A Pacific NGO that has operated in New Zealand for over two decades is staring down the barrel of oblivion, after the Government cut its funding.
The Pacific Cooperation Foundation was launched in 2003 under Helen Clark’s Labour government, with the foreign minister at the time Phil Goff saying the organisation would “build our relationship with our Pacific neighbourhood and to foster greater understanding and cooperation” through a variety of programmes and exchanges.
But among the plethora of cuts in the coalition Government’s Budget last month was a decision to cease funding to the foundation as of the 2024/25 financial year, described as “a result of changing government priorities”.
The $1.4 million in annual funding provided by the Government up until now accounted for over 93 percent of the organisation’s entire revenue in the 2022/23 financial year, meaning it is likely to close its doors unless new funds or an alternative model can be arranged at short notice.
Newsroom understands an independent review of the foundation commissioned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in the last Labour government’s first term (and during Peters’ last stint as foreign minister), had raised concerns about the organisation’s direction.
Among the issues traversed are believed to have been a shift away from its founding purpose to a more business-oriented work programme, as well as a narrow focus on Polynesia at the expense of the wider Pacific.
While the foundation made a number of changes in response, appointing a new transition board and amending its trust deed, they do not appear to have been enough to head off a more significant government decision.
The foundation would not be the first state-funded Pacific body to close its doors in recent years. In 2018, the New Zealand Institute for Pacific Research – a joint collaboration between the University of Auckland, the University of Otago and AUT – was shuttered little more than two years after its inception, with the foreign ministry cutting its funding after an independent review found the institute had “fallen well short of expectations”.
Green Party foreign affairs spokesman Teanau Tuiono told Newsroom the funding cuts to the foundation would diminish New Zealand’s ties to the Pacific outside of formal diplomatic relations.
“We are a Pacific nation amongst a family of Pacific nations, and if you look at what they’re [the foundation] trying to achieve there around making those connections across the Pacific, amplifying independent Pacific voices, those are good things … we need to be able to make those connections other than [through] government-to-government connections.”
Tuiono said much of New Zealand’s international influence came as a result of its perceived influence within the Pacific, and the country’s “relationship diplomacy” needed to be preserved.
“If that is no longer of importance to the Government, then I think that should be explained, but if that is still important to the Government, then I think they need to answer questions around how they’re going to resource those important links.”
“Removal of this support does not create a vacuum in Pacific people-to-people relationships – it recognises the changing environment, which is increasingly, and rightly so, Pasifika-led.”
A spokesman for Foreign Minister Winston Peters
A spokesman for Foreign Minister Winston Peters said the decision to cut funding to the foundation reflected the “increasingly crowded environment of Pacific-facing organisations” within New Zealand.
“The question of continued funding of the [foundation] had to be examined in the light of its effectiveness, and impact in the use of taxpayer money …
“Removal of this support does not create a vacuum in Pacific people-to-people relationships – it recognises the changing environment, which is increasingly, and rightly so, Pasifika-led.”
The spokesman said the Pacific remained a major priority for New Zealand’s foreign policy and development programme, noting Peters’ visits to eight Pacific Islands countries in the Government’s first six months with further travel planned.
At least 60 percent of the almost $3 billion being spent by New Zealand on development work over the next three years would be directed to the region, and the Government was focused on “investing in Pacific relationships where it has the best impact and delivers the most meaningful outcomes”.
Work previously done by the foundation could be commissioned directly by the foreign ministry as required, given the organisation had already been outsourcing many projects to third parties.
The foundation’s chief executive Joanna Bourke declined to comment to Newsroom, citing the need to prepare for an important board meeting taking place on Friday.
“Given the significance of these discussions and negotiations, it would be premature for me to comment on the situation before they are concluded,” Bourke said.
I hope this isn’t impacting on the funding of Volunteer Service Abroad which is one of the most cost effective ways for NZ to build cooperation, understanding and relationships with it Asia Pacific neighbours.