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First-ever women policy for Malaita launched

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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Women took part in the parade yesterday with the 2018 banner.

BY GEORGE MANFORD

AUKI

THE Malaita provincial government with its stakeholders have launched the first-ever Malaita province women empowerment and development policy 2018-2022 in Auki yesterday.

The launching coincided with the International Women’s Day and convened hundreds of women who celebrated the day and witnessed the historical document, at the Hotel Malaita.

Guests at the launching were UN Women and Australian government representatives, director of Ministry of women, youth and children affairs, Malaita premier Peter Ramohia and the guest of honour and Malaita province minister for women, youth and sport Mrs Rose Liata.

In her keynote address, Mrs Liata said the policy focuses on the women and girls of Malaita province, not exclusively but most certainly in the villages where everyone believes it can make big changes.

“We also focus on engaging the private sector in a rather creative and innovative way, getting the private sector involves in the programs and initiative and policy outcomes in the development assistance.

“I think most importantly, we have put an unrelenting focus on gender equality, women’s empower in our rural societies. So today we are launching a Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment and development Policy which is our primary focus.”

Liata said the policy is a roadmap to set out how to achieve objectives that are reflected in the G20 agenda, the sustainable development goals in the UN.

She said they all know that women Empowerment, educating women, addressing women health issue, women economic issue, addressing domestic violence are all fundamental to sustainable economic growth and end poverty and ensure peace and stability in Malaita province.

“I just want to assure you that this policy has support at the highest levels in the government and I am very proud, that we are able to launch the policy that brings it all together today and send a very powerful message around the country that will be part of the fight for gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls,” Liata said.

Common communication policy likely

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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BY LORETTA BRIGIDIA MANELE

ON Tuesday, government communication officers representing various ministries attended a workshop at the Iron Bottom Sound conference room.

Master of Ceremony and Director of Government Communication Unit, Mr George Herming said the SIG Information/Press officers workshop aims to create a network of information officers from the government and how they can partner with the mainstream media and other stakeholders to raise awareness or raise a national consensus for our people more specifically, about what the government is doing, what it plans to do and about programmes it aspires to carry out.

Herming stated that the workshop is also to help them start somewhere.

“As we move on we will have a common communications policy to guide our operations as government communications officers to reach out to our people,” he said.

He also voiced that as communication officers they have the responsibility to execute a very important role of raising awareness about the work of the government.

“In order to achieve that, we have to do it more effectively, enhance our knowledge, work together, and coordinate properly to achieve our mission of informing our people.”

He said more than half of the ministries have communication officers.

Professionals set strategy and method to eradicate rhino beetle in SI

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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Group of professional discuss strategy and method to eradicate rhino beetle in Solomon Islands

BY LYNTON AARON FILIA

A group of professionals have ended a workshop yesterday with a set of awareness strategy to eradicate the Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle (CRB) in Solomon Islands.

The workshop convened agricultural and communications professionals from regional, government and private sectors in Solomon Islands to identify communication messages and methods to be used.

Participants came with awareness plans and strategic communication messages and methods targeting villagers, industries, townsfolk and decision makers.

These collective strategies have been taken on board as the Government and Palm Industries CRB Taskforce awareness strategies, which the team will finalise to become part of CRB communication strategies and implementation plan.

Coordinator of the CRB Response, Mr Bob Macfarlane said the professionals have been convened to discussed ideas and identify the audience to ensure the rhino beetle does not destroy palms across the province.

He said the workshop is significant because the beetle has not yet reached many parts of the country, thus the discussions on preventing its further spread.

Mr Macfarlane said main identified target audience is villagers.

SPC’s Dr Maclean Vaqalo said the workshop has come up with strategy and method of how to deliver message clear for the understanding of people in the villages.

“This workshop is expected that there is a need to have clear messages to different level of stakeholders and come up with strategy and method of how to deliver messages to communities,” Vaqalo said.

“What we need to do act fast rather than talk about it but need to go down to the village level and strategize that message with action.”

To eradicate the CRB, he said the country needs better coordination with the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, bio-security, farmers and other industries such as logging.

The coconut industry is worth $150 million to Solomon Islands’ economy. This represents a significant percentage of the country’s foreign exchange earnings, most of which goes directly to the village level.

Group of professional discuss strategy and method to eradicate rhino beetle in Solomon Islands

 

MFAET officials in Australia on SWP workshop

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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By Gary Hatigeva

OFFICIALS at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Trade from the Seasonal Workers Programme (SWP) are currently in Australia under the invitation of the Growcom, an association of growers and farmers in the Queensland state for a workshop and interaction based on the scheme.

