that the changes will benefit the poorest they do have some merits, he said. “We applaud a greater focus on helping our Pacific neighbours and recognise that economic development can help developing nations, but in our experience over decades, economic development does not trickle down to the poorest; we see it therefore as an inefficient tool to address poverty issues.”

Mr Tollestrup said, “aid tied to foreign policy removes the true humanitarian impulse when it ensures the donor, in this case New Zealand, receives benefit as a condition and it can open up aid to abuses.”

He commented that: “It seems ironic that just as former Prime Minister of New Zealand Helen Clark takes up her position with the United Nations Development Programme addressing the chronic issues of poverty in the world, the incoming government is moving away from strategies that most developed nations consider as the most effective in delivering aid to the poor,” he said.

“It is hoped that Mr McCully will recognise the value of the NGO sector in the fight against poverty and ensure part of the increase in government aid is mobilised and released through the sector.”

While the announced increase in the aid budget of up to $600 million by 2012 was welcomed, NGOS will be disappointed that it falls well short of the agreed Millennium Development Goal of 0.7 of New Zealand’s GDP by 2015, he said. “This is not just a moan; 0.7% was a commitment made by this country and should not be walked away from.“

ENDS

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