NEWSPAGE 08 March
2010

(Photos: Ministry of Education / Smokefree Oceania)

(Photo: Samoa Government)

SAMOA: Parliamentary Updates
Source: Government Press Secretariat Press Release

Donated Vehicles for Tsunami Victims returned

Cabinet has declined releasing two (2) vehicles brought into the country donated for some families that were affected by the Tsunami which hit the country last year.

The two vehicles are more than twelve (12) years old which does not meet the entry requirements for imported vehicles. The matter was brought before Cabinet since it is the first of its kind.

Cabinet has decided for the vehicles to be returned and for the Shipping Company responsible to pay fines for bringing such vehicles into the country.


Christening of the MV Lady Samoa III

Cabinet has approved the programme for the christening of the MV Lady Samoa III at the Matautu-tai wharf on Tuesday 9 March 2010.

The ceremony, which is scheduled to start at 3.00pm, will be attended by Cabinet Members, as well as a Japanese delegation expected to include Japan’s ambassador to Samoa, Mr Toshihiro Takahashi and the President of the ISB Shipbuilding Company, Mr Kohei Murashima.

Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi will deliver the keynote address after the handing over of the ferry keys from the Ambassador of Japan.

Minister of Works Transport and Infrastructure and also Chairman of the Samoa Shipping Corporation (SSC), Afioga Tuisugaletaua Sofara Aveau will also take part in the christening ceremony.

The CEO for the Samoa Shipping Corporation, Susuga Papalii Willie Nansen will welcome everyone and Reverend Iupeli Ieremia will say the prayer. The Project Report by Japan’s Fisheries Engineering Ltd will be delivered by Project Consultant, Mr Toyonori Watanabe. A cocktail function will wrap up the ceremony.

The arrival of the new ferry is another milestone of the Samoa Shipping Corporation in achieving one of its major projects to further enhance the standard of sea voyaging and safety.


Program for Christian Education in Schools

Cabinet has approved a Program for introducing Christian Education in Government Schools by the Christian Education Working Committee together with the Ministry of Education, Sports and Culture.

This Program states that:

• 30 minutes morning session every day to be made compulsory for all classes in Primary Schools and High Schools & College level schools to discuss designated topics from the Bible.

• Curriculum Program for Social Science Year One to Year 8 to be reviewed so that Christian Education can be included.

• Christian Education Curriculum for Year nine to Year thirteen to be finalized for introducing in 2011.

The Working Committee will be working together with the Ministry in assessing the program and conducting lessons for school teachers assigned to teach this subject. Assessments will be undertaken for looking after this program at the end of the year.


Pacific AIDS Commission launch

Cabinet has approved the participation by Deputy Prime Minister, Afioga Misa Telefoni to the launching of the Pacific AIDS Commission in Papua New Guinea on 11 March 2010 and the opening of the Pasefika Festival in New Zealand.

Afioga Misa Telefoni is the Chairman of the Commission.
 

(Photo: Radio Australia)

AUSTRALIA: ABC Radio Australia launches Pacific Break 2010
Source: iEncyclopedia

Last Friday (March 02, 2010), Radio Australia announced the launch of Pacific Break for 2010. Now in its third year, Radio Australia’s Pacific Break - the search for the best original, unsigned musical talent of the Pacific - has proven immensely popular with Pacific audiences and impressed at this year’s Association of International Broadcasters (AIB) Media Awards in London, winning the international award for “Most Creative Marketing Strategy”.

Last year Emmanuel Mailau from PNG won the competition with his song “Children” which was inspired by observations of poverty in the settlement he resides in outside Port Moresby. “I think I’m starting to realise that I’ll be a role model for people on the settlement so they can see that they have the talent and that their talent can make them become somebody else,” said Emmanuel after winning the award and performing live at Fest’napuan.

His entry was hugely popular with both the judges and the listening audience as was the winning entry for Pacific Break in its inaugural year 2008, ‘Broken Promises’ by Vanuatu band 26 Roots.

Pacific Break continues to grow, spanning five time zones and five months and is well supported in its search for unsigned musical talent by Vanuatu’s annual pan-Pacific music festival, Fest’napuan, providing the winning artist(s) an opportunity to showcase their musical talents, and play live in front of thousands at the event.

Radio Australia Chief Executive Hanh Tran said, “Last year we celebrated our 70th year of broadcasting internationally and unique projects like Pacific Break continue to demonstrate that our speciality is about connecting with audiences in our region.”

Radio Australia’s 24 hour FM network now transmits across 11 Pacific urban centres providing the unique ability to broadcast simultaneously into these localities, supported by a dedicated online presence.

Pacific Break materials both past and present can be viewed at: www.radioaustralia.net.au/pacificbreak
 

Photo Caption: Emmanuel Mailau - 2009's Pacific Break winner.
 

(Photo: The National)

PAPUA NEW GUINEA: Nasfund’s investment ‘a success’
Source: The National

The growth in membership, asset value, and equity portfolio of National Superannuation Fund Ltd (Nasfund) reflects the health of the local economy.

Since Nasfund has mostly invested locally, it is least affected by the global financial crisis (GFC), according to joint chief executive Ian Tarutia.

These were Mr Tarutia’s observations in an address before human resource officers and managers of Nasfund member-employer companies and organisations at a conference yesterday at Crowne Plaza in Port Moresby.

While revealing the fund’s successes despite the GFC and the performance compared with similar funds in Australia, Mr Tarutia again cautioned that employee members’ credit interest figure may not be a double digit this year, but all the rates except for 2008 (11%) had been above the inflation rates.

