Lisa Cescon: Memo to minister - Don't bite the hand that needs you

Opinion

With Foreign Minister Murray McCully due to receive a State Services Commission review of the delivery and focus of New Zealand's aid programme within days, it's timely to ask the question: does aid work?

The short answer is not always, but often. Certainly not fast enough, as progress in this field is measured over decades, not months.

The regular contact World Vision has with our supporters tells us that Kiwis want the aid they give as individuals and as taxpayers to be both effective and to represent us well as global citizens.

Changes being promoted which would make the aid budget a slave to our nation's foreign affairs agenda and remove poverty elimination as the top goal seem destined to us to fail this test on both counts.

It's clear aid agencies and NZAID need to improve the way we communicate our work, especially our achievements.

A graphic illustration of sustained Kiwi concern and impact is found in results revealed recently concerning a 36,000-strong community in Tanzania since 1991.

Since then regular child sponsorship payments by 3000 New Zealanders have been directed at the desperately poor community of Iselamagazi.

Comprising 12 large villages spread over 300sq km, the Iselamagazi area development programme is one of more than 40 long-term initiatives in some of the world's poorest communities funded by World Vision supporters in more than 70,000 Kiwi households.

Since 1991, child malnutrition in Iselamagazi has dropped from 41 per cent to 1 per cent. Annual maize crop production per acre has risen from two bags to 12 bags. Bags of rice per acre have jumped from seven in 1991 to 15.

Before the NZ-funded programme began, only 1 per cent of children passed national exams. Now more than 52 per cent are passing. Enrolment for school-age children has gone from half to 99 per cent.

Immunisation rates for under-5s have jumped from 48 to 85 per cent. Eighty-three classrooms and 12 toilet blocks have been built and 2372 school desks provided along with other equipment to 13 primary schools.

In 1991 the percentage of households with enough food to last through a full year was just 10 per cent and only 13 per cent of farmers used farmyard manure. Today those percentages have improved to 50 per cent and 53 per cent respectively.

Ninety-eight agricultural training groups have been set up, helping 1150 farmers. More than 280 ox-ploughs, 26,000kg of improved seeds and 40 ox-carts have been provided to farmers at below market interest rates, called soft loans.

Community leaders have been trained to manage successful development initiatives without World Vision's direct assistance.

A community of 36,000 people is now well on the way to self-sufficiency. With the exit plan implemented, World Vision has begun new long-term programmes with other communities in desperate need.

Globally, aid programmes are delivering much that deserves celebration. Between 1990 and 2005, the number of extremely poor people fell from 1.8 billion to 1.4 billion, according to a 2008 UN report.

Deaths from measles were cut by one third during the same period and the World Health Organisation says the vaccination rate among developing world children under the age of 1 has reached 80 per cent (up from 60-70 per cent 10 years ago).

More than 1.5 billion people have gained access to clean drinking water since 1990. In Uganda and Malawi, the number of children enrolling in primary school has doubled in five years to reach over 90 per cent.

Spending on social services is rising as developing countries spend a lower percentage of their export earnings on external debt servicing - from 12.5 per cent in 2000 to 6.6 per cent in 2006.

But in a world where one African child dies of malaria every 30 seconds, there is still much to do. About 25 per cent of developing world children are undernourished. Almost half the developing world population lacks access to decent sanitation and 75 million primary-aged children are not registered in school.

The truth is development takes time. Over decades, resilient individuals build resilient communities, regions and nations. Economic development makes a vital contribution.

Economic development and poverty elimination are both required. Investments in basic education for girls and women boost family incomes, reduce fertility rates and contribute to better health and nutrition.

Politics is the art of the possible. It should be possible for the inclusive, pragmatic approach evident in the Government's first 100 days to continue as it reviews New Zealand's overseas aid programme.

Our taxpayer-funded aid programme should aspire to international best practice. It would be unthinkable for the British or Australian Governments to absorb their aid programmes into their foreign affairs ministries, as is being mooted for NZAID.

By all means let's consider how we can further improve livelihoods and build economic resilience in the countries where we work. But the consideration of fundamental changes to New Zealand's aid programme at the very least requires sufficient time for all the evidence to be weighed.

* Lisa Cescon is chief executive officer of World Vision New Zealand.