New Zealand’s reintegration of the New Zealand Agency for International Development, its formerly semiautonomous aid program now known as the International Development Group, into the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in 2008 sparked fears that its assistance to developing countries would take a backseat in its budget.
But unlike its neighbor Australia, whose amalgamation of AusAID into the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in 2013 has resulted in massive cuts across its development assistance to its partner countries, New Zealand “left much of the aid program intact,” according to Terence Wood, a research fellow at the Development Policy Center who used to work for NZAID.
With New Zealand’s multiyear appropriation expiring this June, or the end of its fiscal year, a new plan will be put in place. The new appropriation will see an increase of 180.27 million New Zealand dollars ($128.4 million) largely as a result of the New Zealand Aid Program Strategic Investment, a new policy initiative that will focus on agriculture, renewable energy, and information and communications technology.
About the author
Anna Patricia Valerio
Anna Patricia Valerio is a former Manila-based development analyst who focused on writing innovative, in-the-know content for senior executives in the international development community. Before joining Devex, Patricia wrote and edited business, technology and health stories for BusinessWorld, a Manila-based business newspaper.
