BY ELLISON.T.VAHI

BATTLEFIELDS from World War II forms an important part of Solomon Islands history so do the heritage, which forms an important component of the Solomon Islands tourism products.

WWII heritage though small, standalone special interest market, focussing on the relatives of WWII veterans and historians from USA, Australia and Japan, but also appealing to a broader market interested in recent history.

WWII heritage also provides a key point of differentiation for other markets such as diving, surfing and those seeking off the beaten track experiences.

According to the Solomon Islands National Tourism Development Strategy (SINTDS) 2015 – 2019, has noted that, the WWII product in the Solomon Islands has the potential to be stronger than either in PNG or Vanuatu due to the historical importance of the engagements, the high number of sites and equipment and broad geographical coverage across the country.

There are many sites around Honiara and on Guadalcanal including the American War Memorial, Thin Red Line and Bloody Ridge. Iron Bottom Sound, Tulagi and Western Province also contain significant sites from WWII.

In the meanwhile, most sites however are poorly presented, poorly maintained and in many instances have limited information and documentation associated with them.

Unlike PNG (Kokoda Track) or Vanuatu (SS President Coolidge) there has been no combined effort to support the development of an iconic WWII site into a major tourism attraction, hence, the development of a WWII icon in the Solomon’s would increase the appeal of the destination to this vocation market.

BY MAVIS NISHIMURA PODOKOLO

PACIFIC nations have agreed to increase their focus on visa issues, information sharing and superannuation at a regional labour mobility meeting in Honiara.

The Pacific Labour Mobility Annual Meeting (PLMAM) wrapped up its two-day meeting yesterday which was attended by delegates from across the Pacific, Australia and New Zealand.

Trade Commissioner, Joseph Ma’ahanua from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Trade told the Island Sun that the meeting had been productive.

Commissioner Ma’ahanua said the soon to be released statement of outcomes from the second annual PLMAM looked at enhancing seasonal workers schemes in Australia and New Zealand.

“The outcome statement is centred around issues on improving access in areas of visa, areas relating to how superannuation could be fitted into the schemes, areas relating to information sharing and so forth,” he said.

Ma’ahanua said the key issue for the region was offering more opportunities for people from Pacific islands to increase their income and return home with skills.

Ma’ahanua said he hoped the discussions at the meeting would be taken on board by regional countries and serve as a launch pad for an expansion of labour mobility schemes.

The PLMAM is held as part of the PACER Plus regional trade agreement but the outcomes of the meeting are not binding on regional countries.

BY ELLISON.T.VAHI

WITH its full support to produce a safer city for girls in Honiara, the Australian Government through Plan International have funded the International Girl Child Day on Safe Cities Dialogue that was held at the SIDT office.

Based on researches conducted by Plan, adolescent girls infrequently feel safe in cities, as they experience physical and sexual violence as well they are often excluded from decision making processes that impact their safety.

It also shows that there is a major gap in programming and research pertaining to adolescent girl’s safety and inclusion in cities, as many urban safety and crime targets young men, and many women’s safety initiatives focus only on adult women.

With raising levels of gender-based violence and urban insecurity around the world, the programme is being implemented at a vital time.

The approach focuses on Safety and access to public spaces, increasing girl’s active and meaningful participation as well Safe and autonomous mobility. It also places emphasis to Influence Governments and Policy Makers to make laws and city services more approachable and broad to girl’s safety, Influence families and communities to promote a supportive social environment that promotes girls safety and inclusion in cities and Engage adolescent girls to be active citizens and agents of change by building capacities strengthening assets, and creating opportunities for meaningful participation.

Girls often face sexual harassment, exploitation, and insecurity as they navigate the urban environment, while on the other hand they are more likely to be educated and politically active and less likely to be married at an early stage.

Working in partnership to address these issues, is the Honiara City Council, Young Women Christian Association and MWYCFA & Other Stakeholders.

The HCC Youth Division and YWCA will function as the implementing lead parties with the support of PIASI and stakeholders. HCC and YWCA will work together with stakeholders to implement Safer Cities for girl’s activities in supervising sessional instructors and volunteers for the Safer Cities for Girls (SC4G) activities as well providing a capacity assessment for HCC and YWCA, a Partaking Approach.

In the meantime, they, together with the stakeholders are putting on plans to Function as the lead object in contract management and negotiations, Responsible for reporting to donor and contract oversight, Engage and financially responsible for sessional instructors in program operations during day to day activities and programs, Responsible for project cost, this includes project items, activity and human resources as well Providing induction into SC4G tools that HCC/YWCA can use in their implementation of project activities.