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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
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
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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