It is revealed that Solomon Islands is amongst other participating countries of the workers scheme, most of which have the lowest number recruitment in the programme.

These countries include officials from responsible ministries in Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Timor Leste.

Insiders revealed that these countries have been invited to attend a workshop hosted by the Growcom, with the intention to allow for participating nations to interact while at the same time work on promoting why these farmers (Members of the Association) should recruit from their countries.

Queensland is a popular state in Australia and around the world, known for its mass contribution to the global food and other farming products and a lot of those that aren’t members yet have now shown high interests in the program.

“A lot of the farmers in Queensland have heard of the Seasonal Workers Scheme and have shown interests to join, and with their involvement would also mean more opportunities for participating countries of the scheme,” sources explained.

It is further revealed that in the workshop, participating officials have basically tried to promote their workers and place on the negotiating table what sort of workers they have to offer for farmers under the scheme, also at the same time enlighten the association on the recruitment process that each nations have in place and other related areas.

That according to officials, will give Solomon Islands an edge as to why these farmers should think about recruiting from the country.

No hard and fast expectations but initial discussions and negotiations with the Association have already started and some of the farmers are not part of the scheme yet but are interested because they have difficulty in recruiting locally.

Insiders added that most farmers in Australia are also finding it hard to recruit even with backpackers who are their regular employees, but are said to be unreliable and inconsistent workers.

New Zealand farmers have also shown high interests in workers from these nations and are keen on doing similar initiative, but have quota and are therefore restricted.

It is understood that officials from the Foreign Affairs Ministry have held regular visits to farms in both Australia and New Zealand as part of their pastoral care obligations and our participating officials are expected to do that next week with the country’s current employers.

Ramohia acknowledges women for pursuing leadership skills

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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Group of graduates with guests attending the APTC graduation ceremony in Auki yesterday.jpg

BY SAMIE WAIKORI

Auki

PREMIER of Malaita Province has acknowledged female graduates in APTC’s graduation ceremony in Auki yesterday – for taking on leadership skills.

In his keynote address, Hon Peter Channel Ramohia said women play a crucial role in the progress of families and societies.

He added that by upskilling women with good leadership skills, they can help drive positive development not only in Malaita province but the country.

“It is well noting and acknowledged that three leadership and management programmes were delivered specifically for women in Honiara, Gizo and Auki with funding from Australia.

Group of graduates with guests attending the APTC graduation ceremony in Auki yesterday.jpgw

“This I understand was the first time that the programme was delivered in the provincial areas,” the premier said.

He also accredited APTC’s ongoing partnership with relevant private sector bodies and TVET institutions in the country.

Mr Ramohia encouraged the graduates to apply the skills they have learnt to contribute to the growth and development of the province.

He urged them to work hard and be a shining example in their work places and communities to serve the province and the country with their best.

The premier acknowledged APTC and its staff for their support in providing Australian standard skills and qualifications for his people of Malaita.

“I look forward to seeing more people from my province taking up the opportunity to upskill at a quality institution like APTC.”

International Women’s Day marked in Honiara

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Milton Ragaruma
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UN staff in SI getting ready to join the parade to mark International Women’s Day Celebration in Honiara.

BY MAVIS NISHIMURA PODOKOLO

YESTERDAY women and men of various ethnicity making up the city, and of different ages walked along the main street of Honiara, carrying banners, shouting and singing. Who are they? What were they celebrating?

They were women and men who gave their time to mark the International Women’s Day, an event held around the world to commemorate the struggles of girls and women.

Speaking during the opening of the programme, Minister for Ministry of Women Youth Children and Family Affairs (MWYCF) Hon Freda Tuki Soriocomua highlights the event commemorated and witnessed yesterday is the day women and men around the world stand in solidarity to ‘Press for Progress –towards Gender Equality’.

She explained yesterday the country has witnessed and celebrated great progress in women advancement, something which was only dreamt of in the past generation – from the formal to the informal sector women have succeeded in their own areas of profession.

Tuki expressed the MWYCF is proud to work in collaboration to advance women’s empowerment and development.

On the same note she said the theme for this year’s IWD, “press for progress” signifies a motivational movement of gender advocators and gender sensitised institutions and organisations that have paved a way for women to excel and grow in enterprise, career and leadership.