The average for the last five years in interest credited to members was 19.8%.

‘The growth here, as you can see the fund, has been growing with new members coming through.
“When we grow, it is the reflection of what is happening in our economy,” he said.

He said the active membership base had grown especially when new workers were being introduced into the workforce and hence, that captured in the superannuation where Nasfund captured some of them especially in the private sector.

In equity portfolio, Mr Tarutia said Nasfund had good partnership with reputable organisations such as Curtain Brothers for developments at Harbour City in Port Moresby, Honibooks for construction of Investment Promotion Authority (IPA) House and the Factory at Konedobu, and Lamana Development for Heritage Hotel in Solomon Islands.

“So we are using good reputable builders and contractors that are also owned by the fund, so investment money is circulated within the group,” he said.

Meanwhile, Anna Mawason, the team leader for employer services, told the employer member- representatives to continue the employer contributions and on time especially after the 14th day of each month for the previous month’s contributions.
 

Photo Caption: Human resource officers and managers of Nasfund member-employer companies and organisations attending the conference.
 

SOLOMON ISLANDS: Stories of outstanding Solomon Islands women
Source: AUT University Press Release

A book launched in the Solomon Islands today marks International Women’s Day by celebrating leadership and achievement amongst Solomon Islands women.

Being the First tells the stories of 14 women who have broken barriers to rise to high positions within the Solomon Islands public service, and encourages young Solomon Islands women to follow their lead.

Alice Aruhe’eta Pollard, and AUT University’s Professor Marilyn Waring, co-edited the book as part of their work heading up the Women in Governance component of the Regional Assistance Mission for Solomon Islands (RAMSI).

“The public service is the Solomon Islands’ single largest employer but only six percent of women who work in it hold senior management positions. As part of our work with RAMSI we are required to mentor women in the public service. And when we realised that no book about Solomon Islands women has ever been written by Solomon Islands women, we realised this was an another way we could mentor women and encourage them to strive for leadership roles,” says Waring.

All of the women profiled in Being the First have broken new ground within Solomon Islands government structures to take on roles including permanent secretaries, officers of parliament, the only woman elected to parliament and a former Public Service Commissioner.

Waring says it is important that the women’s stories are written down and form part of recorded Solomon Islands history. Many of them have spent time overseas studying and working, and those parts of their lives are easily lost from the Islands’ history unless details are written down.

Being the First is published by AUT’s Pacific Media Centre on behalf of RAMSI and AUT’s Institute of Public Policy. Waring says that AUT’s connection and contribution to Being the First is one of many initiatives that demonstrate the university’s commitment towards becoming the postgraduate university of choice for people of the Pacific Islands.
 

WOLDWIDE: New brief calls for family level gender equality in the Pacific
Source: Secretariat of the Pacific Community Press Release

On the occasion of International Women’s Day (8 March), the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) is encouraging governments and development agencies to incorporate the need for household and family level equality between women and men into policies and programmes in the Pacific region.

A new advocacy brief entitled Transforming Power Relations: Equal Status of Women and Men at the Family Level in the Pacific is designed to raise awareness of an often under-addressed sphere of power dynamics between women and men. It ties into the broader theme of this year’s International Women’s Day celebration: Equal rights, equal opportunities: Progress for all.

The brief is based on a range of existing research and illustrates the extent of household and family level inequality between men and women and the adverse impact such inequality has on all other spheres of women’s lives. It also looks at the links between violence against women in the home and women’s ability to make important decisions including about their own health care, household finances and social life. It provides policy recommendations for lawmakers, the health sector, educators, land authorities, customary bodies, religious institutions and the media. These are based on international commitments to gender equality such as the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the Beijing Platform for Action.

Under CEDAW, countries are obliged to take measures to change social and cultural conduct and practices that are based on notions of the superiority or inferiority of either sex. This recognises that such notions directly contribute not only to human rights abuses but also to poor overall development outcomes.

The brief focuses on five categories of empowerment and decision-making at the household level. After reviewing studies that evidence the existence of strong household hierarchies in the Pacific, it discusses decision-making on sexual and reproductive issues and relating to health care, social life, household finances and land. The findings are based on a range of studies, most of which were undertaken in the last five years. These include SPC’s gender-based violence surveys in Solomon Islands, Kiribati and Samoa, and demographic and health surveys carried out by SPC in Republic of the Marshall Islands, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu. Statistics are also taken from various other studies in French Polynesia, New Caledonia, Tonga and Vanuatu.

The implications of unequal status at the family level are also highlighted. They include poor health for women, violence against women, and reduced participation by women in the economic and political sectors, which has a negative impact at all levels, from the scale of the individual and the family to that of the national economy.

SPC’s Director-General Dr Jimmie Rodgers says it is essential for women to have equal status in the family in order to participate fully in all other sectors of society. ‘Achieving equality at this fundamental level of society will not only benefit families, it will have positive repercussions at the community, local and national levels and will pull up development outcomes in our region as a whole. Household equality must therefore be seen as a critical aspect of government and institutional policy and programme design across multiple sectors.’

The brief was presented earlier this week at a Pacific side event on women and decision-making at the 54th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW 54), which is focusing on progress in implementing the Beijing Platform for Action. The commission evaluates progress on gender equality and sets new standards for global policy. CSW is held over a fortnight every year in New York. This year’s commission runs from 1 to 12 March.

SPC, in partnership with the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the Australian Government Office for Women and other development partners, is supporting the active participation of its member countries at CSW. Pacific government delegations from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, Samoa, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu, as well as from permanent UN missions in New York, are attending CSW54.