About NZAID

NZAID is New Zealand's agency responsible for international assistance to developing countries. New Zealand's aid helps to eliminate poverty and create a safe and just world, particularly in our own region of the Pacific.

Who is NZAID?

NZAID was created on 1 July 2002 after a ministerially-commissioned consultant's review of New Zealand's Official Development Assistance (NZODA) recommended that aid should have a more distinct identity, separate from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT). Before this, NZODA was a division of MFAT.

A cabinet decision led to the creation of this semi-autonomous agency, existing within MFAT but with a distinct identity, its own vote, and its own minister.

NZAID's core geographical focus is the Pacific region, with which we have close historic and human links. Within the region, the aid programme supports New Zealand's special relationship with the Cook Islands, Niue and Tokelau, as well as 11 other Pacific nations or island groups. NZAID also supports projects in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

NZAID's purpose is to help our partner countries to help themselves. Aid alone won't meet their needs - only effective governments and healthy economies will do this, but aid will assist with immediate problems and contribute to the development of stronger economies.

NZAID stands for the New Zealand Agency for International Development, Nga Hoe Tuputupu-mai-tawhiti - the paddles that bring growth from afar.

Strategic Priorities

NZAID's programmes focus on ten strategic areas which contribute towards our development partners having reduced poverty and needing less aid in future. These strategies cover empowering those in poverty to improve their lives, strengthening governance and reducing vulnerability to poverty. The ten areas of development impact are:

• Education
• Health
• Sustainable livelihoods
• Environment
• Human rights
• Leadership and government
• Economic development
• Peace building and conflict prevention
• Humanitarian support
• Community safety

In addition to these strategic areas there are also supporting strategies for how NZAID engages with others and for building agency capability.

The strategy for engagement with others is to achieve development outcomes through engagements based on mutual openness, trust and respect. These include harmonisation with our partner countries' plans and processes and with other development partners; effective engagement with New Zealand stakeholders (such as working towards New Zealand policy consistency on development issues); and policy engagement in international and regional fora.

NZAID also has strategies to ensure it has well aligned policies, strategies, culture, processes and resources to support its programmes.

NZAID's operating principles

• Protecting and promoting human rights
• Strategic approach to poverty elimination
• Sustainability
• Equity
• Partnerships
• Participation
• Coordination
• Access and accountability

NZAID's core business

In consultation with its partners, the core business of NZAID is to:

• Design and manage effective development assistance strategies, programmes and projects transparently and accountably
• Provide input to, and collaborate with, the poverty elimination work of others
• Provide policy advice on ways to eliminate poverty in developing countries, especially in the Pacific

Forge and maintain relationships that achieve poverty elimination with developing country partners, development organisations and agencies, civil society and the wider New Zealand community.