On the same event Permanente Secretary (PS) of MWYCFA Dr Cendrick Alependava affirmed to participants, the event contributed in driving better outcomes for women.

He stressed it was through celebrations and targeted bold actions all can be equal players to press for progress and unavoidably create holistic gender equality, where it would become a better place to live with less domestic violence and violence against women.

Witnessing the celebration yesterday were representatives from the Australian High Commission, Madame Rachel Houenipwela – wife of the Prime Minister, representatives of the Solomon Islands government, permanent secretaries, government officials, members of the diplomatic community and development partners, partners in the private sector and commercial institutions, non-governmental organisations, women’s groups, women’s associations including youths within the capital.

MWYCF is the key host of the celebration with the support of stakeholders, and was held at the national auditorium building in Honiara.

See more pictures of the event on https://www.facebook.com/pg/theIslandSunNews/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1913567695640413

Police here to protect you: Varley

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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BY JENNIFER KUSAPA

POLICE Commissioner Mathew Varley reassures the people that police are there to protect the citizens of this country including women and girls.

Commissioner Varley said International Women’s Day is celebrated across the world to advance on gender equality and the Royal Solomon Island Police Force is proud to be part of the match yesterday.

He said RSIPF is committed to gender equality and of course the progress of women throughout the organisation not only for women’s achievement themselves but the organisation wants the Force to represent the community they serve.

And so the Police Force is the reflection of the community in Solomon Islands, Mr Varley said.

“We work very hard on the recruitment we work very hard on making sure our officers are available to meet and work with women in the community on issues affecting women and girls,” Varley said.

He said violence against women and girls is a significant problem and far too high in Solomon Islands and not only women but also men to take a leading role to end such activities happening in the community.

Varley said it is sad to see that cases of family and gender based violence in Solomon Islands are still high and police are too often called to cases where women and girls have been injured or harmed by men.

“And as you have heard me said this before really this has to stop.

“So our message today from the RSIPF your police are there to protect and serve the community and in particular we are here to protect women and girls across Solomon Islands and we are committed to doing that and we are committed to making sure we can do our part as best we can to make women and girls safe in our country,” Varley said..

He also urges the people of Solomon Islands that police alone cannot do that but needs all people across Solomon Islands to get behind them and work together with them to end violence.

“We need strong men to stand up and say enough is enough,” Varley said.

Good sign for SI progress on gender

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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0

IT was really nice to see women coming out in numbers to join the march from Honiara City Council to the Auditorium where celebrations to mark the International Women’s Day was held.

More so the participation of our youths and a few of our men with a couple of children whom were part of the crowd in yesterday’s event.

For the first time too, some big organisations and companies in our country has allowed their female staff to participate in the IWD march which has become an annual thing for us.

Our Telekom women staff for the first time participated in the march as well as have their own get-together later in the day, thanks to their employer.

Another big organisation, Solomon Power was able to treat their female staff to a lunch gathering at their office space.

These are small steps which could lead to the bigger steps where the global momentum is to strive for gender parity.

Gender parity is a 50-50 ratio of males and females accessing education, in the workplace and holding public office.

Though ‘World Economic Forum’s 2017 Global Gender Gap Report’ has found that gender parity is over 200 years away, there is feedback on women continuing to make positive gains each day.

With that, after this IWD celebrations, women, don’t be complacent but continue to strive for gender parity.

The unity shared by women and men and youths alike in yesterday’s celebration is a clear manifestation of what can be done, if we set our hearts and minds to it.

As IWD 2018 draws to an end, women, advocators and activists do please continue to #Press4Progress.

Women’s achievements and participation in the workplace and public offices are every day.

Please continue to highlight women’s achievements and issues every day.

Not just on IWDs. #Press4Progress

US$34M for provincial governments for next 5 years

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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Permanent Secretary for MPGIS, Mr Stanley Pirione

BY LYNTON AARON FILIA

THE Ministry of Provincial Government and Institutional Strengthening (MPGIS) in its PCDF phase 2 programme has more than USD$34 million to cater for the next five years, it is reported.

Recently, the Permanent Secretary for MPGIS Mr Stanley Pirione said under the Provincial Capacity Development Fund (PCDF) programme there is a sufficient budget to support provincial governments.

“For your information, the project’s phase 2 is estimated at USD$34 million for the next five to six years.”

Mr Pirione said currently they are consulting their development partners for more assistance in this regard.

He also adds that the Ministry hopes provincial governments in Solomon Islands will benefit from this programme once support is provided.

