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ISSUE N°1 JUNE 2011 UNANZ NEWS UNANZ NATIONAL CONFERENCE 2011 EDITION ISSN 1179-8009 (PRINT) ISSN 1179-8017 (ONLINE)

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National Conference 2011 Edition, New approach needed to achieve the MDGs (John Hayes), Achieving the MDGa in the Pacific (Tuiloma Neroni Slade), NZ Mfat Aid Programme (Jackie Frizelle)

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Page 1: 2011 06 UNAN Z Newsletter

ISSUE N°1 JUNE 2011

UNANZ NEWS

UNANZ NATIONAL CONFERENCE 2011 EDITION

ISSN 1179-8009 (PRINT) ISSN 1179-8017 (ONLINE)

Page 2: 2011 06 UNAN Z Newsletter

THE PEOPLE‟S MOVEMENT FOR THE UNITED NATIONS 2 WWW.UNANZ.ORG.NZ

UNANZ News

Contents

In this Issue

UNDP - What are the Millennium Development Goals? 3

UNANZ National Conference 2011: President‟s Report 4

New approach needed to achieve Millennium Development

Goals 6

John Hayes

Achieving the Millennium Development Goals in the Pacific 10

Tuiloma Neroni Slade

MDG‟s and the Pacific Presentation 15

Professor John Overton

NZ Aid in the Pacific 17

Jackie Frizelle

Notes from the Conference Convener 21

Robin Halliday

UN Youth Update 23

Elizabeth Chan and Chloe Muggeridge

UNANZ NEWS JUNE 2011 ISSUE N°1

Introducing the new National Administrator

Greetings!

I am very pleased to be your new National Administrator. I come with some knowledge of the UN

Association as I am currently Treasurer for the Wellington Branch so to a degree I have been able to “hit

the ground running”. Of course that would not have been so easy if not for the fact that Shannon was

extremely organized – I have been able to find virtually everything and all neatly filed in obvious places.

Thanks, Shannon!

I have always been interested in various Social Justice, Spirituality and Arts issues and am involved with

about nine different organizations, but what expanded my interest in the United Nations Association was a

talk Hans Blix gave at Parliament where he talked about the global picture; of how the world is more at

peace than ever before, despite what the mass media would have us believe. The words “Human Rights”

were hardly ever mentioned 15 to 20 years ago, and although it has taken time, Human Rights and the role

of the United Nations, is starting to make headway in our collective consciousness. This is to be

encouraged, of course, along with the many other issues we face, but we need to keep pushing for the UN

to be seen as an effective way for all countries to head in the direction of peace and security. I know it is

not easy with different political systems and countries having different interests, but I think it is our only

real hope.

Cheers

Pete Cowley

UNANZ NATIONAL CONFERENCE 2011 EDITION

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THE PEOPLE‟S MOVEMENT FOR THE UNITED NATIONS 3 WWW.UNANZ.ORG.NZ

Adopted by world leaders in the year

2000 and set to be achieved by 2015, the

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

provide concrete, numerical benchmarks

for tackling extreme poverty in its many

dimensions.

The MDGs also provide a framework for

the entire international community to

work together towards a common end –

making sure that human development

reaches everyone, everywhere. If these

goals are achieved, world poverty will be

cut by half, tens of millions of lives will

be saved, and billions more people will

have the opportunity to benefit from the

global economy.

The eight MDGs break down into 21

quantifiable targets that are measured by

60 indicators.

Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

► Halve the proportion of people whose

income is less than $1 per day between

1990 and 2015

► Halve the proportion of people who

suffer from hunger between 1990 and

2015

Achieve universal primary education

► All children will be able to complete a

full course of primary schooling by

2015

Promote gender equality and empower women

► Eliminate gender disparity in primary

and secondary education by 2005 and

at all levels by 2015

Reduce child mortality

► Reduce the under 5 mortality rate by

two-thirds between 1990 and 2015

► Improve maternal health

► Reduce maternal mortality ratios by

three-quarters between 1990 and 2015

Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases

► Halt and begin to reverse the spread of

HIV/AIDS by 2015

► Halt and begin to reverse the incidence

of malaria and other diseases by 2015

Ensure environmental sustainability

► Integrate the principles of sustainable

development into country policies and

programmes and reverse the loss of

environmental resources

► Halve the proportion of people without

sustainable access to safe drinking

water and basic sanitation by 2015

► Achieve by 2020 significant

improvement in the lives of at least 100

million slum dwellers

Develop a global partnership for development

► Address the special needs of least

developed countries, landlocked

countries and small island developing

states

► Deal comprehensively with developing

countries‟ debt

► Develop further an open, rule-based,

predictable, non-discriminatory trading

and financial system

► Develop and implement strategies for

decent and productive work for youth

► In cooperation with pharmaceutical

companies, provide access to

affordable essential drugs in developing

countries

► In cooperation with the private sector,

make available the benefits of new

technologies, especially information

and communications

WHAT ARE THE

MILLENNIUM

DEVELOPMENT

GOALS? UNITED NATIONS

http://unstats.un.org/unsd/mdg/

Resources/Static/Products/Prog

ress2006/MDGReport2006.pdf

UNANZ NEWS JUNE 2011 ISSUE N°1

Page 4: 2011 06 UNAN Z Newsletter

THE PEOPLE‟S MOVEMENT FOR THE UNITED NATIONS 4 WWW.UNANZ.ORG.NZ

National President Michael Powles

UNANZ National Conference 2011: Achieving the Millennium Development Goals in the Pacific

UNANZ NEWS JUNE 2011 ISSUE N°1

Some Reflections on the Conference

When Robin Halliday, as President of the

Wellington Branch of UNANZ proposed

the topic for the conference to be held in

Wellington this year, she was adamant on

two points: that we should hear clearly

from Pacific, not just New Zealand,

voices, and also from young people, not

just the usual „experts‟. These objectives

were both well met. The keynote speaker

was Tuiloma Neroni Slade, Secretary-

General of the Pacific Islands Forum

Secretariat and, before that a leading

international judge and diplomat from

Samoa. Younger speakers were from

both the Pacific Islands (for example,

Mele Katea Paea of Tonga and Ana

Joskins of PNG, both doctoral students in

New Zealand) and New Zealand (for

example Aaron Packard of 350 Degrees

and Sarah Morris of UNICEF).

The conference was well focused

throughout on the development issues

faced in achieving the MDGs in the

Pacific. John Hayes, MP, set the tone in

opening the conference by emphasizing

what New Zealand shared with its Pacific

neighbors:

“The same Pacific Ocean which touches

Pacific shores also washes against ours.

It is the central symbol of our Pacific

identity. Our relationship goes back in

history and deep into our societies. …

Our [New Zealand’s] relatively small

size and our Pasifika composition means

we are able to show a unique sense of

empathy and a high level of engagement

and leadership.”

John Hayes was critical of the shortage of

reliable data in the Pacific and doubted

that the MDGs served as an “appropriate

measure” in the Pacific Islands region.

He supported the new focus of New

Zealand aid in the region - on lifting

living standards rather than on poverty

elimination – and emphasised the

importance of working together: “We

should be aiming at having everyone all

in one canoe – paddling in unison and in

the same direction.”

Tuiloma Neroni Slade, in his keynote

address, emphasised that the MDGs,

adopted by world leaders, had also been

adopted under solemn commitment by

our Pacific leaders. He said that while

there was acknowledgement of good

advances made in some areas, “there was

general concern in the slow progress

made in critical areas such as reducing

poverty and addressing gender, health

and environment issues. No Pacific island

country is on track to achieve all the

MDGs, and no MDG is on track to be

achieved by all countries.”

The Secretary-General went on to

emphasise the importance for Pacific

island countries of bilateral and

multilateral partnerships, in the longer

term regional economic integration, and

the role of the Pacific Plan, adopted in

2005, as “the foundation for the region‟s

efforts towards achievement of the

MDGs”. Tuiloma Neroni Slade

acknowledged the critical importance of

the work and role of civil society

organisations and NGOs in supporting

Pacific island countries. He concluded by

noting that 2011 marked the 40th

anniversary of the Pacific Islands Forum

and was “a time for reflection: on the

journey of four decades and on the

challenges encountered and overcome; on

the challenges that linger, and those to

come.”

Other speakers included Professor John

Overton, Professor of Development

Studies at Victoria University, who

delivered an impressive assessment of

progress, and the lack of it, in achieving

the MDGs in the Pacific and argued for a

direct approach in trying to meet the

MDGs – what he called the “welfare first

argument”. Ms Jackie Frizelle, Director

of Development Strategy and

Effectiveness in the Ministry of Foreign

Affairs and Trade, argued that economic

development was “absolutely necessary

for achieving the MDGs” and “crucial to

achieving effectiveness in our ODA”.

She believed there was a need for some

direct activity in attacking poverty but

the indirect approach was also important

– “there has to be a balance”.

Panels focussed on the specific issues of

“Eliminating Poverty”, “Education and

Gender Equality”, and “Health Issues”.

Panels also addressed “Delivery

Systems” – including environmental

sustainability and tourism and the

Parliamentary Select Committee Report

Recommendations – “Infrastructure,

Trade and Access to Credit”.

A few of the points made during these panel discussions:

► “people living in poverty should have a

space and a place at the United

Nations”

- Vicki Soames

► “some have said „MDG‟ stands for

„Minding Development Gaps‟”

- Sarah Morris

On education and gender equality:

► “If you haven‟t got a dream / How

can you make a dream come true?”

