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In April 2009, Cabinet agreed that the mission statement for New Zealand’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) should be to “support sustainable development in developing countries, in order to reduce poverty and to contribute to a more secure, equitable and prosperous world”. This accords with New Zealand’s national interest and as such is a key foreign policy objective. Within the mission, the core focus is to be the pursuit of sustainable economic development. The Pacific is to remain the core focus and receive an increased proportion of New Zealand’s development assistance.
Sustainable economic development, as the new core focus of the programme, will ensure that programme outcomes are aimed at lifting the economic performance of our development partners, especially in the Pacific, and the prosperity of their peoples. There are strong linkages between sustainable economic development, human development and human rights, safe and just societies, and poverty reduction. Sustainable economic development is necessary to address poverty; and is itself necessarily underpinned by health, education, environmental considerations, accountable governments with competent service delivery, and a regulatory environment and infrastructure that facilitate private sector development.
The central focus on sustainable economic development is a new emphasis within this broad approach. In the Pacific, it will involve three broad areas of action:
New Zealand’s development assistance serves the country’s wider interests by contributing to the building of a peaceful, prosperous and just world. Development assistance contributes to New Zealand’s reputation as a good international citizen, with strong Pacific links. It also responds to New Zealanders’ wish to “do their bit” and respond to genuine need.
NZAID manages 33 programmes in a range of countries and sectors, all with their own development challenges and objectives. For each there is a strategy or framework that sets out the development objectives relevant to the particular context. The Pacific region remains the core focus and will receive an increased share of New Zealand’s ODA. Of 17 bilateral programmes, 11 of are in the Pacific. These represent 85 percent of country level ODA. These strategies define in more detail the achievements that are intended for each programme.
Under each of the 33 programmes, more detailed outcomes and objectives are defined for individual ODA Activities[3]. At any one time, NZAID is administering roughly 800 Activities. The relationship between what we are trying to achieve at the Activity, Programme and Agency level is illustrated in the following table.
Examples of the outcomes set for Programmes from recently approved strategies include:
Programme |
Example objective |
Link to core focus |
Example indicators of success |
|---|---|---|---|
Cook Islands (constitutional relationship) |
To provide sound infrastructure that will support sustained growth and basic services for outer islands |
Direct link |
Progress against the priorities in the Cook Islands Preventative Infrastructure Master Plan, particularly in the outer islands Access to quality water services in both Rarotonga and outer islands increases by 40 percent |
Solomon Islands (major bilateral) |
To improve livelihoods and promoting broad‑based economic growth |
Direct link |
Oceanic fisheries industry is developed in a sustainable manner, and is generating significant new income, employment, and government revenue Increased connectivity of rural communities to markets and services improves people’s lives and livelihoods and promotes broad-based economic growth |
Africa (regional) |
To bring about improvements in child health and nutrition, and maternal health for target groups in Zambia and Zimbabwe
|
As well as being an objective in its own right, improvements in health address a constraint on economic development |
Improvements for assisted communities in the appropriate indicators |
New Zealand and Australia’s Prime Ministers agreed in March 2009 on the need for continued close cooperation on developments in the Pacific, especially helping Pacific Island countries achieve the MDGs. It will be essential to sustain support for developing Pacific island nations in the face of the effects of the global economic crisis on the region. As part of New Zealand’s overall relationship, partnership and support for the Pacific, effective aid has a crucial role to play.
NZAID continues to develop and implement the new performance reporting framework that was introduced in the 2008-2011 Statement of Intent. From 2008/09 this includes systemic reporting on progress towards programme-level outcomes. By 2009/10, more comprehensive reporting than is possible now will also be available on the achievement of Activity-level outcomes. Taken together with reviews and evaluations, these assessments at the Activity, programme, and regional level will allow judgement on the contribution of NZAID to the outcomes sought by the government.
Economic indicators are particularly important in measuring the contribution of sustainable economic development to outcomes and have been incorporated into the framework from 2009/10.
