Making a difference
Ensuring Foreign Aid achieves results

The Cook Islands receives more than $30 million a year in aid funding but where, exactly, does all that cash end up?
Other than the development of the West Avatiu Basin, locals would be hard-pressed to point out anything tangible that’s resulted from that ocean of cash, the majority of which is doled out by the New Zealand Aid Programme (formerly NZAID) and Australia’s AusAID.
In fact, most of the results from spending those millions cannot be held in your hands, or even photographed. Instead, that money works behind the scenes, providing improved education and healthcare in the country. Some of the aid is technical assistance in the form of workshops, which do little, really, but provide a free lunch for a select few.
Self-interest plays a large role when donor countries are signing cheques. Any assistance from China, for example, comes with the ‘One China’ condition firmly attached.
Two documents are helping to sharpen the focus of aid in an effort to ensure it’s not distributed willy-nilly so donors can pat themselves on the back but, rather, directed to those areas that will have the greatest impact on Cook Islanders.
One of those documents is the Paris Declaration, an international agreement between developing countries and donor countries/agencies. The declaration’s aim is to make aid more effective as far as delivery and management.
The other crucial paperwork is the National Sustainable Development Plan, the Cook Islands’ very own guideline for aligning aid money and budgets.
This week, Turama talks to the people involved with aid funding, to understand how it works, who benefits from it and why there is always a dark underbelly when it comes to ‘free’ money.

The Money Man
Garth Henderson
Manager, aid management, Ministry of Finance and Economic Management
Q: How dependant is the Cook Islands on aid money?
A: As far as the New Zealand Aid Programme, I don’t believe we can do without the health specialists’ visits. That’s a very successful programme. We can’t do without the education support. We’d like to make use of the infrastructure money a little more than we do now. I sense that the workshops we can do without. And I sometimes find it illogical that someone from somewhere else is coming in and telling us to care for our environment. We should be telling ourselves we need to care for our environment.
Q: The amount of international aid funding has increased at a steady rate. Why?
A: The reason behind the doubling of aid was the recognition that aid was failing. That, in spite of all the efforts since the 1950s, the poor countries remain poor and the rich countries are getting richer. So they said one way of addressing it is to increase the aid flow. Which brought about another problem: what’s effective aid? What works and what doesn’t work?
Q: Is it working in the Cook Islands?
A: It could work better. An increase in aid to more than $30 million this financial year sounds like a lot of money, but how much of it is meeting our needs? How much of the money is being introduced for our systems? How much of the money is concrete things we can see and how much of it is just consultancies? How much of it never passes through our systems? An aid programme or project that doesn’t meet our needs sucks up our resources.
Q: We know aid is often for the benefit of the donor’s self-interest. How do you get past that so the funding has a Cook Islands focus?
A: It’s a constant process where we need to be making sure that when we sit at the table, we’re in a position to get the best out of (the funding). One of the biggest changes we’ve had over the past six years would be the fact that we have a National Sustainable Development Plan. Prior to that, government negotiating teams would go to the table with the donor and we wouldn’t have a sound development plan. So when you talk to donors, if you put that document on the table and say, these are our needs, this is what we want to do, this is how we want to do it and this is when we want to do it – it becomes a starting point for negotiating. Having that in place is good for the donor and it’s good for us. We’re moving more and more towards sound plans and sound policies.
Q: Can you tell us something about the Paris Declaration?
A: It’s a partnership between aid givers and aid recipients to make sure that the aid is working for everybody. The fact that we signed up to the Paris Declaration sent the signal out to development partners that we want aid that meets our needs. We want aid that comes through our systems. We want aid that meets our priorities.
Q: Will there be a time when the Cook Islands will be able to function without the benefit of aid money?
A: We’re already an upper-middle-income country. The stronger we get internally – capacity, thinking, decision making, political stability – our dependence on aid will reduce.

