BY JOHN HOUANIHAU

The Labour Mobility Unit (LMU) has encouraged recently deployed care-workers to be good ambassadors for Solomon Islands.

Eight female care-workers left on Thursday, August 24, 2025 to begin their four-year contract with Bolton Clarke.

Bolton Clarke is Australia’s largest independent not-for-profit aged care provider, offering home and community support, retirement living and residential aged care.

The Labour Mobility Unit Solomon Islands their Official Facebook page said these workers will work at two different sites in New South Wales, Australia.

According to the LMU SI statement, four females will work in Murwillumbah while the other four will be based in Pa Nora Point.

“One of the females, Joyce Anna Rusi, a former nurse, expressed her excitement, stating that this is a great opportunity for her to learn new skills and earn money. However, she is also emotional at the same time, as having to leave her family and kids behind is really hard,” the LMU SI statement said.

The statement further said that 20 female workers under the Recognised Seasonal Employment (RSE) scheme also left the country on Thursday to begin their short-term work in Auckland, New Zealand.

The LMU statement said that the 20 female workers will be working for Gourmet Paprika, one of the well-established horticulture companies in New Zealand.

“The RSE scheme is facilitated through licensed recruiting agents,” LMU said.

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BY JOHN HOUANIHAU

The Ambassador of Japan to the Solomon Islands, His Excellency Keiichi Higuchi said Japan’s commitment to the development of Solomon Islands goes beyond unexploded ordnance (UXO).

He highlighted this in an exclusive interview with Island Sun on Thursday this week, when he responded to an article published in this paper on Monday, August 25, 2025.

The article had insinuated that Japan and the US had not done anything towards the UXO clearance effort in the Solomon Islands. The article has since been retracted.

“I want to say that our office and embassy here remain very focused on what we can do towards the improvement of life in Solomon Islands. Not just UXO, but all kinds of aspects of life here in the Solomon Islands.

“We will continue to be committed to the development of this country. That also covers the area of UXO as well, but it’s much broader and has a very deep root in all the provinces. Not just Guadalcanal, but some of the remote provinces we have,” said Keiichi.

He said that Japan keeps sending volunteers and keeps listening to the needs of local provinces.

He said that Solomon Islands is fortunate in the sense that it has a lot more land than some other Pacific Island nations.

“But Solomon Islands does have a lot of landmass area that, if cleared of UXOs, can be put to good use. Even with such a population increase, I think your country has some room to grow, unlike other less fortunate Pacific Island countries,” he said.

He said that Japan discussed with Solomon Islands National University (SINU) recently about agricultural help to reduce the non-communicable disease (NCD).

“We’re bringing in more experts to help with all aspects of welfare in this country. I want to state that that’s a very clear position that we have,” he said.

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US, Japan remain committed to UXO clean-up efforts in Solomon Islands

BY JOHN HOUANIHAU

The United States and Japan remain committed to the World War II unexploded ordnance (UXO) cleanup effort in the Solomon Islands.

Japan and US are the two leading countries helping in the UXO removal campaign in the Solomons.

The US and Japan embassies in Honiara gave this assurance in response to an article which Island Sun had published Monday this week but then later retracted, titled – ‘Clean Up Your Mess’. The article was not balanced and had called on the US and Japan to clean up WWII UXO and insinuated that the two countries had not done anything towards this cause.

Speaking to Island Sun on Thursday, US Embassy Chargé d’affaires in Honiara, Dan O’Hara and the Japanese Ambassador to Solomon Islands, His Excellency Keiichi Higuchi, put the record straight.

“More than a decade ago, our two countries began a war legacy partnership to help identify and remove bombs and other UXO remaining from World War II. The United States and Solomon Islands have made progress on this UXO priority together.

“And this partnership has accelerated over the last few years, as we work to protect citizens from these hazards. To date, since the beginning of that cooperation, about a decade ago, the United States has provided more than $93.5 million Solomon dollars,” Chargé O’Hara explained.

He said that the US primary partner here in Solomon Islands, as in many other countries, is the HALO Trust.

“In the past two years, the HALO teams that the United States government has funded have deployed to over, as of the latest data we have, 197 locations across the Solomon Islands, and identified more than 3,000 UXO items for the RSIPF to destroy.

“HALO is seen as one of the most highly accomplished clearance, humanitarian UXO clearance organisations. They’re famous for doing demining. They do lots of UXO work. They do lots of different things. They’re incredibly professional in what they do. But unlike in other places I’ve worked alongside HALO Trust, here in the Solomon Islands, they are limited to only being able to do what the government allows them to do.

“In this case, the Solomon Islands government has limited HALO to only doing what’s called non-technical survey, which is essentially historical research and using observable conditions,” he said.

He said that with the funding that the United States has provided HALO, in the last two years they have conducted a non-technical survey of 1,008 suspected hazardous areas covering nearly 35 million square metres.

“In that time, citizens have reported more than 3,000 UXO items to HALO personnel, and HALO has submitted all of those items on 437 call-out forms to the RSIPF to address. HALO Trust has conducted 1,540 risk education sessions in nearly 200 locations around the country, providing information to citizens on how to protect themselves and properly report war remnants.

“So, I think the bottom line is the US is doing everything we can within the framework that exists. And alongside Japan, we’re doing everything we can to expand that framework so that more can be done,” he said.

Japanese Ambassador Keiichi Higuchi, meanwhile, said that the work on the UXO clean-up effort is an evolving effort.

“It’s not like we put some money up and then finish. It’s not like that.  Every year, we review whether it’s an appropriate contribution that we made as the Japanese government. And if there’s more that we could do, then of course we will think about what we can do to solve the problem here,” he said.

Higuchi said that through the partnership, a team from Tokyo came to Honiara, providing training for the RSIPF team.

