While the New Zealand Cabinet is about to consider Foreign Minister Murray McCully's plans to end the stand alone status of the foreign aid agency, NZAid, an academic says the move will damage New Zealand's reputation in the region.
NZAid, a semi autonomous body within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, reports directly to the Minister, but Mr McCully wants it to be more in line with foreign policy objectives.
He says its emphasis on poverty reduction not economic development amounted to a handout not a hand up.
Vijay Naidu, who teaches development studies at the University of the South Pacific, says re-absorbing NZAid into foreign affairs will be a retrograde step and a cynical use of aid as a foreign policy tool.
"It is not going to go down very well in this part of the world. In terms of image, New Zealand still has a positive image in the region and those people who have a kind of critical perspective will say it is a good image in contrast with Australia which has a bad cop image. In terms of international development aid there has been a move away from using aid in this rather cynical manner."
Vijay Naidu