These economic indicators are complemented by continued use of the MDGs which have a 2015 target date. The MDGs were agreed in 2000 by the international community including New Zealand. The MDGs aim to substantially reduce poverty and poverty-related conditions for hundreds of millions of people and, in doing so, create a more stable, prosperous world for all nations. By setting targets for decreased poverty and increased standard of living (eg health), the MDGs articulate one significant reason for economic development. There are also linkages in the other direction – poor health, low levels of education, and higher initial levels of inequality (including between men and women) have all been shown to constrain economic development.
Indicators and measures |
Current status (more detail will be available in the Annual Report) |
NZAID contribution |
|---|---|---|
Progress in high-level economic indicators in key partner countries in the region:
|
Annual GDP per capita for our key partners in the Pacific ranges from US$653 in Kiribati to US$8,553 in the Cook Islands. Generally, Melanesia is much poorer than Polynesia. Economic growth has recently picked up in Melanesia, with Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and Solomon Islands experiencing between five percent and seven percent annual growth in recent years. Other key countries, particularly the Cook Islands, Fiji and Tonga, have experienced less growth. However, the economic crisis will certainly impact negatively upon the whole region[4] On latest data (which has many omissions), the balance of trade in goods and services for key Pacific partners ranges from a deficit of 52 percent of GDP for Tonga, to a surplus of 16 percent for Papua New Guinea. Fiji, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Samoa have deficits ranging from 11 percent to 26 percent of their GDP Ease of doing business in the Pacific, rated by the World Bank, varies from 95th and 89th most difficult in the world (Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands) to 39th and 43rd (Fiji and Tonga)[5] |
NZAID – or indeed, New Zealand – is only a small contributor to this overall outcome. Programmes and Activities are coordinated under an overall strategy for assistance in the economic development area. Programme and Activity outcomes contribute towards the broader effort to improve partners’ economic outcomes |
Progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) in relevant regions and countries[6]
|
Some countries in the region are unlikely to achieve the MDGs. Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Kiribati, Tuvalu and Timor-Leste are the countries facing the most serious problems. All these countries face challenges on the targets for halving poverty and hunger and many of them other targets for universal education, child mortality, and TB prevalence. Polynesian countries are having more success |
NZAID’s contribution is only a small part of the overall effort of our partners to achieve the MDGs. The whole NZAID programme can be seen as contributing – directly or indirectly – to the MDGs |
Progress towards intermediate level economic indicators in key partner countries in the region including infrastructure, remittances, trade access, business skills and access to finance |
Data will be presented in the Annual Reports from 2009/10 onwards |
These indicators are set out in more detail in NZAID’s strategy for assistance for economic development. NZAID has more control over factors leading to change for these indicators than the high-level indicators, but progress is still dependent on many external factors |
Progress towards outcomes identified in NZAID programme strategies[7] |
A pilot application of this system for 2007/08 showed roughly 60 percent of objectives for Pacific programme strategies were undergoing good or better progress. Eight percent were rated as “unsatisfactory”. Strategic objectives relate to development outcomes in partner countries and unsatisfactory performance is usually the result of factors outside of NZAID’s control. Future Annual Reports will have more analysis |
NZAID has a moderate degree of control over the objectives set for each of its 33 programmes (examples provided earlier in the text) |
Summary evaluative results (relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability) for Activities completing a phase, funding cycle, or all New Zealand assistance |
Example: review showed that the Timor-Leste Social and Community Development Fund has delivered value for money and provided a flexible and responsive vehicle for NZAID to meet the needs of the Timorese communities and civil society organisations and institutions that support community and social development |
NZAID’s 800+ Activities contribute to defined development objectives. From 2009/10, systemic information will be available on achievement of objectives (effectiveness) and the other criteria |
Example impacts of NZAID Activities |
Example: evaluation showed that the Pacific Regional Blindness Prevention Programme substantially achieved its objectives and delivered benefits of “inestimable value” that will become increasingly evident during the next five to 10 years and beyond |
Activities administered by NZAID aim to achieve specific development impacts appropriate to their context, challenges and resources available |
Example impacts from third parties funded by NZAID |
Example: the World Bank’s 2008 Annual Review of Development Effectiveness found that “development outcomes from Bank lending have improved over the medium term... Achievements of country programs in meeting their objectives-typically including growth, poverty reduction, and environmental sustainability – have been moderately satisfactory or better in three-fifths of countries.“ |
NZAID funding contributes to outcomes managed by third parties such as the World Bank, United Nations agencies and NGOs. Evidence of the impact “on the ground” of these Activities will be reported on where possible |
The Ministry’s Annual Report will also include lessons learned and emerging themes across programmes.
