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.

For feedback, contact:[email protected]

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.

For feedback, contact:[email protected]

BY SAMIE WAIKORI

Solomon Water highly recognises gender equality as part of its action plan that forms an integral aspect of its Strategic Plan launched in 2024.

The policy aims to encourage gender equality in the organisation, where women representation in its workforce is only at 35 percent.

A presentation by Solomon Water at the 16th Pacific Water and Wastewater Annual Association Conference and Expo in Honiara on Thursday, August 28, 2025 highlighted the importance of gender and social inclusion in the strategic plan of the organisation.

Solomon Water has embedded gender and social inclusion and recognises the impact that gender equality has in this action plan.

Solomon Water has a reputation as an employer of choice for gender equality and has been working towards it, despite being a male dominated organisation.

The organization has female employees and a snapshot in terms of gender scale at Solomon Water is 35% representation of women in the workforce and 75% male and they have 16 women who have actively taken up leadership roles.

In the technical field, there are 13 female engineers, coordinators and team leaders.

Solomon Water recognises the energy that women bring to the workforce and have delivered 11 trainings so far for technical and non-technical fields.

Of the 75 participants in these trainings, 19 were women.

Moreover, Solomon Water’s Strategic Plan launched in 2024 recognises the challenges faced in the Pacific region and in the local context and have incorporated it into the development of their strategy.

The strategy’s focus is to ensure that people have the right knowledge and skills to support what they are required to do.

With the organisation structure that’s developed at the moment, Solomon Water is working towards defining job descriptions and competencies. They are measuring and linking individual performances to organisational performances.

The organisation is also implementing performance reviews on an annual basis and when they step in as part of community support, they identify training gaps and put them together as a training development plan.

Like any water authority or organization in the Pacific, Solomon Water will always come across challenges, but will continue to strive to deliver it’s services.

For feedback, contact:[email protected]

BY JOHN HOUANIHAU

The National Referral Hospital (NRH) management is issuing a public call to relatives of the deceased to collect their loved ones’ bodies from the hospital morgue within 48 hours.

The Ministry of Health Medical Services (MHMS) issued the statement on Wednesday, August 27, 2025.

This urgent plea comes as the hospital faces an unprecedented increase in the number of bodies being stored, creating critical pressure on the facility’s limited mortuary space.

The MHMS statement said that NRH morgue remains the only available facility for the safekeeping of bodies awaiting repatriation, funeral arrangements, as well as those pending forensic examinations or post-mortems due to the absence of a funeral home in the city.

It further adds that there are 18 bodies being stored at once, far exceeding the morgue’s optimal capacity.

MHMS said this congestion is causing significant concern among hospital authorities, who are struggling to maintain hygienic and dignified conditions within the facility.

In response, NRH management is asking relatives to make arrangements for the prompt collection of deceased family members, ideally within 48 hours of their arrival at the morgue.

The MHMS said that the hospital is now considering activating a daily storage fee for bodies that remain uncollected beyond this time frame, in hopes of encouraging more timely retrievals and alleviating the strain on the morgue.

The statement said that the hospital administrators however acknowledge the difficulties such as financial constraints, travel logistics, and the need for legal or forensic clearances can impede the prompt collection of bodies during these times.

NRH management has expressed empathy for these challenges and affirms its willingness to work with families wherever possible to resolve outstanding issues.

The current situation highlights the urgent need for additional mortuary and funeral services in the city according to the MHMS.

The NRH morgue is facing mounting pressure, and the lack of alternatives is an ongoing concern for both the hospital and affected families as the only storage facility for deceased bodies.

 The NRH management is urging community members, relevant authorities, and potential partners to consider long-term solutions, such as establishing a dedicated funeral home or expanding morgue capacity.

In the meantime, the hospital will maintain open communication with families and provide updates on any new policies or support services.

NRH management reiterates its commitment to ensure dignity and respect for the deceased, while balancing the operational realities of the hospital’s essential services.

For feedback, contact:[email protected]

BY SAMIE WAIKORI

Solomon Water, over the past years has conducted performance appraisals to strengthen the performance of its staff with the aim to increase the output and services of the organization.

The exercise has also been reviewed over time and interestingly, it’s implemented right from the executive of the organization down to the employees.

Head of Corporate Service – Solomon Water, Ms Michelle Maelaua discussed this during a session on “Leadership Development Journey” of the Pacific Water and Wastewater Annual Conference at the Aquatic Centre on Thursday, August 28, 2025.

She said over the past years Solomon Water has carried out a number of performance appraisals or reviews for its employees.

Ms Maelaua said since last year till now, the organization has linked the implementation of the performance test for all its employees, from the executive to the employees.

She said this is part of the CEO’s target to ensure the exercise is objective when it comes to performance of the employees.

Maelaua emphasized that the exercise also aligns with the vision of Solomon Water, which is more on about achieving and delivering safe water to customers.

“When it comes to performance review, that’s how we align it to deliver safe water for our operations.

“It was a challenging space, but I think we have come a long way and it was really up to us,” she said.

Ms Maelaua added that one of the challenges was that employees didn’t want to write, so they had to assist them by writing their performances.

“It was about taking up responsibility to train our employees,” she said.

Maelaua reiterated the commitment of Solomon Water to strengthen the performance test of its employees.

For feedback, contact:[email protected]