Tying New Zealand aid to Tonga with combating Family Violence

Her story is not uncommon in the Kingdom of Tonga, where three out of four women report suffering domestic violence. Here in the so-called "friendly islands", women report being punched, kicked, dragged, beaten or choked. The perpetrator in many cases is another woman.

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 Tonga is one of New Zealand's core bilateral development cooperation partners.  The bilateral development assistance programme for 2012/2013 is $27 million. 

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Why is the New Zealand tax payer forking out money to a country that won't face up to a wide spread family violence problem? A fundamental rethink of how New Zealand delivers developmental/economic aid to Tonga is long overdue. Aside from the moral issues involved the Tongan government has admitted they don't have the capacity to implement their own developmental programs.

I think that not one single dollar of Tax Payer money should be spend on developmental/economic aid to Tonga , until a couple of things have taken place. Tonga as a nation must be prepared to face up to its family violence problem. Secondly Tonga could be used to trial new developmental frameworks. What those frameworks may look like falls mostly falls beyond the scope of this article. If the reader would like to know more about my ideas in the area of foreign aid , leave a comment below.

My approach essentially would be the carrot and the stick. The carrot is looking at affecting a generational change that reduces family violence levels. And a sound developmental strategy that reduces Tonga's reliance on overseas aid. The stick is fairy simple they go with New Zealand developmental/economic aid until our conditions are met.

Why should the Tongan people and government meet any of the new conditions when the Chinese will dole out cash with no strings attached? If New Zealand is having trouble facing up to the societal issue of family violence , how and why should Tonga? What kinds of conditions should be put in place to ensure New Zealand Aid to Tonga is more effective? All these questions have merit and I would welcome feedback from the reader on them.