NewZAID June 2012

Issue No. 89  

Kia ora katou katoa

This month the international spotlight was on the Pacific, when Adi Tafunai, founder of Samoa’s Women in Business Development Incorporated, was awarded the Vital Voices Global Leadership Award for her contribution to Economic Empowerment. Innovative and inclusive leadership is vital to sustainable development, and NZ has been proud to support Adi’s efforts from the start. Now through an expanded partnership with Oxfam, this model is being taken to other parts of the Pacific. Twenty years on from the original Earth Summit, Rio +20 was formally opened by the UN Secretary General and a 17 year old New Zealander. ‘Date with History’ competition winner Brittany Trilford from Wellington told Heads of State she was there to "fight for the future". In this edition of NewZAID Rachel Skeates elaborates on the importance of youth-led initiatives in her item about the World Youth Congress, which coincided with Rio +20.

Amanda Ellis, Head of New Zealand Aid Programme

Pacific leader receives Economic Empowerment award in Washington

Pacific leader and Director of Samoan NGO Women in Business Adimaimalaga (Adi) Tafuna’i was honored at the Vital Voices Global Leadership Awards in Washington last week. The Vital Voices Economic Empowerment Award recognises Adi’s tireless, inspirational work to build sustainable economic opportunities for Samoan women and their families.

New Zealand Aid programme representative at World Youth Congress

Rachel Skeates from the New Zealand Aid Programme attended the 6th World Youth Congress in Brazil in June, held just before Rio+20. The Congress is a biannual event bringing together young delegates from over one hundred countries to explore the role young people can play in addressing sustainable development issues.

US-NZ Partnership to improve Waste Management in Kiribati

Amanda Ellis, Head of the New Zealand Aid Programme, and Nisha Biswal, Assistant Administrator for Asia at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) have just signed a partnership agreement to support the Kiribati Solid Waste Management Initiative.

Economic Empowerment for Tongan Youth

Oxfam is helping its partner, the Tonga National Youth Congress (TNYC) put Tonga’s abundance of coconut to use to strengthen the vitality of villages and build economic independence for young people.

Aneityum Pine Project: a model of sustainable community engagement

On the island of Aneityum, Southern Vanuatu, the forest echoes with the sound of chainsaws and falling trees. A community-based company is busy milling pine that New Zealand helped plant as far back as the 1970s, as part of a project to counter soil erosion.

Volunteer Service Abroad delighted with longer term funding arrangement

In mid-June Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully announced that Volunteer Service Abroad (VSA) will receive a core funding package of $24 million to support its activities over the next three years. The announcement comes as VSA – New Zealand’s largest and most experienced international volunteering agency – celebrates its 50th anniversary.