NEWSPAGE 04 June
2010

(Photo: Queensland Art Gallery)

(Photo: Samoa Government)

SAMOA: Parliamentary Updates
Source: Government Press Secretariat Press Release

Lalomalava, Letui and Fagamalo roads extension

Cabinet has approved the decision made by the Tenders’ Board to extend roads at Lalomalava, Letui and Fagamalo villages.

The Land Transport Authority has requested extension of these roads. Constructions of these extensions will be done by the Contractors already working on building these roads.

The Lalomalava 1500meters road will be extended to another 600meters by the Apia Lua Ltd, the Letui 1000meters road will be extended to another 500meters by the Sakalafai Contractor Ltd while the 2400meters road at Fagamalo will be extended by the SWEL Savaii Civil Operations Ltd to another 1,166meters.


New sports field for A’opo

Cabinet has approved the building of a sports field in A’opo, Savaii to develop sports in the village for the future generations of A’opo.

The initiative came about because of the isolation of A’opo from other villages, and the high cost of transporting sports teams for competitions with neighbouring villages. High Chiefs of A’opo believe that the youth of their village will benefit from building this new sports field.


New Zealand Parliament Study Programme

Cabinet has approved the participation by the Deputy Clerk of the Legislative Assembly, Ms Charlene Malele to the New Zealand Parliament 2 Week Study Programme on 8 - 18 June 2010.

The theme and aim of the programme is to present a overall picture of the Parliament of New Zealand.


June Fuel Prices 2010

Cabinet has approved the retail petroleum products prices for June 2010.
 

As stated above, petrol price will decrease by 0.2% from $2.52sene per litre to $2.51sene per litre, 2.3% increase for diesel from $2.49sene per litre to $2.55sene per litre and 2.7% increase for kerosene from $2.26sene per litre to $2.33sene per litre.

The new costs came into effect on the 1st June 2010.


SWEL awarded Contract

Cabinet has approved the Contract awarded SWEL for construction of Sapunaoa road.

An invitation for Bids was advertised and six(6) Companies submitted applications. The applications were then assessed by the Sub-Committee before an advice was given to the Board.

After assessments of applications the SWEL was awarded the Contract at the total cost of $669,699.94.


Report on International Oil Spill Prevention and Preparedness Conference

Cabinet has approved the report on the International Oil Spill Prevention and Preparedness Conference that was held in Melbourne, Australia on 12 -16 April 2010.

The meeting focused on enforcing the International Convention for Prevention of Pollution from ships by countries of the International Maritime Organization (IMO).

Some of the matters discussed are as follows:
- Maintain and enforce countries that already ratified the convention to prepare prevention measures in case of oil spill;
- Standardizing compensations for countries affected by maritime oil spill;
- The IMO has divided compensations into three categories;
- New Zealand and Australia will assist Pacific countries in times of disaster.

Representing Samoa was Principal Officer from the Ministry of Works Transport and Infrastructure, Tafaigata Toilolo.
 

(Photo: Samoan Language Week)

AUSTRALIA: First Australian Samoan Language Week gets rugby league support
Source: Samoa Language Week Press Release

Samoan Language Week was celebrated in Australia for the first time this year, running from Sunday 30 May to Friday 4 June to coincide with Samoan Independence Day.

“Samoan Language Week is a partnership initiative between the Australian Human Rights Commission and the New Zealand Human Rights Commission, which has already been running the event for a number of years,” said Race Discrimination Commissioner, Graeme Innes. “In this, our inaugural year, we are extremely happy to have both the National Rugby League (NRL) and the Australian Rugby League (ARL) as our first supporters.”

In Australia, there are more than 28 500 Samoan language speakers.

“Language is an intrinsically important aspect of culture, so it follows that protection of languages is one of the most powerful ways of ensuring that a people’s culture is preserved,” said Commissioner Innes.

As an initiative, Samoan Language Week will provide Samoan people in Australia - particularly young people - with an avenue to connect, share community experiences and build and appreciate the importance of their language.

“We know that language connects people to their culture, that speaking your own language has measurable health outcomes and improves general education outcomes in children,” Mr Innes said.

