Development News

Aid and Economic Development: Audio and PowerPoint Slides from Talks

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In late March NZADDs hosted speaking events in Auckland, Wellington and Dunedin.

Audio from two of these talks is now available.

You can listen to the Auckland Talk ‘Is Economic Development an Appropriate focus for an aid agency?’ here. You can download the talk as an MP3 file here. The talk consists of an opening speech by Terence Wood followed by comments from discussants Ken Jackson and Anita Lacey.

You can listen to the Wellington Talk on the same topic here. (To download an MP3 of the talk right click on the link and select ‘Save As’). The talk is similar to the Auckland talk but with input from discussant Geoff Bertram.

You can download the PowerPoint slides that Terence spoke to at both talks here [pdf].

Government Decisions on Aid Become Ever More Murky

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NZADDs Press Release

The recently appointed panel to determine how grassroots aid funding will be spent is being criticised as poorly qualified and politically driven.

Criticism of the three-member panel comes from a newly formed international development think-tank called NZ Aid and Development Dialogues (NZADDS). Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully scrapped the previous funding mechanism for New Zealand-based NGOs working in international development in April 2010.

“It is ironic that the Minister scrapped a transparent, well-functioning scheme, saying he would put in place a programme with clear objectives and transparent administration. Instead, we now have three people making decisions as to how over $20 million in aid funding a year will be spent, but they have no understanding of how NGOs work with poor communities, or how to best measure this work,” said NZADDs spokesperson Jo Spratt.

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