NZAID seeks to strengthen our partners’ ability to achieve sustainable economic development and to reduce poverty through four key areas of action:
In developing programmes and activities, cross-cutting issues such as gender, environment, human rights and youth will be pursued as a means to ensure good outcomes and to manage risks.
In line with international good practice for aid effectiveness, NZAID will support larger, longer-term, more comprehensive initiatives with clear development outcomes. These measurable results will be pursued through programmes that are well coordinated with other donors and closely aligned to partner country needs.
In 2009/10, NZAID will manage ODA totalling $500 million including administration expenses. With this amount and the ODA provided through other departments, total reported ODA for the year is expected to be $537.6 million, or 0.32 percent of GNI.
The key priorities for assistance are:
The Pacific: We will increase our direct support of countries in the Pacific region over the coming four year period. This will be complemented with support to regional programmes and regional agencies where we are confident they provide effective solutions to the collective challenges facing Pacific countries. New Zealand’s direct support to the Pacific will be focussed on the following countries; Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Tokelau, Niue, the Cook Islands, Tonga, Samoa, Kiribati, Fiji and Tuvalu.
Outside the Pacific: We will maintain engagements in the countries of Southeast Asia – specifically Indonesia, Viet Nam, Timor-Leste, Lao PDR, the Philippines, and Cambodia. We will continue to target niche regional engagements in Africa and Latin America.
Multilateral engagement: We will contribute to the core funding, governance, and delivery work of key international agencies like the UN and international banks where their work and their focus complements our aid priorities. Our priorities will be policy engagement and promotion of reforms that improve agencies’ efficiency and effectiveness.
Humanitarian assistance: We will continue to provide humanitarian support (including rehabilitation and reconstruction) following natural disasters and conflict worldwide, including in Afghanistan.
New Zealand NGOs: Recognising that NGOs have proven capability and competence in delivering aid, we will continue to support them where they are demonstrated to be an effective and efficient channel.
The Ministry is responsible for ensuring that the rights of New Zealanders are respected when they are in foreign countries. We also assist New Zealanders in distress overseas, including in the event of a natural disaster or other large-scale emergency. Public expectations of consular support are increasing. It will be a challenge to meet these expectations.
The Ministry’s outputs under this outcome are services provided directly to the public. Indicators of our success in achieving this outcome will be:
The Ministry’s network of overseas posts provides a range of services to New Zealanders. We also work with other countries to extend consular support to New Zealanders in countries where we are not represented. We prepare contingency plans and have emergency response plans in place to deal with large-scale emergencies. We also run the “Safe Travel” campaign to raise the awareness of New Zealanders travelling and living overseas of the importance of being prepared for risks they may encounter.
[3] NZAID uses the term "Activity" to refer to a package of ODA working towards defined outcomes with a specific budget and plan or design. Approval of funds occurs at the Activity level. Activities may be projects, or other aid modalities such as "sector-wide approaches".
[4] Sourced from AusAID’s Tracking development and governance in the Pacific
[5] Doing Business website
[6] The MDGs can be found in full on the UN website's Millennium Goals page
[7] NZAID’s programme strategies are available in full on NZAID's website
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