Commissioner Innes said that the involvement of high profile personalities and organisations, like the NRL and the ARL, was critical to ensuring initiatives like this reach into Samoan communities in Australia.

Chief Executive Officer of the ARL, Geoff Carr, said he was all too happy to get behind this wonderful initiative.

“We are proud to acknowledge and celebrate the contribution of the Samoan communities across the Australian Rugby League landscape,” Mr Carr said. “A great aspect of our game is its ability to enrich the lives of others, both socially and culturally, by celebrating our diverse backgrounds.”

As well as the activities mounted by the NRL, Commissioner Innes has interviewed Samoan High Commissioner, Mr Lemalu Samaustate, for the Commission’s PodRights series, about the kind of strategies that might best protect the languages of linguistic minorities in a country like Australia. Commissioner Innes said he hoped to build on the activities provided by the NRL, ARL and the Commission to create new partnerships for Samoan Language Week in 2011.
 

USA: $30 million in education funds now available to American Samoa
Source: Office of Congressman Faleomavaega Press Release

Congressman Faleomavaega has announced that he has been informed by the White House that $30,054,434 is now available for American Samoa under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009. In a recent release from the U.S. Department of Education, Secretary Arne Duncan stated that his funding will “lay the foundation for a generation of education reform and help save teaching jobs at risk of local budget cuts.”

“I am pleased to share that these crucial investments in education will serve as stepping stones to educational reform and economic recovery in American Samoa. This funding will create incentives for school improvement, create jobs, and make investments in education that will result in many future benefits for our people,” the Congressman stated.

This funding, according to the U.S. Department of Education, is being made available through American Samoa’s successful completion of Phase I of the application for State Fiscal Stabilization Funds (SFSF). In order to receive the funds, American Samoa will need to collect, publish, analyze and act on basic information regarding the quality of classroom teachers, annual student improvements, college readiness, the effectiveness of state standards and assessments, progress on removing charter caps and interventions in turning around underperforming schools.

In addition to these assurances, American Samoa is also required by the Department of Education to report how the ARRA funds are used, including the number of jobs saved as well as the amount of local tax increases that were avoided due to the funding.

Including the funds made available today, American Samoa has received over $37,794,976 in education stimulus funds. The total amount includes:

- $30,054,434 in State Fiscal Stabilization Funds (Phase I)

- $4,949,278 in Consolidated Grants for Insular Areas

- $240,808 in Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Funds

- $2,534,738 in Pell Grants

- $15,718 in Work Study Funds

Furthermore, American Samoa will be eligible to apply for another $14,564,094 in Phase II of the State Fiscal Stabilization Funds application. If approved, the total amount of education stimulus funds awarded to American Samoa will reach $52,359,070.

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank President Obama as well as my colleagues in Congress for their leadership and support in making this historic investment possible. I would also like to thank Secretary Arne Duncan for his commitment to improving America’s schools through what he called the ‘single largest boost in education funding in recent history,’” Faleomavaega stated.

“I also would like to thank and commend the director of our local Department of Education, Dr. Claire Poumele, and our local education leaders for their efforts in serving the youth of American Samoa. As they move forward with school reform and improvement on the local level, this funding will help to sustain our schools and ensure our students consistent access to high quality educators and resources. More importantly, this funding will serve as a major asset to American Samoa as we move forward on the road to recovery,” the Congressman concluded.

“As Secretary Duncan reiterated, the Recovery Act was designed to rescue the economy from immediate peril and invest in the building blocks of a strong economy. Education will always be a central building block for our national and local economy. Therefore, I would like to commend our leadership again for making education a priority of the Recovery Act. Similar to the funding made available through Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010, this recent boost in education funding will be an investment with long-lasting benefits for students, schools, families, teachers, and the local economy,” the Congressman concluded.
 

(Photo: Vanuatu Daily Post)

VANUATU: Port Vila active youth groups can now register
Source: Vanuatu Daily Post

The Port Vila Town Youth Council has received much needed help from MP Ralph Regenvanu.

The Port Vila Town MP gave Vt50 000 and one printer to support the council in its operations.

