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Supported by NZAID, the 10th annual Food and Agricultural Organisation Roundtable Meeting for Pacific Island Countries on World Trade Organisation and Regional Trade Agreements and Provisions was held in Wellington in late September.
Every year this meeting provides agriculture and fisheries officials from across the Pacific the opportunity to discuss developments in the international trade arena and the implications for these sectors.
It aims to enhance the capacity of Pacific countries to deal with agricultural and food trade policies, while promoting the sharing of ideas and experiences. For the first time representatives of the private sector also attended and emphasis was put on the importance of communication and coordination within Pacific Island countries on trade issues.
For more information please contact vicki.plater@nzaid.govt.nz
While at the Pacific Islands Forum, Prime Minister Helen Clark announced a $5 million contribution to assist Tonga’s ongoing economic recovery following the civil unrest in November 2006, which destroyed many businesses.
Nuku’alofa‘s Central Business District has been slow to recover, partly due to the lack of affordable medium to large scale loan finance which is needed to rebuild commercial business premises with rental space.
NZAID assistance will support a Private Sector Reconstruction Facility, which will offer reduced cost loans to rebuild commercial buildings. In restoring commercial rental space, businesses of all sizes will be able to get back up and running. Low cost loans for business reconstruction will be provided to businesses affected by the unrest through local banks in Tonga.
Aiming to stimulate economic recovery and provide employment opportunities,
the scheme builds on the existing Business Recovery Facility. This is a joint initiative between NZAID; AusAID, which is also contributing AUD$5 million to the Facility; and the Government of Tonga.
For more information please contact kirsty.burnett@nzaid.govt.nz
Coinciding with the visit to New Zealand of the Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), NZAID made a $1 million contribution towards the agency's international emergency appeal aimed at providing basic humanitarian assistance to Palestinian refugees.
Since the beginning of 2006, political, economic and social conditions have deteriorated for Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territories.
New Zealand's assistance will support UNRWA to provide food aid, job creation, health services, and address the impact of conflict and non-conflict related violence on the most vulnerable Palestine refugees.
NZAID has also contributed $500,000 to UNICEF's programme in the occupied Palestinian Territories.
For more information please contact jane.coster@nzaid.govt.nz
NZAID has contributed $500,000 via the International Federation of the Red Cross as part of the international response to severe flooding and landslides in eastern Uganda.
Months of heavy rain has destroyed or washed away houses, roads, bridges, and food crops, affecting thousands of people.
Aid agencies have identified several priorities for the international aid effort, including securing supplies of food and clean water, providing emergency shelter and non-food items, addressing health and sanitation needs to preventing outbreaks of disease, and re-opening schools.
For more information please contact jane.coster@nzaid.govt.nz
NZAID is currently consulting on the new Tonga Country Programme Strategy which will provide framework for the Tonga programme from 2008 to 2018. The draft has been prepared in close cooperation with the Government of Tonga and in consultation with Tongan civil society organisations and community groups.
The strategy focuses on three key areas: - Governance and civil society
- Broad-based growth and sustainable
livelihoods
- Education
To have your say, read the draft country programme strategy which will be posted on www.nzaid.govt.nz from 9 November.
Written comments on the draft strategy will be accepted up until 5 December.
These should be sent to kirsty.burnett@nzaid.govt.nz, Development Programme Manager for the Tonga programme.
Find out about how the Cook Islands is working to protect and maintain their rich ocean resources, read about the difference Vanuatu’s Wan Smolbag theatre group is making in the lives of young people, and discover how Kiribati is overcoming the challenges of urbanisation.
You'll find all this and much more in issue five of Currents – out now!
The magazine is an interesting and accessible way to find out more about how New Zealand is helping to eliminate world poverty and development challenges more broadly.
To receive a copy of the magazine please contact melanie.heaphy@nzaid.govt.nz with your mailing details or visit www.nzaid.govt.nz/library/publications
/currents.html to download a copy.
