NEWSPAGE
23 December
2011

(Photo: Australian High Commission)

SAMOA: Australia's global ambassador for women meets senior Samoan women
Source: Australian High Commission Press Release

Last week, Australia’s first Global Ambassador for Women and Girls, Penny Williams exchanged perspectives with some of Samoa’s leading women.

Ms Williams was participating in a delegation from Australia led by the Parliamentary Secretary for the Pacific Islands, Richard Marles. The roundtable was held as a working breakfast at the "Visions" restaurant of the Australia Pacific Technical College, with students and staff coming back from leave to cater for this special event. Participants at the roundtable discussed the progress Samoa has made in gender equality, particularly in areas such as education and economic opportunities.

“As the Global Ambassador for Women and Girls I will play an advocacy role in helping to improve the lives of women and girls, especially in the Pacific region,” Ms Williams said.

“Empowering women and girls is important not just for the individual but for the entire country. Doing so ensures that a country can draw on the talent and energy of all its citizens.”

Australian High Commissioner Stephen Henningham said, “The appointment of Australia’s first global ambassador for women will ensure attention is focused on programs to empower women. Stopping violence against women is an important step in to achieving this goal in the Pacific.

In the 2011 Federal Budget, Australia committed $25 million over four years to help Pacific Island countries address violence against women.

This year, AusAID provided WST 50,000 in funding through the Civil Society Support Program to support the activities of the Samoa Victim Support Group. Samoa Victim Support Group provides care, support and assistance to victims of sexual crimes and domestic violence.

Photo: Participants at the roundtable working breakfast.
 

(Photo: Maloamaua Tuiolosega)

AMERICAN SAMOA: Dr. Tuiolosega to Give Speech at ASCC Fall 2011 Graduation

The American Samoa Community College (ASCC) will hold its fall 2011 Commencement Ceremony on Friday, December 23rd, beginning at 9 a.m. in its Gymnasium. The ASCC Student Services division estimates that 155 young men and women will receive their degrees and certificates during the College’s 55th commencement, although the final number is always subject to final examination results. The College strives to always feature a successful son or daughter of American Samoa as its graduation speaker, and for this commencement, Dr. Malouamaua Puleisili Tuiolosega will join a long line of distinguished speakers who have addressed the ASCC graduates.

Currently the sole medical doctor serving the Manu’a Islands, Dr. Tuiolosega is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Puleisili and Meleane Tuiolosega, and between both parents he can claim roots in Olosega, Pago Pago, Vailoa, Palauli (Savaii) and Niue. He is married to Caroline Ruppert of Aurora, Colorado and they have three children — one son and two daughters. He spent his youth in Tutuila’s Tualatai District, attended Leone Midkiff Elementary and Aoga Samoa, and graduated with the Marist Brothers High School class of 1981. Following service in the local Army Reserve, he saw active duty in America and Europe between 1982 and 1989. Returning home following his Army experience, he attended ASCC and served as Student Government Association Vice President and Student Representative to the Board of Higher Education before graduating as Class Salutatorian in 1992.

After ASCC, Tuiolosega began his study of Medicine & Surgery at the University of the South Pacific in Fiji, with Clerkship at both the Colonial War Memorial Hospital and Lautoka Hospital. Over many years of training, he returned home to serve at LBJ in 1996 and 1999, and again from 2000-2001 before spending spent eight years affiliated with the University of Colorado Health Science Center and Anschutz Medical Campus in the areas of Literature, Research & Analysis, and Science & Culture. Concurrently with his work in Colorado, he was an Independent Contractor for the US Government and US corporations between 2003 and 2009.

Because of his initial career outside the United States, Dr. Tuiolosega underwent a complicated review process to achieve his final certification. By 2005, he had fulfilled the requirements for medical certification by the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG), the sanctioning authority that authenticates and certifies medical credentials of international medical graduates of foreign medical schools.

To gain ECFMG certification, a candidate also needed to pass steps 1 and 2 of the US Medical Licensing Exam (USMLE) and submit graduate credentials for verification. An equivalency report issued by the International Education Research Foundation, Inc. in 2005 rendered that Dr. Tuiolosega possessed a degree comparable to the Doctor of Medicine degree awarded by regionally accredited US universities. Next, Dr. Tuiolosega successfully passed the USMLE Step 1 (concepts of sciences basic to the practice of medicine) in 2006 and Step 2 (clinical knowledge and clinical skills) in 2008, after which he was awarded his ECFMG certification in February, 2009.

Upon his return home and assignment to Manu’a, Dr. Tuiolosega soon achieved positive notoriety for his efforts on behalf of his patients. Last year, he collaborated with the local Women’s Hospital Auxiliary (WHA) on the acquisition of a “coagulation monitor”, a machine worth approximately $1600. Thanks to the WHA, Manu’a patients with blood disorders no longer need to travel to Tutuila twice a month to receive vital monitoring of their blood’s ability to clot. Given the expense and unreliability of inter-island transportation, by acquiring the necessary machine, Dr. Tuiolosega and the WHA alleviated a major hardship for Manu’a patients.

