NEWSROOM 22 July
2009

(Photos: Australian Government / New Zealand Government)

NEW ZEALAND: Cutting costs on sending remittances to the Pacific

(Photo: Samoa Association of Women Graduates)

SAMOA: SAWG fundraising luncheon discusses ‘Stewarding your Donors’
Source: Samoa Association of Women Graduates Press Release

Samoa Association of Women Graduates (SAWG) continued with its fundraising activities last week with a luncheon at Wildfire Restaurant, Matautu. This was well attended by some staff of SNPF, SamoaTel, CSL, EPC, NUS, the Bentin family and friends of SAWG.

In a welcoming speech SAWG executive member Niusila, highlighted the continuous efforts by SAWG to provide educational opportunities and promote the quality of life for young women and children. This is through their many projects which includes scholarships for young females, dictionary prizes to all high schools around the country and the children’s playground and library at the Pediatric ward TTM hospital.

The guest speaker for this event was Moana Bentin who spoke about the Topic ‘Stewarding your Donors’. Moana Bentin works for a Direct Marketing Company based in Lexington, Massachusetts where she manages an Elite Program called the Elite Donor Program. Drawing on her twenty years experience in the USA, she was able to discuss the significance of identifying prospective donors who can contribute to certain developments within our country especially during this financial crisis. Moana explained the steps from connecting to cultivating to ‘making the ask’ and finally to stewarding a donor.

So’o Mauga of Samoatel attended the event as her daughter Karen Mauga was a recipient of SAWG dictionary prize in Yr 9 at Samoa College. Karen is currently studying towards a Bachelor of Art and Law at Auckland University and her family is grateful to SAWG for its assistance during her high school years. Laura Fepuleai spoke on behalf of SAWG to thank Moana for sharing her expertise while on vacation from the US.

SAWG also hopes that if confirmed ‘Dwayne Johnson - The ROCK’ will be visiting Samoa again, the association will definitely have him as another guest speaker. These seminar fundraising luncheons are great opportunities for members to learn, fellowship and collaborate on a lot of issues affecting women and children today hence the need to maximize education opportunities for them.
 
Laeimau Oketevi thanked everyone who attended the luncheon as well as the many organisations, friends and families that continue to support SAWG and its activities.
 
For more information or to join SAWG visit our website - www.sawg.ws

Photo Caption: SAWG Executive members after their fundraising luncheon at Wildfire Restaurant. (Laeimau Oketevi Tanuvasa, Moana Bentin (guest speaker), Letuimanu’asina Dr Emma Kruse-Vaai, Rita Matafeo, Laura Fepuleai and Niusila Faamanatu-Eteuati).
 

AUSTRALIA: Aborigines acknowledged in new church constitution
Source: ABC News

The Uniting Church has acknowledged it did not bring God to Australia's Indigenous people in a new preamble to its constitution.

It is the first time the church has reviewed its constitution since it was set up in 1977.

Reverend Murray Muirhead, a resource worker with the Aboriginal wing of the Uniting Church in Alice Springs, says it is an historic document that recognises Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders as the first people of Australia and acknowledges the church's troubled history with them.

"They're saying it's not Europeans who brought God to this land on a boat," he said.

"God had already been here for millennia.

"It should give a lot more energy and encouragement to Indigenous Australian theologians so that people begin to develop theologies that are much more grounded in Australia and their experience of encountering God in Australia."
 

(Photo: Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council Press Release)

HAWAII: Scientists suggest quota for the 2009-2010 MHI bottomfish season

Source: Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council Press Release

The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC)—chaired by Dr. Charles Daxboeck who met at the King Kamehameha Beach
Hotel in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii—have recommended that the main Hawaiian Islands (MHI) bottomfish fishery be allowed to land 254,050 pounds of seven deepwater species in the 2009-2010 season, which begins on Sept. 1, 2009. The scientists made the same recommendation for 2008-2009. However, the Council decided upon a more conservative TAC of 241,000 pounds. Due to that TAC, the MHI bottomfish fishery was closed on July 6, 2009. The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI) bottomfish fishery is under a separate TAC and remains open.

The SSC also recommended extending the closure of the groundfish fishery at Hancock Seamount for another six years. The moratorium on this seamount in the northernmost part of the NWHI is slated to end in 2010. The SSC also supported research and international cooperation to recover the stock, which exists mostly outside of US waters.

The SSC concludes its meeting today, discussing tuna quota management and monitoring, non-longline pelagic fishing on seamounts and weather buoys, and protected species.

The SSC recommendations will be considered by the Council, who are meeting from July 22 to 25, 2009, also at the King Kamehameha Beach Hotel in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. Fishermen and other interested members of the public are invited to attend the meeting and provide testimony. They are also invited to the Fishers Forum “Marlin on the Menu,” 6:30 to 9 p.m. on Thursday, July 23. The Forum will cover the past, present and future of the marlin fishery in the US Pacific islands from multiple perspectives and seek recommendations on managing this fishery.

