NEW ZEALAND

POPULATION AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH ASSISTANCE
OVERALL ASSESSMENT

Support for population assistance in New Zealand has risen since the ICPD, as reflected in significantly higher contributions to UNFPA and IPPF. Given the limited capacity of the bilateral aid program to administer funds for reproductive health programs, this appears to be a wise use of aid resources.

New Zealand’s geographic focus on the Pacific Islands could spur additional bilateral initiatives in reproductive health in the future. In 1997, the New Zealand government funded small research initiatives through IPPF in the Pacific region. It has indicated interest in funding other similar programs bilaterally and will be encouraging NGOs involved in general development work in the Pacific to submit proposals for population-related activities. For the foreseeable future, however, New Zealand is likely to remain a minor donor, and new bilateral initiatives are also likely to remain modest in financial terms.

1 Development Assistance: Policy and Funding

A new framework for New Zealand’s small foreign aid program places a priority on poverty alleviation and concentrates its efforts on the South Pacific. The government has formulated a new framework for development assistance which emphasizes poverty alleviation, capacity building and equitable economic development. Aid from New Zealand is closely aligned with its foreign policy objectives and concentrated in the neighboring South Pacific region and Southeast Asia.

New Zealand was one of the smallest donors in terms of its total aid volume in 1997. Although New Zealand has signed on to the UN target of allocating 0.7 percent of GNP for development aid, its assistance levels peaked at 0.52 percent in 1975 and dropped to 0.25 percent by 1997. Since 1990, aid levels have increased slowly in absolute terms, and New Zealand has expanded its bilateral program. Over 40 percent of the aid budget is spent on health, education, water and sanitation. Critics argue that this figure is distorted by the inclusion of significant expenditures on education and training in New Zealand itself for Asian/Pacific beneficiaries.

2 The Policy Environment for International Population Assistance

Recently, New Zealand has demonstrated interest in expanding initiatives in the area of reproductive health and women’s development. In 1996, an independent review of the integration of women in development concerns into the development aid program recommended that New Zealand increase efforts to meet the goals developed at the ICPD, World Summit on Social Development and Fourth World Conference on Women. The review, in particular, recommended expanding initiatives in the areas of women’s reproductive health, basic education and women’s rights.

Currently, support for reproductive health and family planning appears strong in New Zealand, and is demonstrated primarily through multilateral channels.

3 Trends in Funding for Population Assistance

Overall Funding Levels:

Overall funding for population has increased steadily since 1991, although remaining at relatively low levels. Despite almost tripling population assistance levels between 1990 and 1996, New Zealand remains one of the smallest donors to international population programs. In 1996, New Zealand gave $1.2 million in population assistance, ranking 18th out of 21 donors, just behind Italy which has a much larger population and overall foreign aid program. With its population of 3.6 million, New Zealand is a small donor country, yet its allocations to population are higher than some other wealthier and more populous donor nations.

Multilateral Funding:

New Zealand allocates most of its modest funding for population through multilateral or NGO channels. About half of all population assistance flowed through the multilateral channel between 1990-95, primarily via UNFPA. New Zealand’s commitment to population assistance is seen most clearly through its small but rising national currency contributions to UNFPA. In 1996 New Zealand contributed $672,000 to UNFPA, a significant increase from 1995 when it gave only $375,000. The contribution for 1997 rose to $821,000, and remained stable in 1998.

Bilateral Funding:

New Zealand officially has no reproductive health or population program, but has recently funded a small number of bilateral reproductive health activities. For example, regional health programs may include a component related to sexual and reproductive health.

Funding for NGOs:

New Zealand has increased its support to IPPF in recent years, together with its rising contributions to UNFPA. Between 1988 and 1997, New Zealand’s contribution to IPPF increased over two and a half times to $582,000, ranking it twelfth out of fourteen major donors. New Zealand’s pledge to IPPF for 1998 is approximately $650,000, a slight increase from the previous year. In 1997, New Zealand also funded two research projects in the South Pacific through IPPF, one on male attitudes toward contraception and another on adolescent attitudes toward family planning, sexual health and teenage pregnancy. In 1997, for the first time, New Zealand made a contribution to the Population Council, an international NGO. This funding continued at the same level in 1998.