new zealand
Shifts in New Zealand aid policy: a sign of things to come?
The New Zealand aid program has hit the headlines in the last week with an announcement by Foreign Minister Murray McCully of two reviews into the foreign aid program, and at the same time flagging a shift away from poverty reduction to economic development.
McCully’s attack on NZ’s Aid Programme
NZ Foreign Minister McCully has trashed NZAID’s emphasis on alleviating and eliminating poverty. That framework is something he has chosen to ridicule as a handout, not a hand-up. “You could ride around in a helicopter pushing hundred-dollar notes out the door and call that poverty elimination,” McCully said recently.
Throwing money at planes Govt’s approach to aid
Subsidising Air New Zealand Pacific Island airline routes using aid money is more about ensuring shareholder returns than helping the poor, said TEAR Fund executive director Stephen Tollestrup.
NZAID changes
“UNIFEM is becoming increasingly concerned about the messages that are coming through from the Minister of Foreign Affairs. We oppose the move from the NZAID goal of poverty elimination to economic development. This move would be actively harmful to women in developing countries”, said Rae Julian from the National Committee of UNIFEM New Zealand in [...]
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