This past April, a story by Radio New Zealand International focused on Dr. Tuiolosega and his work in Manu’a. The story reported on his efforts to try and change people’s thinking regarding health care, which involves both taking more responsibility for their own well being in terms of prevention, as well as taking care of ailments at home. With unusual candor, he spoke of how the limited medical facilities on Manu’a often resulted in people with minor ailments “leaving with something more serious” from exposure to other very sick patients at the hospital or clinic. What’s important, he emphasized, is a change of mindset regarding when to see the doctor.
Given his many years in the health care profession as well as his recent experience in some of American Samoa’s most isolated locations, Dr. Tuiolosega’s keynote speech promises to be a memorable one.

ASCC Dean of Student Services Dr. Emilia Le’i reminds the public that this semester the commencement ceremony will begin at 9:00 a.m. rather than 10:00 as it usually has begun in the past. “We had some unusual factors to consider,” she explained. “First, there are more graduates than usual this time, and so the ceremony is sure to take a little longer, and second, we know that people will want some extra time to focus on their Christmas preparations.”

Photo: Dr. Maloamaua Tuiolosega, currently the sole physician serving the Manu'a Islands, enjoys Manu'a's healthy outdoor lifestyle.

FIJI: European Union signs over €12 million for Pacific Tourism and Customs Capacity Building
Source: Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat Press Release

The European Union yesterday signed assistance of €12.3 million to increase Pacific-ACP countries’ ability to benefit from global trade and regional economic integration. These activities are financed under the 10th European Development Fund and are part of the Strengthening Pacific Economic Integration Through Trade (SPEITT) programme. The agreement was signed on 20 December 2011 between the EDF Regional Authorising Officer, the Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS), and the South Pacific Tourism Organisation (SPTO) as well as with the Oceania Customs Organisation (OCO) Secretariat in Suva, Fiji.

The OCO Secretariat and SPTO have been allocated Euro 7,572,880 million and 4,733,981 Euro million respectively which is part of a larger 30 million euro package agreed with the Pacific Island States to help strengthening Pacific Economic Integration through Trade, a programme that also includes funding to the Secretariat of the Pacific Community and to the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat.

The SPEITT programme aims to:

• improve technical capabilities by facilitating trade negotiations at the regional and multilateral levels;
• promote greater integration of trade policy into national development frameworks;
• introduce better customs management and systems; and
• increase productive export capacity in key economic sectors such as agriculture, forestry and tourism.

Four regional agencies, namely the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS), the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), the Oceania Customs Organisation (OCO) and the South Pacific Tourism Organisation (SPTO) will implement the different components of the programme.

At the signing ceremony, the Acting Head of Delegation of the EU office in the Pacific, Ms Annick Villarosa said the EU was confident in the ability of the four agencies to deliver the ambitious targets set in the SPEITT programme for the benefit of the fifteen Pacific ACP (PACP) countries.

“The Pacific benefits from a strong regional network of organisations that have developed a comprehensive range of skills and expertise that benefit their member countries,” Ms Villarosa said.

“This is why the EU is strongly committed to enhance not only the capacity of the countries themselves but also the capacity of their regional bodies. Under the 10th European Development Fund Regional programme for the Pacific, the EU committed 95 million euro for activities implemented mainly by regional organisations in Aid for Trade and sustainable management of natural resources.”

EU funding to the SPTO goes towards the Pacific Regional Tourism Capacity Building Program (PRTCBP) project. Implemented over 36 months (2012-2015), the total cost of the project is 5,917,476 million euro of which the SPTO contributes 1,183,495 million euro (20 per cent). The objective of the PRTCBP project is to strengthen PACP States’ productive capacity in the sustainable development of the tourism sector.

EU funding towards the OCO is for the implementation of the Trade Facilitation in Customs Cooperation (TFCC) project, which costs a total of 9,466,100 million euro, of which 7,572,880 (80 per cent) is from the EU and the remaining 1,893,220 million euro (20 per cent) is the contribution of the OCO Secretariat. The TFCC project aims at improving trade facilitation through improved customs management and efficient systems.

SPTO Chief Executive Officer, Ratu Ilisoni Vuidreketi assured the EU of its commitment saying it would work towards the improvement of the Pacific ACP countries’ economic integration through strengthened national systems and institutional frameworks and increase private sector competitiveness in tourism-related activities.

“The programme will significantly expand SPTO’s work programmes through more activities geared towards directly benefiting the region’s stakeholders, both public and private sector,” Mr Vuidreketi said. “We have learnt from previous EU funded programmes on the importance of sustainability and SPTO’s work plans under this programme are based on future long term sustainability, especially in the area of regional tourism capacity building.”