The Evaluator
Tina Newport
Team leader for Cook Islands team conducting an evaluation of the Paris Declaration
Q: What is your five-member team doing?
A: It’s a study looking at how effective the Paris Declaration has been. Is it in fact making any difference in the way aid is delivered and managed in the Cook Islands? All up, it’s five months’ worth of work. We are halfway through it at the moment. The findings of this project will feed into an overall report about the effectiveness of the Paris Declaration.
Q: The Paris Declaration has five principles. What are they?
A: One is ownership. In the Cooks’ situation, that the Cook Islands actually has some say in how and where aid is delivered, based on its own priorities and its own list of needs and concerns and issues. Then there is the principle of alignment, which is about a donor contributing its support based on those national priorities and those national needs. Harmonization is around donors working together so, collectively, their aid is not duplicated. Then you’ve got managing for results, which is about showing that what you’re doing is actually making a difference and there is some change. And then the fifth one is around mutual accountability, where donors and partner countries are in it together and happy to share the highs and lows of making aid work.
Q: What sort of questions are you asking?
A: We’re not specifically talking about dollars or amounts. Some of the questions we’re asking are who people see as being the most influential donors in the Cook Islands. Asking questions about the kind of leadership the Cook Islands has in coordinating donors. And then things around how well people perceive it to be managed. As well as the level of consultation with other stakeholders. Is it just the government that makes the decisions around what the aid priorities are or is there a process where people who may not necessarily always get a say have some input into some of those priorities and what aid is delivered to them.
Q: Are you getting the impression that people are satisfied with the way aid money is coming into the country and the projects it’s being used for?
A: We’re getting a mixed impression. People aren’t necessarily saying it’s perfect across the board.

The Planner
Elizabeth Wright-Koteka
Director, Central Policy and Planning Office
Q: What is the function of your office?
A: The office’s primary function is to coordinate, facilitate and ensure the implementation of the National Sustainable Development Plan (NSDP).
Q: Tell us about the NSDP.
A: The plan was developed in consultation with the community, government and NGOs. It’s a national plan that . . . guides the allocation of budgets. In terms of the budget process, each ministry, when bidding for budget, must align what they’re bidding for to the national plan. It guides the initiatives that development partners, or aid donors, want to support in our country. This is our first attempt at medium-term development planning. It has its flaws but, nevertheless, it’s a starting point for us. This document changed how business has been done in the past with both Government and development partners.
Q: How much does aid money influence the NSDP?
A: In reality, the donor should not dictate the directions the country wants to move towards. In our case, when we start discussions with our development partners, we always say, look, align yourself with our NSDP.
Q: How important is aid money to the Cook Islands?
A: It is important in the sense that obviously we are a country with a narrow economic base. I suppose it helps supplement our local resources. But, in saying that, the Cook Islands actually has the lowest aid take in the Pacific.
Q: Do you ever say no to aid money because it doesn’t fit our needs or it’s too much work to access it?
A: Absolutely. From my perspective, if I’m involved in the discussion of a particular programme and it doesn’t fit what we want, and it’s going to over-stretch us, it’s just better to say no.
Q: Is there a plan in the NSDP to eventually phase out the need for aid money?
A: Absolutely. In this document is a visionary framework of where the Cook Islands wants to be in 2020. In the document, it says we aspire that, by 2020, we are able to stand our own ground. Our economy will be healthy and our people will be productive.