[from the musical South Pacific]

- Mele Katea Paea

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THE PEOPLE‟S MOVEMENT FOR THE UNITED NATIONS 5 WWW.UNANZ.ORG.NZ

► “the region has the lowest percentage

of women in parliaments of any region

in the world”

- Beryl Anderson

► “support for family planning in the

region has diminished as demand has

increased”

- Branwen Millar

► advice to aid donors: “listen, don‟t

preach”

- Edna Tait

► “Pacific island countries are not very

poor, they are very rich with largely

unexploited seabed resources”

- Wren Green

► “banks are playing a new and valuable

role in the region utilising new means

of bringing credit to rural

communities”

- Craig Sims

► “it‟s time to realise that current notions

of sovereignty are out of date and there

needs to be genuine pooling of

resources – including the movement of

people”

- Graham Hassall

► “there needs to be freedom of

movement for all Pacific Islanders –

with some regulation of course”

- Rod Alley

► “and New Zealand itself has to pay

better attention to the legitimate rights

of migrant workers brought to this

country, some of whom live and work

in atrocious conditions”

- Peter Conway

When Robin Halliday, as President of the

Wellington Branch of UNANZ proposed

the topic for the conference to be held in

Wellington this year, she was adamant on

two points: that we should hear clearly

from Pacific, not just New Zealand,

voices, and also from young people, not

just the usual „experts‟. These objectives

were both well met. The keynote speaker

was Tuiloma Neroni Slade, Secretary-

General of the Pacific Islands Forum

Secretariat and, before that a leading

international judge and diplomat from

Samoa. Younger speakers were from

both the Pacific Islands (for example,

Mele Katea Paea of Tonga and Ana

Joskins of PNG, both doctoral students in

New Zealand) and New Zealand (for

example Aaron Packard of 350 Degrees

and Sarah Morris of UNICEF).

The conference was well focused

throughout on the development issues

faced in achieving the MDGs in the

Pacific. John Hayes, MP, set the tone in

opening the conference by emphasizing

what New Zealand shared with its Pacific

neighbors:

“The same Pacific Ocean which touches

Pacific shores also washes against ours.

It is the central symbol of our Pacific

identity. Our relationship goes back in

history and deep into our societies. …

Our [New Zealand’s] relatively small

size and our Pasifika composition means

we are able to show a unique sense of

empathy and a high level of engagement

and leadership.”

John Hayes was critical of the shortage of

reliable data in the Pacific and doubted

that the MDGs served as an “appropriate

measure” in the Pacific Islands region.

He supported the new focus of New

UNANZ NEWS JUNE 2011 ISSUE N°1

July - October 2011

Upcoming Events

July 2-5 July - UN Youth New Zealand Model United Nations

2011. Victoria University of Wellington,

Wellington.

10-17 July - United Nations Youth Conference of Australia

2011. Adelaide, Australia.

16 July - UN Youth Otago High School Model Security

Council 2011. 8:30am - 8:30pm. Richardson

Building, University of Otago, Dunedin.

20 July – 24 Aug Wellington – Weekly series on the Pacific

St Andrew‟s on The Terrace meeting room.

12:15 – 01:30

24 July - Wanganui Branch Mid Winter Brunch. For

more information please contact Kate -

[email protected], or Gita - 06 345 5714

Wanganui.

August

9 Aug - International Day of the World's Indigenous

People.

16 Aug - International Youth Day.

29 Aug - Tauranga Branch Junior Model UN. Tauranga

Girls' College, 9.30am to 3.30pm. Tauranga.

September

21 Sept - International Day of Peace.

21 Sept - Wanganui Branch International Day of Peace

Events - Programme still to be decided.

Wanganui.

30 Sept - Wanganui Branch Junior Model UN - General

Assembly. Wanganui Girls College,

Wanganui.

October

17 Oct - International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.

24 Oct - National Office UN Day Function. Please contact

[email protected] for more information.

Wellington.

Page 6: 2011 06 UNAN Z Newsletter

THE PEOPLE‟S MOVEMENT FOR THE UNITED NATIONS 6 WWW.UNANZ.ORG.NZ

Fakaalofa lahi atu, talofa lava, maloe

lelei, ni sa bula vinaka, namaste, kia

orana, la orana, evening olgeta, taloha ni,

talofa, kia ora tatou and warm Pacific

greetings to you all.....

I want to start my remarks by noting that

it is water – the mighty Pacific Ocean –

which binds all the nations represented

in this room together. The same Pacific

Ocean which touches Pacific shores also

washes against ours. It is the central

symbol of our Pacific identity.

Our relationship goes back in history and

deep into our societies. We share a

combination of history, constitutional

links, family and community ties, and

geographical proximity which binds us

together as Pacific people. I strongly

believe that New Zealand has a capacity,

and indeed a responsibility to play a

greater role in the Pacific.

