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.

	On set during the filming of Love Patrol

Broadcasting on Maori Television from the 18th May, Love Patrol is a new soap-opera style TV show from Vanuatu that focuses on issues such as youth police brutality, the problems of keeping youth uninformed about sex, and the dangers of HIV AIDS. 

Co-funded by NZAID and AusAid, the ten-part TV series is part of the Wan Smolbag Theatre Group’s mission to promote new attitudes to these serious issues facing youth in Vanuatu and encourages people to think about topics that are very rarely discussed in schools or the community.

For more information contact angela.hassan-sharp@nzaid.govt.nz

From 2008, NZAID will be collecting, analysing and reporting better information on the results to which it contributes. This is to better inform the New Zealand Government, NZAID managers, partners and stakeholders such as the New Zealand public.

All New Zealand government agencies will have new frameworks in 2008 as a result of a recent Review of Accountability Documents.  NZAID has already been investing time and effort in strengthening its performance information framework and approach to monitoring and evaluation. It is seen as an important part of being a responsive and learning organisation with strong and integrated appraisal, audit, monitoring, review and evaluation systems.

A new evaluation policy and set of guidelines for undertaking reviews and evaluations have been in use since 2005. These are available on the NZAID website. From 2008, summaries of each review and evaluation will also be available on the website, with full copies of reports available on request. 

Analysis of emerging lessons and themes from the reviews and evaluations of individual aid activities will form an important part of NZAID’s annual reporting. This analysis will cover cost effectiveness and value for money, and also how NZAID implements policies in areas such as gender, education and human rights. 

A key part of the new system will be strengthening analysis and reporting of results at the programme strategy level. Programme strategies determine the links between individual aid activities and big picture objectives like poverty elimination. NZAID’s country and regional programme strategies are available on its website. 

Measuring development impact is a difficult and complex task. The next few years will see important steps forward in this area and the development of systems that will keep NZAID, partners and the New Zealand public fully informed about what is working and what lessons have been learned.

The views of NewZAID readers are welcomed!

For more information contact peter.ellis@nzaid.govt.nz

Dr Habibe Sarabi, Governor of Bamyan Province, Afghanistan recently spent a week in New Zealand as a Guest of Government.

As governor of a region with World Heritage status, Dr Sarabi is working towards developing Bamyan into an international tourism destination. Spending time with Department of Conservation staff at the Tongariro National Park gave her the opportunity to see firsthand their park management and conservation programmes.

Her visit also strengthened the connections between Bamyan and the New Zealand agencies already working in the Province - NZAID, the New Zealand Police and the New Zealand Defence Forces. She met with senior government officials including Prime Minister Helen Clark, and discussed the overall security situation and development progress in Afghanistan, especially in Bamyan.

Discussions with Department of Internal Affairs and Local Government NZ focused on the workings of local government systems and processes, and after meeting with Porirua City Mayor, Jenny Brash, Dr Sarabi agreed to consider a sister city relationship between Porirua and Bamyan.

NZAID's programme in Bamyan focuses on rural livelihoods through improving health and education, particularly for women, and improving service provision through the provincial government. Human rights is also an important feature of all work in the area.

For more information contact suzanne.loughlin@nzaid.govt.nz

	NZAID Development Programme Officer, Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy, reviews the foundations of a satellite classroom in Phu Cat district.

Construction of early childhood classrooms is underway in Binh Dinh province. The first ground-breaking ceremonies were held in mid-January at sites for individual classrooms in Van Canh district. 

Since then, contracts have been let for classroom construction in Phu Cat, Tay Son and An Nhon districts, while tendering for main schools is underway with bids due to be opened on 5 April.

"It's great to see tangible evidence of progress," said NZAID Manager, John Egan.  "There's so much involved in preparing for construction that you don't see - land allocation, clearance and preparation, confirmation of design and tendering of the physical work.  But you really know something's happening when there are holes being dug for foundations, stacks of reinforcing iron and piles of sand, stone and cement waiting to get mixed."

The Early Childhood Care and Education project is building 11 early childhood centres and 69 satellite classrooms.  It began in June 2007 with a workshop to launch the project and to explain its objectives and activities to education managers and early childhood workers in all 11 districts of the province.  Advocacy campaigns have been conducted throughout the province, alerting communities to the project and educating them about the importance of early childhood education.

Severe flooding throughout the province in October-November 2007 caused a number of delays, but the provincial Department of Education and Training expects all facilities to be up and running in time for the next school year in September 2008.

NZAID staff, John Egan and Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy were accompanied by Mrs Doan Thi Trung Hieu (Project Manager) and Ms Le (Project Administrator), and staff of the Phu Cat and Tay Son District Boards of Education and Training as they reviewed progress in both districts in mid-March.

For more information contact john.egan@mfat.govt.nz

	Together the panels represent a Mapuche astronomic map called Meli witxan Mapu, the four points which sustain the universe.

A textile piece created by members associated with the NZAID-supported Foundation Chol Chol was selected from 120 Chilean handicraft products to win the UNESCO Seal of Excellence for Handicrafts Products.

The seal of approval guarantees that the product complies with the highest criteria of quality, innovation, commercialisation and has been produced with careful regard to cultural authenticity and environmental conservation.

The textile is made of six individual woven panels, created using Mapuche ancestral textile weaving techniques, spun by hand with a spindle, and dyed with vegetable products and minerals from the Araucanian region. Each panel has a different Mapuche textile icon and together represent a Mapuche astronomic map called Meli witxan Mapu, the four points which sustain the universe. This piece was created and made with the support of the Foundation for Handicraft Innovation. 

Twenty-two pieces were chosen to be exhibited until the 30 March at the International Handicraft Fair in Cordoba, and will then represent Chile in the international selection of the UNESCO Recognition of Excellence for MERCOSUR Handicraft Products where Chile will compete with products from Uruguay, Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay.

Weavers which work for the Foundation have been delighted with this support where “not only is the innovation of our work in ancestral weaving valued, but also our work and our culture is acknowledged”. This UNESCO certificate will also allow for communication and the diffusion and entrance to international markets of high exigency.