'Doing well out of our doing good': a geography of New Zealand aid

Abstract

This paper analyses changes in New Zealand's Official Development Assistance programme over the past 30 yr. It outlines how, following a rapid increase in real aid spending in the mid 1970s, much of the subsequent period has been marked by steady decline. There have also been significant shifts in the regional distribution of aid so that, whilst the Pacific Islands have remained the main beneficiaries of New Zealand aid, development assistance for other regions has been variable and liable to changes in New Zealand's strategic priorities. There have been major changes, too, in the type of development assistance given by New Zealand, notably in the past decade. There has been a shift to policies guided by the new 'neoliberal' philosophies of aid: those which stress economic returns to donors, private sector promotion, the commercial sector's role in aid delivery and good governance.