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Timor-Leste President Dr Jose Ramos-Horta visited New Zealand between 15 and 17 February.
Dr Ramos-Horta is a Nobel Peace Prize winner, and played a central role in Timor-Leste’s independence struggle. During the visit the President met with Prime Minister Hon John Key and senior Ministers. He also visited the Police College in Porirua, where 25 New Zealand Police officers are training for deployment with the United Nations Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT).
New Zealand supports Timor-Leste through police and military contributions to UNMIT, a 150-strong military commitment to the Australian-led International Stabilisation Force, and technical advice to the Timor-Leste military. NZAID manages an $8 million Timor-Leste aid programme that focuses on education, good governance, and public sector reform. It also helps to fund the NZ police deployment.
For more information about NZAID’s programme in Timor-Leste, please contact Laura.Cleary@nzaid.govt.nz
New Zealand has recently signed a funding arrangement with the United Nations Development Programme to support their Aid Information Management project in Papua New Guinea (PNG).
The goal of the project is for the Government of PNG to be able to efficiently and transparently coordinate international aid towards the goals of the PNG Medium Term Development Strategy and the Millennium Development Goals.
The project will specifically support the work of the Technical Working Group on Aid Effectiveness, which has members from the PNG Government and from donor organisations, by providing it with assistance and technical support.
It will build organisational capability and functions within the Government's existing aid management unit, and will develop IT systems to improve efficiency. An estimated 37.5 percent of people live below the poverty line in PNG. The project aims to ensure aid effectiveness, and monitor progress towards development results.
For more information, please contact Caroline.Newson@nzaid.govt.nz
Find out about the challenges that urbanisation poses for poverty, the situation in Aceh and Nias four years on from the 2004 tsunami, successful reforms in the Tongan judicial system, and more in the latest issue of Currents magazine.
Currents tells interesting and informative stories about the work New Zealand is supporting to assist those living in hardship in developing countries.
Currents is available electronically or you can subscribe and receive a copy via post.
To subscribe please send your postal details to Nadine.Koszler@nzaid.govt.nz
Please note that the Marae pictured in the last edition of NewZAID is Whakatu.
Apologies for omitting this information previously.
If you have any comments or suggestions to make regarding NewZAID please contact Adham.Crichton@nzaid.govt.nz
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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.
 - Contestants in the Miss NOLA pageant helped to raise awareness of disability issues in Samoa.
On 15 January 2009 at Hotel Kitano Tusitala, Apia, Roine Koneferenisi was crowned Miss Nuanua o le Alofa (NOLA) in the first pageant where the contestants were women with disabilities.
NOLA is a Samoan non-government organisation (NGO) run by people with disabilities to advocate for improving the lives of, and reducing discrimination for, people with disabilities. The primary goal of the Miss NOLA pageant was to be an awareness raising event for people with disabilities in Samoa.
NOLA also used the event as a fundraiser for the NGO’s outreach activities in rural areas. The event was well-attended, with dance performances, traditional hand made costumes, and speeches from the contestants with the theme of ‘Dignity and Justice, our right’. Several of the speeches centred around ‘being able’ and having dignity as a person with a disability.
The pageant had benefits other than just fundraising. The winner, Miss Koneferenisi is currently a student at Uesiliana College, and hopes to attend school in Apia this year, and the pageant has given her confidence. On the evening that she was crowned Miss NOLA her mother, Mrs Muliauma, said “She has always been a quiet girl, but that has changed tonight seeing her coming out of her shell.”
NOLA is a national NGO that receives funding through NZAID’s NGO Support Fund in Samoa. An important milestone for people with disabilities occurred recently with the formation of a Disability Taskforce in September 2008. NOLA was a keen advocate for the taskforce, which will develop a disability policy for Samoa leading to national disability legislation.
For more information, please contact Carissa.Palliser@mfat.govt.nz
 - NZAID Scholarships students taking part in the 2009 PreStart Programme.