“We assess after we go back to Tokyo, whether it was an appropriate level of involvement, or whether we could work more closely with other teams. I mean, with a team from Australia, a team from the United States. So, all of this makes our understanding more accurate and up to date so that we know more accurately what we can do in the future towards reducing the risks associated with the UXO,” Higuchi said.

Japan has donated towards the UXO removal programme in the Solomons in many ways.

Some of Japan’s assistance include:

-On May 17, 2023 former ambassador HE Yoshiaki Miwa and then Foreign Affairs Minister, Jeremiah Manele, signed and exchanged notes for the Economic and Social Development Programme project which is worth JPY 120 million (around SBD 6.7 million).

-Japan has also donated a 12-metre landing craft to help boost UXO removal operations.

-The Project for Unexploded Ordnance Disposal in Central and Western Solomon Islands under the Grant Assistance for Grass-Roots Human Security Projects (GGP) programme worth JPY 85,084,020 (around SBD 6.2 million).

-Enhancing the National Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) Programme in the Solomon Islands which involves conducting environmental assessment and establishment of a coordination office for disposal of UXOs, worth JPY 79,107,000 (around SBD 4.4 million)

-Donation of a pneumatic shovel worth SBD 2.6 million, two all-terrain carts worth SBD 298,000, a station wagon worth SBD 358,000, pick-up truck single cabin worth SBD 746,000, 2 fully-fitted rayboats worth SBD 418,000, two storage boxes for explosives worth SBD 47,700, and a fire extinguisher machine worth SBD 29,800.

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BY SAMIE WAIKORI

The Solomon Water through the World Bank-funded leadership pathway programme has been investing in capacity trainings that continue to boost leadership capability, especially for it’s female employees.

Speaking on the session of Leadership Development Journey at the Pacific Water and Wastewater Annual Conference held at the Aquatic Centre on Thursday, August 28, 2025, Head of Corporate Service of Solomon Water, Michelle Maelaua shares her challenges and growth of leadership journey within the organization.

She said Solomon Water employs up to 242 employees and in terms of gender composition, women make up 24 percent while men cater to a 76 percent domination.

Maelaua added that 7 percent of these women hold leadership supervisory roles in the organisation, a number that hasn’t moved much.

She said reviewing the organisation’s corporate strategy plan 2024/2028, they identified the need to push that ratio hence their investment in not just capacity building trainings but also in providing a space for women.

“So as part of that, we have, with the help of World Bank, registered about 10 females in the organisation under this leadership pathway programme.

“So initially, there’s two levels to this programme, which we initially signed up 10 female leaders, coordinators,” Maelaua said.

She stated the leadership pathway programme is now in its second phase and has helped them a lot – by instilling in them knowledge and understanding of leadership.

“It is quite different from other programmes we did. It is more practical for us,” Maelaua said.

She said the program started in 2024, and one achievement from it was the development of a leadership development plan.

In an interview, Maelaua furthered that as an organisation, one of the important things to do is to develop human resources, an area Solomon Water prioritises.

On top of that, she said it’s important that Solomon Water trains more of its employees to become leaders through the leadership pathway programme or other capacity programmes.

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BY LORETTA B MANELE

Challenges in the access to safely managed water and sanitation implies that the world will have to double spending to achieve SDG 6, says Gustavo Saltiel, Strategic Adviser on Water Supply and Sanitation with the Water Global Practice (Water GP) at the World Bank.

He highlighted this when delivering his presentation “Strengthening WASH governance in the Pacific: Adapting the World Bank’s PIR Approach” at the Aquatic Centre in Honiara on Wednesday, August 27, 2025.

SDG 6 is the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal for Clean Water and Sanitation and this goal aims to ensure access to safe and affordable drinking water, adequate sanitation and hygiene for all by 2030.

In early remarks, Saltiel explained that their presentation is about strengthening WASH governance in the Pacific using what they call the “PIR approach or methodology” in which PIR stands for “Policies, Institutions and Regulations”.

Moreover, he voiced that we are facing a huge challenge.

“I think everybody is aware of the size of the challenge. Two million people worldwide do not have access to safely managed water supply.

“Almost double do not have access to safely managed sanitation. Fifty percent of the waste waters globally are discharged into the environment without any treatment or limited treatment. Millions of deaths are associated with lack of potable water and lack of sanitation services,” he stressed.

Saltiel mentioned that access to WASH services in health facilities and schools is very limited and numbers for sub-Saharan Africa may be similar to the Pacific.

“All these challenges will be exacerbated by climate change and the difficulties for new utilities to provide safely managed services and reliable water supply and sanitation services will be even more difficult.

“Globally, there are 350 million cubic meters of water per day that are lost as to non-renewable water and this is a huge opportunity,” he said.

Saltiel explained that this in a way shows the size of the challenge and this challenge implies that what the world will need to spend to achieve Sustainable Development Goal No. 6 is huge.

He went on to state that it has been estimated in a global study done by the World Bank, called the “Public Expenditure Review” that the world will need to double spending levels to achieve SDG 6 or this will amount globally to 150 million US dollars per year.

“In East Asia and the Pacific alone, it will be 13 billion US dollars additional to meet SDG 6, not by 2030, even by 2035. So, the challenge is huge, which means that business as usual is not an option,” said Saltiel.

On this note, he stressed that we need to change that and this means basically addressing challenges at two levels.

Saltiel explained that one level is what they call the enabling environment level, policies, institutions and regulation (PIR) and second is the utility level.

He said on the PIR, on the policy side, we have common challenges with familiar situations.

Saltiel stated that this includes financial and institutional capacity, overlapping and unclear roles and responsibilities, unrealistic policies, reforms and targets.

He added that many countries, cities, utilities commit to universal access to water supply and sanitation, safely managed.

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