For those interested, here is a link to the speech Murray McCully gave outlining the wider changes to NZ Aid that some of us have been waiting for:
Murray McCully: New Priorities for New Zealand Aid.
The major announcements have been visible for some time – NZ Aid will be brought back completely into the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and it’s [...]

The Don’t Corrupt Aid campaign has raised awareness of possible changes to New Zealand’s government aid agency, NZ Aid.
The concern was/is predominantly two-fold. The first is that the government was seeking to fold NZ Aid back into the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, thus removing its semi-autonomous status. It has been argued that this would reduce the effectiveness of our aid dollars. [...]

The current situation we have been putting a spotlight on with NZAid and Murray McCully has been a revealing issue. What it has revealed relates to the fragility of democracy, the reality of political speak and the danger of preconceived agendas.
I did not vote for either of our major parties here in Aotearoa/New Zealand, but in my role as a [...]

A new website kicked off yesterday afternoon as part of a public campaign that we are involved in www.dontcorruptaid.org.nz
If you have been following this blog you will now be aware of the plans the Foreign Minister has to fold NZ Aid back into the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The majority of development experts agree that this is a [...]

New Zealand’s aid budget, while not above scrutiny, should not become an easy target for government tinkering, said TEAR Fund executive director Stephen Tollestrup.
Mr Tollestrup was reacting to comments made by Foreign Minister Murray McCully that New Zealand’s aid budget payments were creating a culture of `hand outs’. The minister also suggested that the goal of poverty elimination was too [...]

The New Zealand Herald ran an article this morning on an issue that many in the NGO sector are aware of, namely a proposed shift in how the organisation that facilitates New Zealand government foreign aid is structured.
At the moment, the budget for foreign aid is facilitated through an entity called NZAid. I do not wish to go into the details [...]