Winston Peters’ pre-budget speech, delivered on 8 May and titled ‘First Steps’, promises a large increase in New Zealand’s foreign aid. The aid budget will get an injection of over $700 million in the next four years including a 30 percent increase in overseas development funding, with a strong focus on support for our Pacific neighbours.
Four senior academics, members of the New Zealand Aid and Development Dialogues (NZADDS) group, have largely welcomed this announcement but also raised some questions regarding the next steps. Professors John Overton and Warwick Murray from Victoria University of Wellington and Regina Scheyvens and Glenn Banks from Massey University stated: “we applaud the commitment to increase the aid budget, which will raise our aid budget as a share of Gross National Income towards the internationally agreed-upon goal of 0.7 percent of GNI.”
The group also welcomed the philosophical shift away from the donor-recipient relationship to more ‘mature political partnerships’ characterised by ‘mutual respect’. “It is important both for our place in Oceania and the effectiveness of our aid that we listen and respond to our partners rather than dictate to them or have our aid policies steered primarily by our own self-interest.”
However, the academics, who all teach and conduct research in aid and development issues, were keen to see more details emerge and a sharpening of the strategic direction of New Zealand aid.
“In the next steps we need to see a new strategic plan that resets the mission and direction of New Zealand aid that we believe has been fundamentally changed and misdirected during the past nine years. In particular, whilst there is a welcome commitment to more climate change-related initiatives, more is needed in terms of the aid programme’s overall alignment with the inclusive agenda put forward by the globally-agreed Sustainable Development Goals. This should include spending on poverty alleviation in the Pacific, and more programmes to tackle basic health and education needs, as well as concern for gender issues and human rights.”
“The issue of labour movement is also critical, with many Pacific Island countries expressing the desire for freer movement so that work overseas can contribute to wellbeing at home.”
The group will be keeping a close eye on the geographical distribution of aid in the Pacific, as conditions varied greatly across the region. “We want to see a shift back to those Pacific Island countries - Kiribati, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea – where long-term co-operation is needed to meet serious development challenges. While our strategic alliances to Polynesian countries might be more prominent, the development needs are greatest elsewhere and, as a responsible development partner, this should influence our focus.”
John Overton and Warwick Murray (Victoria University of Wellington) and Regina Scheyvens and Glenn Banks (Massey University), on behalf of NZ Aid and Development Dialogues (www.nzadds.org.nz)