Pacific leading the way in private sector aid delivery

Transcript

The new director of the Council for International Development in New Zealand says the Pacific has been leading the way in a global trend of involving the private sector in the delivery of aid.

Josie Pagani says small private businesses in Pacific countries where there are no welfare systems have been supporting the work of NGOs for decades.

And she says as problems become more complex corporates are contributing more internationally.

JOSIE PAGANI: Whether it's climate change in the Pacific, Global trade deals security, Sustainable livelihoods, and economic development. No one country is big enough to have resources and skills to solve those problems on their own, and no one international organization has the resources to do it either. So you end up having states, and non for profit sector, and the private sector, and international organizations working together. So I think that has grown over the last few years, there is certainly a growth to good corporate citizenship of the good corporate wanting to do the right thing, and a growing awareness of what the right thing is. There is more consumer pressure too, for a corporate who's getting involved in development to do it properly and the benefits are going directly to the people that need it. 

JO O'BRIEN: Do you have any examples of where this relationship between the private sector and NGO's is going well? 

JP: Yes, in the Pacific we're seeing things like World wildlife fund partnering with Cordon Bleu, NZ  aid money has gone to support sustainable fisheries, World wildlife fund is involved in that. Cordon Bleu has come on board and partnered with them to train chefs from Fiji to cook the fish. Then you've got World Vision who partner with Mojo coffee in Vanuatu, which is a great story after the coffee industry was wiped out by Cyclone Pam, World vision and Mojo coffee come in and work with local farmers, how you source the right plants, how you harvest and produce and sell overseas and so on. It's also our smaller sized NGOs, like Christian World Service who will partner say with a Tongan partner making tapa cloth and traditional mats selling them into the markets in Australia, and North America even or NZ. 

JO: Are there in dangers in NGO being reliant on funding from the private sector? 

JP: There are always challenges that's true, and you have to be aware of them otherwise you'll fall into some traps. And I think the biggest one is simply having a shared goal, understanding that your there to do development. And the development goal whether it's poverty reduction, whether it's supporting local communities to be sustainable - you've got to be on the same page. That's not to say that a private company - everyone has different motivations. A private company might be getting involved in development will be doing it for mixture of motivations, one might be good corporate citizenship another motive might be that they want market access and this might be a hook. That's okay just be very up front and honest about your motivations. I think the biggest challenge is to have a shared goal even if your motivations are different and the second one is to co-ordinate. You're not duplicating effort, you're not going to a country like Vanuatu and having different sized water pipes and nothing fits together.

JO: Why is the involvement of the private sector growing are they stepping in to fill a void from the government? 

JP: I don't see it like that. I don't see it as directly related to the amount or an increase or decrease in funding to the Pacific.