The United Nations estimates that to halve poverty, as set out in the Millennium Development Goals, donor countries will need to double their level of giving. Elimination of world poverty will require a resource commitment far greater than that.

In 1970, New Zealand joined 191 countries and promised to provide 0.7 per cent of its Gross National Income to Official Development Assistance (what we call aid). Since then, the Government has reaffirmed the 0.7 per cent promise a number of times.

Initially, the New Zealand Government worked towards the 0.7 per cent target, reaching a high of 0.52 per cent in 1975. But as its economic policy changed, the Government reduced the proportion it gave. In the budget for the financial year July 1, 2006 – June 30, 2007, the Government planned to give 0.27 per cent, and to increase this to 0.28 per cent the following year.

In order to reach 0.7 per cent by 2015, the Government needs to make a timeline setting out steps to get there. Starting with 0.28 per cent in 2008, increases of 0.06 per cent each year are necessary to reach an interim target of 0.4 per cent in 2010 and then 0.7 per cent in 2015.

New Zealand is ranked 17th of 22 OECD countries (the countries we like to measure ourselves against) according to the proportion of aid we give, and our nation is one of only two countries not to have set a timetable to reach 0.7 per cent by 2015.

The New Zealand Government is not fulfilling the promise it made in 1970.

A revamp of the New Zealand aid programme in 2002 led to the creation of NZ AID. New Zealand’s aid is now carefully targeted and focused on poverty elimination through NZAID. We now provide greater quality aid and it is effective in combating poverty; we need to match this with greater quantity of aid.

World Vision New Zealand is part of the POINT SEVEN campaign run by the Council for International Development, which lobbies the Government to increase the level of Official Development Assistance to 0.7 per cent of national income.

Here are the top eight reasons, put together for the POINT SEVEN campaign.

For more information, read the briefing kit or check out the POINT SEVEN website.

• More aid is needed to reduce poverty. Despite significant improvements over the past 40 years, the world must do much more to eliminate poverty. And New Zealand must contribute its fair share. More than 1.2 billion of the world’s people survive on less than US$1 per day.
• New Zealand can afford to do more to fight poverty. New Zealand is a wealthy country and we have the resources to tackle poverty here while also helping poorer countries overseas. New Zealand is the 39th richest of 232 countries in the world (as measured by Gross Domestic Product per person).
• Our aid is effective in reducing poverty. New Zealand’s overseas aid is effective, but there needs to be more of it. We must increase aid levels while maintaining the quality of our aid programme. The establishment of the government aid agency NZAID in 2002 has helped to improve the quality of our aid – now we need to improve the quantity.
• Kiwis do care. New Zealanders support overseas aid. The generosity of individual New Zealanders should be matched by increased government spending. 76 per cent of New Zealanders support the Government providing overseas aid, and 290,000 New Zealanders donated to non-government aid organisations in 2004.
• Trade and investment alone are not enough. International trade and foreign direct investment can play important roles in development. But they are not substitutes for an increased level of high-quality aid. Only 0.4 per cent of global trade and 0.5 per cent of global investment goes to the Least Developed Countries. They need aid to boost their capacity to benefit from international trade.
• Debt cancellation alone is not enough. The world’s poorest countries urgently need cancellation of their massive debts. But they also need increased aid if they are to significantly reduce poverty. In 2002, debt repayments and other financial flows out of developing countries resulted in a net transfer of US$200 billion from developing to developed countries.
• It’s a matter of rights. By contributing to the global campaign to elimimate poverty, New Zealand is helping people overseas to achieve their basic human rights.
• Promote peace and security. By providing aid for people in developing countries, New Zealand is helping to build a more peaceful and secure world.

Write to your local Member of Parliament. Tell them you support increasing overseas aid to the internationally agreed target level of 0.7 per cent of Gross National Income as a step towards making poverty history. It’s free to post!

MP addresses are in this form:

  [MP Name]
  MP for [Electorate]
  Freepost Parliament
  PO Box 18,888
  Wellington