2014 promises to be a big year for New Zealand aid and development: there’s the DAC peer review, and also a general election (probably in the second half of the year). Elections are also set to return to Fiji, and be held in Solomon Islands and Tonga (the three countries all being significant NZ aid recipients).

Australian Aid Budget Cuts Hit Home
The new Australian government has finally published details of where its aid cuts will fall. Observers with a calendar will notice that we are now quite some way into the financial year in question and that such cuts will be disruptive to say the least (something pointed out by Australian NGOs here and here).

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Some bits and pieces to end the year:

Australian Aid
In Canberra, aid uncertainty continues apace. The aid program is gone, and cuts to funding have been flagged, yet where these cuts might fall (and even their magnitude) is anyone’s guess. As Always, the Development Policy Centre’s blog is the best source of news, with Robin Davies’s posts being particularly well informed.

The Development Policy Centre has also just released the results of its Australian Aid Stakeholder Survey. The survey is based on the perspectives of the people who interact with the aid programme on a regular basis, and there is a tonne of useful and interesting information buried within it. It would be great to replicate the endeavour in New Zealand — if you are interested in helping us do that please let us know.

Commitment to Development 2013

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