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NewZAID updates you in brief on key issues and events on the NZAID agenda. Please click on the useful links included in this newsletter to explore issues in greater depth.
Marking the 20th anniversary of the Tuvalu Trust Fund, NZAID is making a $1 million contribution to recognise the success and good management of the trust fund, and the Tuvalu government’s recent efforts to address fiscal and budgetary challenges.
Trust funds such as this one are important to small island states in the Pacific such as Tuvalu, Tokelau and Niue, as they allow for greater economic sovereignty and certainty.
They aim to provide a regular source of revenue to support the country’s budget and the provision of essential services to their citizens.
New Zealand played a pivotal role in setting up the fund, and has made contributions to it over the past two decades, most recently giving $280,000 in 2006/07.
Internationally, the fund is seen as highly successful and a model for heavily aid-dependent small islands states.
The contribution will help the Tuvalu Trust Fund reach and maintain a target value of $A100 million.
For more information please contact don.will@nzaid.govt.nz
 - Tuna tagging is part of a wider programme to manage Pacific fisheries in a sustainable way.
NZAID is making a $5 million contribution to a Pacific tuna tagging programme, coordinated by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC).
The tuna fishery industry is an important economic resource for the developing nations of the Pacific with the potential to increase export earnings and create jobs. Regional agencies such as SPC are focusing on helping countries to manage it in a sustainable way.
The five-year, $13 million Pacific tuna taqgging programme is designed to provide information on fishery dynamics and trends and is vital for accurate stock assessments, which in turn are essential for ensuring sustainable management.
When announcing the contribution, Prime Minister Helen Clark said, "The programme will help Pacific countries negotiate between competing fisheries interests with the support of sound scientifically-based knowledge."
For more information please contact philip.hewitt@nzaid.govt.nz
In a graduation ceremony held in Tonga at which NZAID Executive Director Dr Peter Adams provided the key address, 16 Pacific Island NGO leaders from Samoa, Fiji, Vanuatu and Solomon Islands were awarded with the Graduate Diploma in Not-for-Profit Management.
The diploma is coordinated by Pacific Islands Association for NGOs (PIANGO) and delivered by Unitec with the support of NZAID. It is designed for managers and coordinators of non-government organisations and community based organisations to achieve effective management and leadership.
Students build practical knowledge and skills in areas such as governance, managing and raising funds, team facilitation and working with volunteers and are encouraged to draw on indigenous knowledge, management theory and their own experience to develop effective, values-based approaches to managing a community organisation.
“The graduation celebrates more than just the successes of these individual students. The learning from this programme is strengthening key organisations in the civil society sector, whose leadership is crucial to the achievement of strategic goals for the future of the Pacific region." says Unitec’s deputy president Dr Andrew Codling.
With more than 150 students currently involved, NZAID is committed to supporting this programme which is a key investment in the long term sustainability of Pacific civil society organisations and their indigenous leadership.
For more information please contact kate.lee@nzaid.govt.nz
 - Hua Jianmin presents David Heath with the China Friendship Award.
NZAID consultant, David Heath was one of 50 foreigners from 20 countries who received the 2007 Friendship Award at a ceremony held in the Great Hall of the People at the end of September.
David was a lead consultant for the now complete NZAID-funded Sichuan hydatid project which introduced New Zealand technology for controlling hydatid disease to Western China.
The project worked with Tibetan herdsmen where there is the highest level of hydatid disease in the world and the technology has now been taken up by the Chinese Ministry of Health where it is being introduced to all the Western Provinces of China including Sichuan, Tibet, Qinghai, Xinjiang, Gansu, Ninxia, and Inner Mongolia.
In May David also received the Golden Peak award from the Provincial Government of Sichuan, for support to economic construction and social progress in Sichuan Province, and for contributions to international exchange and friendly cooperation between Sichuan and foreign countries.
The Friendship award is the highest honour granted by the Chinese Government to foreign experts and acknowledges their contribution to China’s modernisation and scientific development.
For more information please contact john.claasen@nzaid.govt.nz
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