12 May 2015

NZ aid programme 'fundamentally flawed': academic

10:45 am on 12 May 2015

A New Zealand academic says his country's foreign aid programme is fundamentally flawed and geared to supporting New Zealand Inc.

Aid is unloaded from the C-130 Hercules.

Aid is unloaded from the C-130 Hercules. Photo: DEFENCE FORCE

Kevin Clements, who is the director of the National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at Otago University, says the programme offers little for the many critical issues facing developing countries.

He says a recent workshop he attended at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs seemed focused on investment opportunities for New Zealand businesses and will do little for sustainable development in the region.

Professor Clements says this approach to aid was discredited a generation ago.

"There is no national vision on this coming out of the Government. It seems very self interested, rather than altruistic. It is not going to really advance our long term humanitarian reputation. And we are pursuing policies which were thoroughly discredited in the 1970s and 80s."

The director of the National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at Otago University, Kevin Clements.