The Donor
Julie Affleck
Manager, New Zealand Aid Programme (NZAP)
Q: Please give us a brief summary of NZAP’s focus in the Cook Islands.
A: It’s actually an Australian and New Zealand programme. We have a formal agreement with Australia that, on their behalf, we will have a shared programme and that’s one of the key principles of the Paris Declaration as well. Our shared programme has a focus on economic development and we do that through three strands. The first is through education, health and civil society. The second is through infrastructure programmes and those are the bits that people often see. And there’s a third strand also, and that’s a focus on economic growth. Our role, here at the High Commission, is to facilitate the disbursement of funds. We don’t actually write the cheques here in the office. Most of that funding is paid through the Aid Management Division. Our role is to work with the implementing agencies, to support them to deliver the projects and programmes, and also to act as a liaison between the New Zealand government and the Cook Islands government.
Q: Is it part of New Zealand’s mandate to provide aid money to the Cook Islands because of the close relationship between the two countries?
A: Yes and no. It’s not a mandate – there is nothing that says we have to do that – but as part of our international obligations as a developed nation, we contribute. Of course the partnership between the Cook Islands and New Zealand is very close and that’s an important factor. We have links that are political, cultural and historical. Those friendships are another very important reason why we have such a strong aid programme.
Q: Can you tell us something about the Paris Declaration?
A: The principles are quite simple but implementing them has presented some challenges. Billions and billions of dollars around the world are spent on aid, so why do we still have poor people? That’s why, over the past decade, donors and partners have been saying, what can we do to make this more effective. Having a better focus is one of the key principles. And that is, whatever the aid money is directed to, it needs to be directed to the priorities that are decided by the government. You have that in this country by the National Sustainable Development Plan. That is the guiding document that explains this is where the priorities of the government are and this is where the aid money will be directed.
Q: The average citizen is always hearing about millions of dollars in aid, but what can they actually see happening with that money?
A: The money that comes in from the Australia and New Zealand programme is integrated into the national budget. Does the citizen on the street recognize that this is aid money? Well, maybe not. But maybe they don’t need to. Because if their child can go to a school where they get a quality education, or if they can get a free vaccination for the pandemic, or if, when they leave school, there’s an opportunity for a scholarship, and they can turn the tap on and there’s water, well, yes, Australia and New Zealand might be contributing to those programmes, but it is managed and run by the Cook Islands government.
Q: We’re hearing there is a revised focus as far as the New Zealand Aid Programme is concerned, away from lifting countries out of poverty and more towards helping them develop.
A: For the Cook Islands, poverty is less of an issue than it is for some of the bigger nations in other parts of the world. It is the shift to greater economic independence. That’s why the focus on sustained economic development aims to strengthen the economy, so that we are actually working towards the Cook Islands being less dependant on external aid, and more able to fend for themselves.

The Coordinator
Teariki Rongo
Global Environment Facility Fund small grants programme, Cook Islands Community Initiative Scheme
Q: What are some of the issues around applying for aid funding?
A: For the Global Environment Facility Fund, the biggest issue is how complicated the forms are that are provided by the United Nations office for project services. It’s our responsibility to make sure those forms are adapted to the level of our communities but, even still, it’s very technical. This is the difficult part: for our community groups to fill out forms to that level.
Q: Do you think donors make it more difficult to access aid than it really should be?
A: I think so. My role then becomes very important in that it’s my job to make our people understand the forms. If the project fits in the criteria of climate change, for example, then communities are expected to link their project to global benefits and climate change. Climate change is a very, very technical area. This is where I come in, but I don’t have all the answers or the expertise for some of the issues. It becomes a very lengthy process and sometimes we’re looking at, from the time a project lands on my desk to the time money is dispersed, five to eight months down the line.
Q: Do you think that difficulty discourages some groups from applying for aid money?
A: I think so. Sometimes there are groups that play a role in, for example, youth development but they are unable to write their project and articulate it in a way that it says what they want to say and not just look like they’re answering a whole lot of questions. In this regard, there is a lack of project-writing skills in the community.
Q: How important is aid money to the Cook Islands?
A: My view on aid money is that it should be like a stimulus. It shouldn’t be something that we keep getting. If communities are given funds, it’s to stimulate a certain activity that they want to do. It shouldn’t be like, here’s the money and you go and try to do something. Or they have the impression that, if they don’t succeed, they can go and apply for another fund. I don’t think that’s good. Those involved in project planning and implementation must always be aware of the sustainability of the project involved. If, at the beginning, they see that the project is not sustainable, then money should not go in there.
Q: Has aid been effective as far you are concerned?
A: In the Outer Islands: no. I say this because our people are still leaving the Outer Islands and I feel that aid has not really addressed the core issues to keep our people at home. They talk about education and infrastructure – what exactly does that mean?

