A bolt from the blue
In my recent NZADDs Working Paper – ‘A Bolt from the Blue’[pdf] – I analyse the two major changes made in 2009 to the New Zealand government aid programme: the removal of NZAID as a Semi-Automous Body,...
View ArticleNo cuts to current NZ aid levels but future looks grim
The New Zealand Government released its budget at the end of May and the numbers caused some consternation amongst the New Zealand aid community. At first glance it appeared as if aid had been cut,...
View ArticleHave NGOs lost their way?
Source: Oxfam Oxfam UK’s Duncan Green recently wrote a post for his ‘Poverty to Power’ blog entitled: “What We Can Learn About a Really Annoying Paper on NGOs and Development”. Green was irritated...
View ArticleCareers in development: an interview with Jo Spratt on careers in the NZ...
Jonathan: Could you please just run us through what you’re currently doing and a bit about your background? Jo: I volunteer for New Zealand Aid and Development Dialogues, which takes up a lot of my...
View ArticleKey observations on the state of New Zealand’s aid strategy
The New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade has released their ‘International Development Group [IDG]Strategic Plan 2012-2015 – Development that Delivers [pdf]‘, which complements and expands...
View ArticleSpeed-dating, solar panels and the importance of process
The sun has set on the Pacific Energy Summit but will the heat generated be channelled into sustainable development? This is the 635 million New Zealand dollar question. Co-hosted by New Zealand and...
View ArticleThe aid budget across the Tasman
As a New Zealander it’s hard not to feel at least a little bit of Australia Envy. Not only are there all those Olympic medals, the soap opera stars, and the golden sand beaches, but by an increasing...
View ArticleEight things you should know: running the numbers on New Zealand aid flows
If you are an aid numbers nerd these are happy times. Thanks to a developing norm amongst OECD aid donor countries, increasing amounts of aid data are available for analysis. We’ve taken advantage of...
View ArticleWhither Australian aid?
What will become of aid under the new Coalition Government? The answer to this question matters. Australia is the Pacific’s largest source of aid, and globally it is the eighth largest donor country....
View ArticleMore progress needed on access to safe abortions: new report
Every year 22 million women experience the trauma of an unsafe abortion: 47,000 die as a result. For five million more the outcome is a disability. An overwhelming 98 per cent of all unsafe abortions...
View ArticleNew Zealand needs a fence for aid, not aid for fences
Cows in Burma and the form and function of a government aid agency. You wouldn’t think they’d have much in common but it turns out an aid program needs a fence just as much as cows do. Over the last...
View ArticleFrames for aid policy: the work of van der Veen
Recent blogs considering the national interest’s role in the Australian aid program (here and here), reminded me of A. Maurits van der Veen’s research. Any country’s national interest is, to some...
View ArticleThinking about aid’s organisation
What does research tell us about the relationship between a donor government aid program’s purpose and the way the program is administered? A salient question given the recent aid organisational...
View ArticleDeath and development in the Pacific
In any Pacific country it doesn’t take long before you meet people who are caring for dying loved ones at home, with very little support. Immobility. Pain. Incontinence. The fear, and often shame,...
View ArticleRecycling money in New Zealand’s aid budget
Unlike Australia, New Zealand’s budget contains no surprises for aid. We’ve had a National Party government for nearly six years, and those years have already proven lean ones for aid. This year’s...
View ArticleA glass half full for New Zealand aid
If you want, there is a glass half full way of looking at the last six years of New Zealand aid giving. Sure, aid has ceased to rise as a share of GNI, sure NGO funding has been broken, sure serving...
View ArticlePacific women and contraceptive use: what are the barriers?
The issue of contraceptive side effects always arises when I’ve had the opportunity to talk to women from various Pacific island countries about their contraceptive use. Women often express worries...
View ArticleFinal call for papers: upcoming DevNet conference in New Zealand
From 27 to 29 November 2014, the Aotearoa New Zealand International Development Studies Network (DevNet) and the University of Otago will host the biennial DevNet conference in Dunedin, New Zealand....
View ArticleSome questions about NZ Aid’s renewable energy program
Over the past six years the New Zealand Aid Programme has made renewable energy a key focus of its work. Renewable energy is described in the aid program’s Strategic Plan 2012-2015 as an ‘enabler of...
View ArticleAntipodes continue to fall short on aid to Syria
Both Australia and New Zealand are doing abysmally in funding their fair share of the needed funds for Syrians suffering the effects of three years of war, and to support Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and...
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