Pirione said the main objective of the project is to carry out institutional reforms, bring manpower capacity and strengthening of provincial government processes and system.

Moreover, it offers small scale infrastructure projects as an incentive for these reform programmes, Pirione said.

Since the establishment of PCDF in 2008, Pirione said the programme has registered more than 900 infrastructure which cost millions of dollars for the country’s nine provinces.

However, challenges MPGIS includes issues with the disbursement of funds from the Ministry of Finance, and to appreciate projects that encompass value of money.

 

Singamoana reassures Renbel people of province’s welfare

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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Premier Collin Singamoana

BY BARNABAS MANEBONA

PEOPLE of Rennell and Bellona province have been reassured by their Premier that the province is functioning perfectly and is currently sitting on unprecedented heights.

Premier Collin Singamoana is speaking in response to media accusations on him by MPA for Renbel’s ward 9, Nicholas Taika, which were published in Solomon Star newspaper’s front page on Monday this week.

The article was full of unsubstantiated allegations levelled against Mr Singamoana, which he describes as “a ploy by Nicholas Taika and the non-executives to mislead public, facilitated by poor journalism ethics on Solomon Star’s part to go ahead and publish unbalanced stories”.

Singamoana says that in contrast to Mr Taika’s claims, Renbel province is functioning perfectly as a province, there are no tensions as purported by Taika, and Renbel province is financially sound.

Taika had accused Singamoana of fraudulent practices which has ‘brought Renbel to its knees’ and rendered it in a ‘state of financial insolvency’.

Speaking to Island Sun, Singamoana however denies the fraud allegations, adding that Renbel is on the roll with its development and strengthening plans.

He clarifies that since taking on premiership in 2015, his government had had to start from square-one in terms of bringing up the province from its failed state, introduce institutional reforms and strengthening, and make Renbel stand on its feet.

“Suspension of Renbel was a reverse of 20 years of progress for the province. And, since my government came in in 2015 we have spent the last three years fixing and mending things which has cost time and money.

“It is a very expensive undertaking to bring Renbel from being a failed province to one which is standing on its feet, and it has consumed much of our time, money and effort that would have otherwise been spent on development and progress for Renbel had the province not been suspended.

“If we had taken over a functioning province then of course we would have gone straight ahead to development and activities that would further the progress of Renbel. But that was sadly not the case.

“This is what my critics fail to understand. They think that recovering, rehabilitating and progressing a failed province would only take few months, or one year and cost nothing?

“One illustration of the titanic task is that we have spent nearly 3 and half million dollars on repaying off old debts of the province alone. And that is a big amount of money for a small province like Renbel, coupled with the limited finances available to provincial governments.”

Singamoana gives few examples of progress which Renbel has achieved so far under his tenure as premier despite the challenges and limitations Renbel province has and continues to face.

“We have retrieved province authority after it was suspended by the ministry of provincial government [MPGIS]. And, we have attained requalification of Renbel to national government’s development programme for the provinces.

“We proceeded to repay off all of Renbel province’s debts and loans, which took time depending on fund availability.

“Renbel province has never had an ordinance, and we have successfully passed seven ordinances. Renbel province before hence had only functioned with resolutions.

“We have also managed to bring back trust and confidence from the donor community such as the AusAid, JICA, Taiwan, NZAid to name few. This has enabled many individuals in Renbel to apply for projects.

“We have done away with the usual practice of ad hoc employment in the provincial administration and have set up a viable structure.

“Just only a month ago we have achieved two documents, the ward profiling and the five strategic development plans.

“And for the first time, Renbel province has sponsored one of its provincial officials to tertiary studies. Not only that but hundreds of Renbel students in primary, secondary, and tertiary are in class today thanks to the Renbel provincial government. We have managed all this despite our meagre funds.”

Singamoana reiterates that Renbel province, unlike Taika’s claims, has progressed a long way and is sitting comfortably as a well-functioning province.

He encourages the people of Renbel to not allow themselves to be misled by media publications which are baseless and tailored only to tarnish his reputation and that of his government.

“I am from Renbel province and am proud of it. I have a heart for the progression and betterment of my people of Renbel and Taika’s claims that I am exploiting Renbel for my own benefit are not only defamatory but utterly false.”

To his critics, Singamoana encourages them to practice their democratic rights, but cautions them to be wary of the boundary between constructive criticism aimed at progressing Renbel and destructive criticism which are based on selfish motives such as ‘jealousy, hatred and huger for power’.

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