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.