The Western Pacific Fishery Management Council was established by the US Congress to manage fisheries in the exclusive economic zone around Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the US Pacific remote island areas. The management process is bottoms-up with recommendations from fishermen and other interested persons moving through advisory groups to the SSC and then to the Council. Decisions made by the Council are transmitted to the US Secretary of Commerce for final approval.

Complete agendas for these public meetings and additional information on the major items under consideration by the SSC and the Council may be found at the Council’s website at www.wpcouncil.org or by contacting the Council by phone (808) 522-8220, fax (808) 522-8226 (fax), or email [email protected].

Photo Caption: Large catches of armorhead were recorded by Japan's trawl fishery on the Emperor-Northern Hawaiian Ridge Seamounts in the early 1970's. Trawling on the seamounts was initiated by the former Soviet Union in 1967. Since 1986, the U.S. has prohibited fishing on the Northwest and Southeast Hancock Seamounts inside the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone to protect the depleted fish stocks. Japan's trawlers, and to a lesser extent vessels from Korea and Russia, still fish on nearby seamounts in international waters.
 

(Photo: Pacific Media Centre)

TONGA: New Pacific programme to challenge 'outsider' history
Source: Pacific Media Centre

A pioneering new Pacific studies programme at Tonga’s ‘Atenisi University is set to change the way Tongan and Pacific history has been written, while embracing the institute’s classical philosophy.

“Traditionally history passed through generations orally and writing is a comparatively new thing,” says Pacific studies researcher Dr ‘Opeti Taliai.

The past was originally documented by missionaries who came to the Pacific in the 19th century and was therefore written from a colonial and outsider perspective, he says.

‘Atenisi Institute is encouraging Pacific Island students to rewrite their own history from an insider indigenous perspective.

“The emphasis on the new programme will be to encourage Pacific Island scholars and people that come from a background of oral history to start writing their own history,” says Dr Taliai, one of six international scholars inducted as fellows of the institute in a ceremony last month.

The four-day celebration honoured the life and achievements of founder and philosopher Professor Futa Helu.

Although the course structure is based on the history of the Pacific region, an emphasis is placed on research and the problems associated with it in the Pacific and the paradox of the insider and outsider viewpoint.

He says using the insider perspective with an outsider training will pull together both sides and give a clearer point of view.

“It ensures ‘Atenisi’s Pacific Studies will be able to publish a clearer interpretation and provide balance in the discourse and unity,” says Dr Taliai.

Misunderstanding can come from the misinterpretation of language.

“Tongan language is heliaki and this is quite common throughout the Pacific,” he says. “It is saying one thing and meaning another.”

Literal translation

“In comparison, English is a literal translation,” says Dr Taliai.

“Tongan language is poetic and English language scientific” and it is important to acknowledge the differences in the two languages, he says.

“English people go straight to the point and Tongan people go around and around before coming to the point because Tongan society is hierarchical and stratified.”

The key element in such a society is respect of people and their superiors.

“In Tongan society, we don’t go straight to the point as in Western society,” he says.

Special places and sacred historical places are used symbolically for particular chiefs and high-ranking officials and these symbolic places take the place of the high-ranking person in the conversation.

“We start with different places associated with those superiors,” he says.

It is common to use geographic locations and flora significant to chiefs and other high-ranking officials.

“Places they have come from and certain flowers can be very significant and these are distinguished in a metaphorical way,” says Dr Taliai.

To understand this it is necessary to know what and where these places are that people are using and talking about.

“This underlying meaning is only known to the indigenous people,” says Dr Taliai.

“We are starting to see more books written by indigenous people and we want to see more of that.”

Equal emphasis

There will be equal emphasis on teaching and research, says Dr Taliai.

The Pacific studies programme wants to recruit people who will teach and research at the same time and postgraduates who are already doing research in the Pacific.

“We hope to achieve from this programme more understanding of one another, not only in the Pacific but in the world.”

What makes the ‘Atenisi University Pacific studies programme different from the University of South Pacific in Fiji and other universities in Auckland is the method of analysis used in looking at data, oral traditions and literature, he says.

Dr Taliai says his life changed when he started attending ‘Atenisi Institute.

“I started to question,” he says.

“Education and religion co-exist like a coin,” says Dr Taliai. He says they cannot be separated and sees education as being scientific and objective while religion is mainly subjective.

Dr Taliai recently completed a PhD in social anthropology. His thesis, “The legitimation of economic and political power in Tonga: A critique of Kauhala’uta and Kauhalalalo Social Moieties”, discusses how the struggle for the control of power works in Tonga.

