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Last month former New Zealand Prime Minister Rt Hon Helen Clark was officially sworn in as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
Miss Clark was selected with unanimous approval by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly to head the UN’s development agency for a four year term. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon nominated Helen Clark to replace outgoing Administrator Kermal Dervi of Turkey, acknowledging her “outstanding qualifications and numerous accomplishments in her long career”.
The UNDP is the largest UN development agency. It is the champion of the Millennium Development Goals and focuses on democratic governance, poverty reduction, crisis prevention and support, HIV and AIDS, and the environment. The UNDP works in 166 countries and has an approximate budget of US$5 billion per year. Miss Clark’s new role as Administrator is the third highest ranking position in the UN.
New Zealand, through NZAID, works with the UNDP in the Pacific, Asia and Latin America on programmes that work towards developing people's skills and government capacity within the regions.
For more information on NZAID’s relationship with the UNDP contact rachel.mccarthy@nzaid.govt.nz
 - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (right) swears in Helen Clark, the new Administrator of the UNDP. Photo used courtesy of UN Photo and Evan Schneider.
Construction of the new Solomon Islands Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources (MFMR) building has begun following the demolition of the existing dilapidated building in Honiara.
The construction of the new building for the MFMR is part of NZAID‘s wider support to the fisheries sector in Solomon Islands. Strengthening the fisheries sector has flow-on effects for economic development, government and domestic revenue, and sustainable resource management. Expanding the sector will increase formal employment, and improve livelihoods and food security.
Demolition and construction tenders have been awarded to a local Solomon Islands company. The new building should be completed by the end of the year.
By constructing a suitable office building, NZAID is helping to improve MFMR’s operational capacity. An improved work environment will assist MFMR to recruit staff and create a more efficient and effective Ministry.
For more information contact maria.reynen-clayton@nzaid.govt.nz
NZAID has been working with the Tongan Chamber of Commerce and the Ministry of Training to provide specialised training to individuals from the Tongan private sector.
From 15 May NZAID ran a four-day QuickBooks and MYOB training course for participants from the Tongan private sector. QuickBooks and MYOB are both accounting software programmes used by many businesses worldwide to formalise their accounting practices. Eighteen people took part in the first two days of the course, which covered the QuickBooks programme. A further 10 people joined the course for following two days for MYOB training.
For successfully completing the course, participants were awarded certificates by the NZAID Manager in Tonga, Dominic France-Walton.
For more information contact rebecca.williams@nzaid.govt.nz
 - Participants from the NZAID supported MYOB and QuickBooks course in Tonga.
NZAID’s Currents magazine is an interesting and informative way to find out more about how New Zealand is working to support development and respond to humanitarian crises in our region, and further afield. To receive a free copy of the magazine in the post please contact Nadine Koszler with your mailing details or visit NZAID’s website 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.
 - Henry, a patient at Kira Kira Hospital in Solomon Islands, and his grandaughter following his sight-restoring surgery. Photo used courtesy of the Fred Hollows Foundation New Zealand.
On 6 May Foreign Minister Murray McCully announced New Zealand will be contributing $5.6 million to a trans-Tasman project that will improve eye health and treat blindness in the Pacific.
“It is estimated that there are 80,000 blind people and a further 250,000 with impaired vision in the Pacific,” Mr McCully said.
“Up to 75 percent of blindness is preventable, and the economic and social impact of poor eye health in our region will continue to grow if not addressed.”
The project, supported by both the New Zealand and Australian governments, will be managed by the Fred Hollows Foundation. Since 1992 the Foundation has worked in collaboration with local blindness prevention and other health organisations in more than 38 countries throughout the Pacific, Australia, South and South-East Asia and Africa.
In 2002, the Fred Hollows Foundation New Zealand commenced a programme to address avoidable blindness in the Pacific. This programme is a training initiative supporting eye health programmes throughout the Pacific. The Pacific Eye Institute, a training facility based centrally in Fiji, is the programme’s hub.
The newly announced government funding allows Fred Hollows New Zealand to comprehensively expand their programme in the Pacific. As part of the programme a new surgical and training facility for the Pacific region will be built and staffed in Suva; additional doctors and nurses will be trained; a new diabetes eye programme will begin; and locally managed vision testing and spectacle supply services will be established.
Minister McCully specified that the government’s funding will help to train and equip at least 45 eye nurses and eight eye doctors throughout the Pacific and in Timor-Leste over the next three years.
“After training, each new eye doctor will be able to perform at least 200 cataract operations and see over 1,000 new patients a year in their own country."
NZAID has supported the Fred Hollows Foundation New Zealand since 2002 to train eye health professionals, including ophthalmologists, doctors and nurses.
The Australian government will also be contributing $11.2 million to the trans-Tasman project.
For more information contact megan.mccoy@nzaid.govt.nz
Earlier this month the New Zealand Government announced its commitment to provide $13.5 million over five years to continue support for the strengthening of the Solomon Islands Inland Revenue Division (IRD).
Following a period of civil unrest the Solomon Islands economy was at the brink of collapse. Since 2003 RAMSI (Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands), with support from NZAID, New Zealand Inland Revenue, and AusAID, has provided assistance to the Solomon Islands IRD.
The support has enabled major improvements to occur. The IRD has undertaken training for staff, made revenue collecting procedures more efficient and developed good working relationships with local businesses through workshops. There has been a significant increase in revenue collection in Solomon Islands since RAMSI began working with the division to restore and strengthen its systems. Revenue increased from SBD$199 million in 2003 to SBD$833 million in 2008.
The next step of the strengthening programme will focus on securing the revenue base, building capacity across the division, developing strong tax technical management and leadership, and providing operational support.