The Consultant
Teresa Manarangi-Trott
Q: You recently completed a contract as the technical advisor to the national authorizing officer for the European Union. Based on your experience, what are your views on managing aid more effectively?
A: Aid is one of the most important components of the government budget so, therefore, aid has to work within the framework of Government. Decisions need to be made by Government and led by Government. Aid is then used in order for the government to be able to implement some of its policies if there are insufficient taxpayer funds to do so.
Q: Should Government be in control of dispersing aid money and looking after all aspects of how it’s spent?
A: I believe that there is an important aspect of aid and that is implementation. There are two viewpoints of how that is best done. EU, over the past five to six years, has been able to contract a private company to implement its projects. I believe that we, as a company, have done very well in the implementation of those EU projects. And it’s been demonstrated by the fact that it’s received extra money because it has been well implemented. The other view is that all implementation should be done through government officials and by Government. Which I’m not certain is necessarily the best implementation programme because we saw NZAID funding under-spent by a very large amount last year.
Q: How much say do donors have in the disbursement of their funds? Are they quite willing to hand over a large cheque to the government and let it do what they want with it?
A: No, and I don’t think they should. Donors have an important role to be accountable to wherever they got the money from. For the EU, it is accountable to the various member countries. For New Zealand aid, it is responsible to the New Zealand taxpayer. In terms of how it is spent, the donors should have some say, but I think there is a deficiency and a lack of resources within Government in order for them to direct where they want to have it spent.
Q: Can you offer any solutions?
A: I’m not sure there are any solutions. There are departments that are under-resourced, but I still believe that if there is an implementation process in place, it can be tendered out. And it would be good for the private sector to be able to get some of those jobs, rather than leaving the money within Government hands.
Q: In your opinion, can you see a time when the Cook Islands can wean itself off aid money?
A: I think it would be wonderful if we could, as a country, be self-sufficient. But the reality is that we’ve got increasing demands, we’ve got a need to manage various aspects of our economy which we don’t earn sufficient money from. There are also political decisions as to whether we are going to introduce user-pays. Whether that is economically viable for a lot of our population is another issue. Until we come to a situation where we have sufficient money to do the sorts of things that we need to do, and to fulfil the demands necessary to continue the sort of economy that we’ve got, I think aid is going to be around for a bit longer yet. It just needs to be managed better.

The Aid Recipient
Frances Topa-Apera
Acting president, Cook Islands National Council of Women
Q: What sort of aid does your organization apply for and what has been your experience in accessing those funds?
A: The non-government organizations, from my experience with the National Council of Women, have always been vulnerable to any type of aid assistance. Each programme comes with its own set of criteria of how any applicant could be considered for potential funding. And they come with certain sets of rules as to which particular areas this funding is tailored towards.
Q: Are there a lot of strings attached to aid money?
A: There are certain ways we must comply with the donor criteria for what the funding has been allocated for. To receive a positive response, there are some guidelines for how we should respond as far as do we even have the financial capability to be able to report on financial expenditures and provide financial reports. Those sorts of things get looked into. We had to provide evidence that we do keep financial records. There has been a lot more emphasis on the financial capability of the organization to manage money and to be able, as well, to record the expenses.
Q: Has it been a positive experience applying for and receiving aid money?
A: For us, it has been a very positive experience. It has made us more visible as an organization by having someone actually paid to do those administration operational tasks.
Q: Would your organization exist without aid money?
A: It would only exist on an ad-hoc basis. Because there would be no office, I would just be working on a voluntary basis, when I can find time.

By John Ireland

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