Tonga is a stratified society and has kings, nobles, and commoners; who make up the majority of the population he says. “The power in Tonga is in the hands of a very small group,” says Dr Taliai.

“In the Tongan riots people questioned the way the country was run and the position of the monarchy and started to demand the decentralisation of power,” he says.

Future dream

His investigations throughout his PhD researched the relationships and interconnectedness between Tonga and other Pacific Islands into parts of South East Asia. He wants the Pacific studies programme to be filled from people all over the Pacific.

“You can’t separate the rest of the Pacific from Tongan history,” he says.

My dream in the future will be to bring in experts and students from the Pacific and we will work together to write a comprehensive history of the Pacific from both the insider and outsider perspective, says Dr Taliai.

“The ideal student will have a combination of western methodology of analysis and local knowledge.”

Dr Taliai describes ‘Atenisi Institute as a small but independent institution. He relates it to the institute’s Latin motto, Pauca sed matura which translates literally as few, but ripe.

“It is always small but the outcome of the product is mature,” he says.

“We will do it more effectively at ‘Atenisi because there is also the philosophy in place to develop it further,” he says.

The institute’s name ‘Atenisi is Tongan for the Greek capital, Athens. It was founded by professor emeritus Dr Futa Helu who embraced the scientific and democratic ideals of the ancient Greeks into ‘Atenisi Institute’s philosophy of education.

It places criticism at the very heart of education and has as part of its core curriculum traditional subjects such as philosophy, logic, art and literature. It is unique compared to other educational institutions in the Pacific region, which are described as utilitarian in nature.

‘Atenisi Institute is portrayed as a “people’s university” and many of its students come from isolated and poor communities.

Photo Caption: Dr 'Opeti Taliai (right) next to Professor Futa Helu at the fellowship induction at 'Atenisi Institute last month. Also pictured are Dr David Robie and Dr Ian Campbell.
 

WORLDWIDE: Working together with microfinance for the benefit of the poor
Source: United Nations Development Programme Press Release

Sharing experience, knowledge and technical expertise in the area of microfinance across the Pacific will benefit the region as a whole. Success stories from microfinance initiatives in Pacific Island countries can be effectively implemented in other parts of the region.

This was the message from Benny Popoitai, the Deputy Governor Regulation of the Bank of Papua New Guinea as he officially closed the Pacific Microfinance Week in Nadi yesterday.

“We in the Pacific region are constrained by not having enough financial resources to provide for our respective populations, inadequate professional and skilled manpower, lagging technology and lack of capacity of state agencies to transform and materialise developmental aspirations,” Mr. Popoitai said.

He said mutual benefits could be drawn from each other by sharing experiences, knowledge, financial and technical resources.

“If we are serious about our prospects for growth and opportunities for the Pacific region, we must work together with our development partners including the donor institutions to bring vital financial services to the rural majority using microfinance as the vehicle.”

Mr Popoitai emphasized that a large segment of Pacific population was based in remote areas and were excluded from the formal financial system.

“It is cost-effective for them if microfinance services are delivered right to their doorsteps,” said Mr Popoitai.

“Technology plays a major part in reducing the cost of transaction, especially in microfinance where every cent and dollar counts.”

Along the course of the Pacific Microfinance Week, participants heard how technology like mobile phones can be used by people in remote areas to access financial services. They also heard about a two card system to transfer remittances to Pacific Island countries at a relatively low cost.

Mr Popoitai also identified financial literacy as an issue to be addressed in the Pacific region.

Financial literacy was a recurring theme at the Pacific Microfinance Week.

During his opening address, the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Fiji, Sada Reddy said that while microfinance was critical in reducing poverty, it needed to be back up by financial literacy. He commended the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) work in the area of financial literacy.

The Australian Parliamentary Secretary for International Development Assistance, Hon Bob McMullan MP said that Australian Government’s Aid Programme (AusAID) would continue to work with partners in the area of microfinance and would like to improve financial literacy.

Hon Bob McMullan MP also commended the work done by the Pacific Financial Inclusion Programme (PFIP) in the area of financial literacy.

PFIP is a Pacific-wide programme helping provide sustainable financial services to low income households. It is funded by the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), European Union and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and operates from the UNDP Pacific Centre.

PFIP, one of the sponsors of the Pacific Microfinance week, organized a workshop on financial literacy and another on microinsurance during this event.

Financial literacy, sharing knowledge on microfinance, and empowering microfinance institutions and other like-minded organizations to better provide sustainable financial services are the priorities of PFIP.

PFIP works in Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Samoa. The knowledge generated from the work in these countries will also be shared in other countries in the Pacific.

The Pacific Microfinance Week which drew to as close on Saturday (July 18, 2009), brought together more than 150 microfinance and financial sector practitioners, experts, policy-makers, academics and regulators drawn from more than 20 countries from across the Pacific and other parts of the world.