Mr. Kulu Bloomfield, Head of Secretariat of the Oceania Customs Organisation stated that the TFCC project has been formulated according to the needs of the PACP member countries in the Oceania region. It is focused primarily on reforms & modernisation, capacity building, legislative review & updates, trade management & facilitation, law enforcement and security. The TFCC project will assist Pacific ACP countries by contributing to their overall economic growth, ensuring sustainable development, enhancing good governance, adhering to International Free Trade Agreements terms and conditions, and improving security of trade at the border.

Mr Bloomfield said that one of the expected outcomes of the TFCC Project is to guarantee that PACP Members' Customs Administrations maintain a level playing field for all traders by ensuring openness, transparency and fairness. It has an extremely important role to play in protecting society from prohibited and unsafe goods, detecting the minority of dishonest traders, while facilitating trade for the vast majority of compliant traders and travellers. These are amongst the many challenges and demands confronting the contemporary Customs administrations in the 21st Century.

“Customs remains the primary revenue collector in many developing countries, hence reform and modernization of this institution is critical to improving the fiscal circumstances of Pacific economies,” Mr Bloomfield added.

The Secretary General of the Pacific Island Forum Secretariat, Mr Tuiloma Neroni Slade thanked the European Union on behalf of the Pacific saying the EU was a longstanding and important development partner for the PACP States, one which continued to demonstrate its commitment to the region in many ways.

“On behalf of the region, I thank the European Commission for its ongoing support of the goals of Forum and the region’s development priorities articulated through the Pacific Plan. We thank you for the partnership you have forged with us, and we look forward to working closely with you for many years to come,” Mr Slade said.

“Regional Economic Integration is an important objective of both the Pacific Plan and the European Commission’s ongoing engagement with Pacific ACP States. Economic growth together with sustainable development, good governance and security for Pacific countries, are key goals of the Forum, goals that the Member States of the European Union have supported for many years through the European Development Fund. The 10th EDF Regional Indicative Programme sets out an ambitious agenda to support the Pacific as it strengthens shared regional approaches to critical development challenges and deepens cooperation and integration. The projects that are being initiated today directly support the goal of deeper integration through regionalism, and I urge the implementing agencies to effectively coordinate their work and assist in progressing the Pacific Leaders’ desire for regional integration,” Mr Slade added.

Background

The EU has earmarked €95 million for the Pacific region under the 10th EDF Regional Indicative Programme (RIP). It is broken down as follows: Regional economic integration - €45 million (including the programme adopted today); Sustainable Management of Natural Resources and the Environment - €40 million; and Non state actors, technical cooperation, etc. - €10 million.
 

(Photo: Oceania Football Confederation)

NEW CALEDONIA: New Caledonia's Mont-Dore make it two in a row
Source: Box Score News
 

The current O-League representatives from New Caledonia will compete in the competition again next year after Mont-Dore picked up its second national league title triumph in a row last weekend.

Mont-Dore wrapped up the 2011 Super League with a comprehensive 7-1 victory over Gaïtcha to become the best side in New Caledonia once again and retain their place in the Pacific's premier club competition.

Four Mont-Dore players got on the scoresheet and the side, co-coached by Percy Avock and Thierry Sardo, did not waste much time in taking the lead, Jean-Marc Hmaloko pouncing in just the sixth minute to get the scoring underway.

But Gaïtcha were still very much in the contest after the first half hour and were back on level terms when Joann Bako found the net in the 34th minute.

Despite the setback of losing their advantage, Mont-Dore continued to dictate proceedings though and edged in front again with a George Benarune own goal only two minutes after the equaliser.

A second strike to Hmaloko made it 3-1 at the break and the score ballooned in the second period due to a double from Michel Hmae, a 2011 Pacific Games winner with the New Caledonia national team, and further goals to Patrick Diaike and Kalaje Gnipate.

Thio Sport beat Qanono 3-2 in the other play-off match on the final day of the league season.

Photo: The Mont-Dore players celebrate their national league win.
 

NIUE: IRB hoping to expand sevens programme in Oceania
Source: Radio New Zealand International
 
The International Rugby Board says it has big plans to grow the seven-a-side game ahead of the sports reintroduction to the Olympics.

The IRB’s Regional General Manager for Oceania, Will Glenwright, says the 2016 Games offer a huge opportunity for Pacific Islands country’s to win an Olympic medal.

Countries such as Niue, Cook Islands and Papua New Guinea have made regular appearances on the world circuit in recent years and Will Glenwright says the IRB is looking to expand its sevens programme in the region.

“Start developing an international junior seven a side competition for our member unions. We need to grow and enhance our women’s seven a side programme. Obviously, we’ve got the Asia-Pacific Sevens Series up and running and that’s a fantastic tournament for our member unions. We would like to expand that so that it’s available to all of our member unions and we would also like, ultimately, to have a regional championship for women and that’s something that we’re working towards.”