Caption: Solomon Island school children play in their newly constructed school.

Pacific Countries

Pacific countries where we work

NZAID snapshot

NZAID is the Government's international aid and development agency
In 2007/08 NZAID will spend $429 million on overseas development assistance
NZAID's total assistance to the Pacific in 2007/08 is $205.5 million.

The Pacific Context

22 island countries and territories - dispersed over 30 million km of ocean
8 million people live in the Pacific
The broad ethnic groups are Melanesian, Polynesian and Micronesian
New Zealand has strong connections with many Pacific countries due to migration, travel, and trade.

The Pacific Development Challenge

Much of the Pacific is making poor progress towards meeting the human development indicators central to reducing poverty and hardship. The challenge is to:

Address basic needs - in Melanesia not all children go to school, many adults are illiterate, and many don't have access to basic health services
Accelerate economic growth - current growth rates are below population increases in most countries
Support the rule of law and access to justice which is essential for poverty reduction.

NZAID in the Pacific

The Pacific is NZAID's core focus and over half of New Zealand's total aid goes to this region.

Prioritising Melanesian Development

NZAID's largest engagements are with Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. This is where the majority of Pacific people live and where they are the poorest.

Addressing Small States Issues

New Zealand has major development relationships with five other countries - Fiji*, Kiribati, Samoa, Tonga, and Tuvalu.

*subject to sanctions

Meeting our Constitutional Obligations

Budgetary and technical assistance is also provided to Niue and Tokelau, and NZAID is the largest donor in the Cook Islands. The people of these states are New Zealand Citizens and we have legal obligations to support them.

Fostering Regionalism

NZAID is the second largest contributor to Pacific regional agencies such as the University of the South Pacific. NZAID also supports a range of regional initiatives consistent with the Pacific Plan to strengthen regional cooperation and integration.