At the official programme launch, RAMSI Special Coordinator Graeme Wilson welcomed New Zealand’s long term commitment to RAMSI’s partnership with the Solomon Islands Government.
Mr Wilson said “The progress that has been made in the Inland Revenue Division should be a source of pride for the public servants working to improve revenue collection. The increased revenue has enabled the government to provide money to pay for a range of services - this is about Solomon Islanders helping Solomon Islanders improve their lives.”
New Zealand High Commissioner, Deborah Panckhurst, said New Zealand was delighted to support this wider programme of assistance to the Inland Revenue Division.
“The assistance recognises the importance of revenue reform to rebuilding and developing Solomon Islands for the benefit of all,” Ms Panckhurst said.
For more information about NZAID’s work in Solomon Islands contact kim.o'brien@nzaid.govt.nz
 - Ly Ta May the Chairperson of Sa Pa Medicinal Plants Association (right) and her herbalist grandmother also named Ly Ta May.
A Nelson film maker has been named a runner-up for the best short film at the Reel Earth Film Festival with a film based on an NZAID funded project in Viet Nam.
Anna Hickman’s 21 minute film Herbal Pathways was runner-up for the environmental choice award at the annual festival. The film centred on the NZAID supported Medicinal Plants Innovation Project in the Sa Pa region of Viet Nam.
Ms Hickman, a media studies teacher, travelled to Northern Viet Nam as part of a teaching fellowship. Her partner was working on the NZAID project and Ms Hickman believed the project would be an interesting film topic.
Established by the Nelson company Forest Herbs Research Limited, the Vietnamese Medicinal Plant Innovation Project worked with hilltop tribes in the remote Sa Pa region to process their traditional medicinal plants into a product available for commercial sale.
The project replicated Forest Herb’s work in developing sustainable products for international markets from native New Zealand flora and fauna.
Herbal Pathways documents the projects mission to reduce poverty in the region and conserve the area’s natural environment. The film helps to illustrate the mechanics of a model aid project.
The Medicinal Plants Innovation project received assistance from NZAID’s Asia Development Assistance Facility - Partnerships for Sustainable Development funding (ADAF-PSD). For more information about the ADAF-PSD fund visit NZAID's website.
For more information email carolyn.marslin@nzaid.govt.nz or visit www.reelearth.org.nz
Following a review of NZAID Foreign Minister Murray McCully has announced changes to NZAID’s institutional arrangements, mandate and policy settings.
As a result of the changes NZAID’s mandate will now focus on sustainable economic growth to reduce poverty in developing countries.
"Lifting people out of poverty depends directly on increasing economic growth and strengthening trade. No country in the world has achieved one without the other,” Minister McCully said.
Poorer nations, particularly in the Pacific, will significantly benefit from the changes in New Zealand’s approach to aid.
Minister McCully said "The new mandate also puts the Pacific at the forefront of our efforts, with a greater share of the budget, although not to the total exclusion of other regions.”
With increased support from New Zealand many Pacific countries have real potential to improve poor social indicators and static growth – especially those countries within Polynesia where depopulation rates are high as a result of the economic situation and lack of opportunities.
The NZAID adjustments are largely technical but will align the foreign affairs portfolio and official development assistance more closely. The changes will see the aid budget grow to $600 million by the 2012/13 financial year.
The aid budget was set at $471.9 million for the 2008/09 financial year. This will increase to $500 million in 2009/10, $525 million in 2010/11, rising to $550 million in 2011/12, and increasing again in 2012/13 to $600 million.
Minister McCully has released two Cabinet papers and subsequent Cabinet Minutes relating to the Government’s decision to change the institutional arrangements, mandate and policy settings of NZAID. To view these documents visit NZAID’s website.
For more information contact adham.crichton@nzaid.govt.nz
One of NZAID’s major multilateral partners, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), has begun organising the return of thousands of internally displaced people (IDP) to Northern Sri Lanka.
On 29 April, 411 IDPs returned to the Saveriyarpuram village in the north. Since being displaced two years ago they have lived in IDP camps and with host families in the Mannar district. The first phase of UNHCR IDP returns will see approximately 3,000 IDP return to 15 villages in the Musali DS division over coming weeks.
This is the first time in a number of years that people displaced by the conflict between the Sri Lankan Government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam have been able to return home. The UNHCR estimates that 230,000 IDPs have fled conflict zones and are being accommodated at 42 sites in the north and east of Sri Lanka. UNHCR welcomes the return movement and sees it as a small but important starting point.
The UNHCR return package for each family includes a tarpaulin kit for an emergency shelter, jungle clearing tools, and household items including mosquito nets, mats, water containers and hurricane lamps.
At a special session of the UN Human Rights Council on Sri Lanka in May the New Zealand Government expressed its concerns about the IDPs who have fled the conflict. The New Zealand Government requested that the Government of Sri Lanka cooperate with international humanitarian agencies and non-government organisations to ensure those people affected by the hostilities receive the urgent assistance they need.
The UNHCR has also quickly responded to the crisis in Northern Pakistan where fighting between the government and militants has increased.
UNHCR has set up IDP registration centres and three new camps in safer areas of the North West Frontier Province. More than one million Pakistanis have fled their homes since August 2008 as a result of the conflict.
UNHCR has already airlifted in huge quantities of plastic sheeting to build shelters for displaced families, 10,000 mosquito nets and two large, portable warehouses.
New Zealand is a strong supporter of UNHCR’s work, providing NZ$6 million of untagged funding in 2008 and NZ$1.25 million to UNHCR's humanitarian appeals. New Zealand has also committed NZ$1 million for humanitarian assistance in Pakistan for the coming 2009/10 financial year.
For more information about NZAID’s work with UNHCR contact stephenie.knight@nzaid.govt.nz or visit www.unhcr.lk to find out more about the work of the UNHCR.
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