The Port Vila Town Youth Council was set up in October 2009 with outspoken youth advocate Leinase Simon as chairlady and Joshua Wersets as the vice chair.

The Council has seven members similarly representing the different wards and areas inside the Port Vila Municipality.

Port Vila Town Youth Council chairlady Simon conveyed the youth’s gratitude of the MP’s continuous support and how it will be used: “With the MP’s support we can now embark on registration of the existing active youth groups and awareness into the establishment of youth councils.”

Chairlady Simon also conveyed the Council’s appreciation to the Municipality councilors who allowed the youth team to address their respective wards during their wards visitation.

The Port Vila Town Youth Council is calling on every youth groups inside each respective wards in Port Vila to seek information on how to register themselves now.

Presently no registration fees will be charged but in the near future there will be a small fee charged to support the day to day operations of the council.

Registered members will benefit from technical support from the Council.

For more information on the registration of active youth groups and how to get a form talk to a member of the council which is based in the Municipality Town house or call the chairlady on:7770681 or the council’s vice chairman on: 7753911.
 

(Photos: Stuart Hay, ANU Photography / European Union)

WORLDWIDE: Regional workshop strengthens cultural mapping, planning and policy
Source: Secretariat of the Pacific Community / European Union Joint Press Release

A major project to structure the region’s cultural sector got underway recently at a workshop attended by regional culture representatives. The workshop, held in March at the Secretariat of the Pacific Community’s headquarters in Noumea, New Caledonia, was the first step in a substantial regional culture project that aims to enhance human development efforts in the Pacific by structuring and strengthening the culture sector.

The 713,474 EUR project is funded by the European Union (EU) and will be implemented by SPC, with partner organisations and member countries over the next two and a half years. The workshop provided guidelines for the process of cultural mapping, planning and policy (CMPP) development.

Workshop co-facilitator Colin Mercer, an international expert in cultural mapping and planning for the cultural and creative sector, says cultural mapping is about discovering an area’s indigenous resource base for the purposes of social, economic and cultural development.

‘In Africa, the Americas, Asia, Australasia and Europe, cultural mapping and planning have enabled people to harness and develop their creative resources and content,’ he says. ‘This has enabled the creation of new jobs, new forms of expression, and new senses of self, place and identity.’

‘The creative economy is one of the fastest growing economic sectors globally, and it is important to understand its nature and momentum for the Pacific region to confidently join it with its own distinctive cultural and creative resources.’

Katerina Teaiwa, a regional specialist who co-facilitated the workshop, says that in order to make mapping, planning and policy work effective, it is necessary for an in-depth discussion to take place on what culture is and what the stakes are in promoting, safeguarding and harnessing culture for sustainable development.

Workshop participants were encouraged to support each other by drawing on common knowledge and resources. They took part in several exercises to help them imagine and develop the cultural mapping and planning process.

‘One activity involved imagining how you would go about creating a national conversation on culture, how you would create a rationale for this, and what strategies you would use to go about consulting with communities and then sharing your findings,’ says Dr Teaiwa.

The workshop was the initial step in the first of four distinct but related components targeted by the project. Although this first component will indirectly impact all SPC member countries and territories, it specifically targets six countries: Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

The second component of the project focuses on promoting the region’s cultural industries. SPC will work in collaboration with the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat on this component.

Component three deals with the preservation of cultural heritage, and will focus on mapping threatened cultural heritage areas in six countries: Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Papua New Guinea (Bougainville), Tuvalu and Vanuatu. This exercise will be coordinated by SPC and the Pacific Islands Museum Association (PIMA).

The last component relates to the establishment of inter-regional partnerships through cultural exchanges between Pacific and Caribbean heritage institutions. SPC will work closely with PIMA and the Museums Association of the Caribbean on this component.

Background information:

The workshop was held in connection with the 23rd meeting of the Council of Pacific Arts. Member countries and territories represented were: American Samoa, Australia, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji Islands, French Polynesia, Guam, Hawaii, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Wallis and Futuna.

Photo Caption: Workshop co-facilitators Dr Katerina Teaiwa and Colin Mercer.