On Monday 2 February members of the NZAID Scholarships Unit visited Victoria University in Wellington to welcome the new cohort of NZAID scholarship recipients.
42 students from the Pacific, Asia, Africa and Latin America were participating in the PreStart Programme which is run by the university for NZAID scholarship students. The afternoon began with a kiwi style barbeque where NZAID staff had a chance to mingle with the students while they enjoyed sausages with bread and tomato sauce, and salads.
Scholarships Unit Manager Jane Leitch then welcomed the students on behalf of NZAID and reminded them of the purpose of their scholarships: to provide them with skills and knowledge to take back so that they can contribute to the sustainable development of their home countries.
After a Question and Answer session and a discussion about students’ experiences of the application and selection process, the team from NZAID’s Scholarships Unit wished the students well for their studies.
Each year approximately 200 NZAID-funded New Zealand Development Scholarships and Commonwealth Scholarships students arrive to commence study in New Zealand. Scholarships are awarded for study in areas that have developmental relevance and applicability to the human resource development training needs of the student’s country.
For more information on NZAID’s scholarships programme, please contact Fionnaigh.McKenzie@nzaid.govt.nz
In February the Chair of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC), Eckhard Deutscher, visited New Zealand.
During his visit Mr Deutscher met with representatives for New Zealand government departments, including NZAID, and spoke to the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. He also met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hon Murray McCully.
He had clear messages about how the global financial crisis is not limited only to developed countries; its effect is being felt in the developing world, too. Mr Deutscher pointed out that many developing countries are economically reliant on external finance.
As a result of the current global economic downturn they are witnessing sharply decreasing export earnings, private overseas investment flows, and remittances – money sent home from people working in richer countries. This has raised the importance of aid, as the only remaining source of development finance that is holding up so far.
With developed countries looking towards needs in their own countries there is also the risk that some may fail to stand by their commitments for their overseas development assistance or actually decrease their overseas aid. This could have severe effects on development efforts and the prospects of global economic recovery.
As Mr Deutscher said, “Development co-operation is no charity. It is a strategic investment in a common future that we can only shape collectively. And it will be essential for us, for OECD countries, to invest and work together towards a future that offers opportunities, peace and prosperity to developing countries.”
For more information please contact Rick.Woodham@nzaid.govt.nz
While the immediate emergency of the recent floods in Fiji has eased, the subsiding waters have left a lot of work to be done.
To assist with rehabilitation and recovery work New Zealand is funding a $3 million flood recovery package, in addition to the initial $600,000 given directly after the floods.The rescue centres have closed in Fiji and the more than 100,000 people affected by the floods now face the task of rebuilding their lives and their local economies.
The New Zealand Flood Recovery Package has not been committed to specific projects yet, but will have a clear focus on reconstruction, providing social services, and helping to mitigate the impact of future disaster events in Fiji. Support will be channelled through local, regional and multilateral organisations working on the ground in Fiji.
There is also scope for partnering with other donor governments providing assistance. Economic recovery is essential to minimising any ongoing negative impact of the floods on the people of Fiji and New Zealand wishes to support this process.
The $600,000 provided by New Zealand to support immediate disaster relief needs in Fiji, focused largely on securing immediate food and water supplies for flood-affected people. Assistance was also provided to support the ongoing education of children in flood affected regions.
For more information about New Zealand’s assistance to Fiji, please contact Richard.Dirks@nzaid.govt.nz
On 6 February New Zealand contributed $100,000 to support relief efforts following floods in the Solomon Islands.
Heavy rain caused the floods in parts of Guadalcanal Province. Thirteen people were killed in the floods, over 1000 families from 270 villages were forced to leave their homes, and there was extensive damage to infrastructure and food crops.
New Zealand's contribution includes supporting the Solomon Island Red Cross to purchase and distribute relief items, such as water, medical supplies and shelter materials, to affected communities and helping the Guadalcanal Provincial Government to establish a disaster centre.
For more information about the emergency response, please contact Michael.Hartfield@nzaid.govt.nz
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