New Zealand is an integral part of the

rich fabric of the Pacific. Our relatively

small size and our Pasifika composition

means we are able to show a unique

sense of empathy and a high level of

engagement and leadership.

I am reminded of the words of Lindsay

Watt, who, like me, was a New Zealand

diplomat though of an earlier generation.

He looked at all these links and

connections and proclaimed that New

Zealand was not a country simply

located in the Pacific – it was a country

“of” the Pacific. That said, I feel that the

Pacific Plan was an effort by the then

New Zealand government to say that we

were in fact not part of the Pacific. I

don‟t agree.

New Zealand has been a strong supporter

of the United Nations and multilateral

diplomacy for over sixty years. That is

unlikely to ever change. I believe that the

on-going importance of the United

Nations globally, and the high value

New Zealand places on its relationship

with the UN, are both broadly accepted

within mainstream politics here.

As a small democratic country, we will

always have a strong interest in ensuring

there is a fair international system. We

cannot bully, but we can be bullied.

Limiting conflicts and ensuring there are

effective international rules is vital to

nations like New Zealand, particularly in

times of global uncertainty and

economic hardship.

The United Nations issued an ambitious

set of Millennium Development Goals to

be achieved by 2015. That date is rapidly

coming upon us. Those goals have a

series of indicators and targets but

fundamentally they are:

Eradicate extreme hunger and poverty

Achieve universal primary education Promote gender equality and empower

women

Reduce child mortality Improve maternal health Achieve universal access to reproductive

health Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other

diseases

Develop a global partnership for

development.

Every single one of those goals are

laudable and, if achieved, would make a

huge difference amongst our Pacific

neighbours. The goals have been

endorsed by the New Zealand

Government and most countries around

the world.

Today, I want to advance the potentially

unpopular argument that the Millennium

Development Goals are nearly

impossible to measure in our region,

may not be the correct approach to

sustainable development. To some extent

they seem intended to provide a rallying

cry for people with an interest boosting

political and financial support for

traditional aid programs.

And as an aside I want to commend

Foreign Minister Murray McCully for

NEW APPROACH

NEEDED TO ACHIEVE

MILLENNIUM

DEVELOPMENT

GOALS JOHN HAYES MP ONZM

Opening Speaker for the United

Nations Association of New Zealand

National Conference 2011.

6 May 2011

UNANZ NEWS JUNE 2011 ISSUE N°1

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THE PEOPLE‟S MOVEMENT FOR THE UNITED NATIONS 7 WWW.UNANZ.ORG.NZ

ensuring that Governments funding of

Official Development Assistance

continues to grow despite the recession.

The Millennium Development Goals

commit to reducing poverty and set out

measurable poverty indicators. What

they lack is a clear definition of what

constitutes poverty and extreme poverty

- far less should be done to tackle it.

In recent weeks there has been some

concerted hand-wringing regarding

alleged growing poverty in the Pacific. I

am not convinced. I say that as someone

who has spent much of his professional

career working in the region and as the

Chair of the Foreign Affairs, Defence

and Trade Select Committee.

Reliable data about development in the

region is scarce and often unreliable. My

recent visits to island nations certainly

did not support the idea that we are

economically going backwards. If claims

of greater poverty were true, I think we

should then be questioning vigorously

our current approach to development and

our traditional approach to aid.

Actually, I believe we should in any

case.

My reading of the situation is that

incidences of extreme poverty are

relatively rare in the Pacific. Extreme

poverty is defined as people earning less

than one US dollar a day (US$1.25

adjusted for inflation) or subject to a

serious lack of food. I would estimate

that the number of Pacific peoples

afflicted by extreme poverty is

considerably less than 10% of the

general population. Most of that poverty

is concentrated within squatter

settlements outside Suva and Port

Moresby.

Food poverty remains a valid concern.

We should understand that all Pacific

countries – with the exception of

Vanuatu - are net food importers. That

is, they bring in more food than they

export. People living in atolls are

arguably most vulnerable to food

shortages.

However, the whole region remains

vulnerable because of its geographic

isolation, freight fees and generally

higher transaction costs mean countries

spend more on food – money which

could otherwise have gone towards

education, health, agriculture and

economic development. The fact that

Pacific countries also pay more for

imported energy only exacerbates this

problem.

One of the issues with statistics and

measurement is that they by definition

look backwards. They also often try to

measure things which simply can‟t be

accurately measured in Pacific states.

My preference is to look forward and to

consider what role New Zealand can

usefully play in assisting Pacific island

nations to develop sustainable economic

activity and stronger communities.

While everyone agrees with and supports

the Millennium Development Goals,

there is a growing recognition they will

be difficult if not impossible to achieve.

Our own Ministry of Foreign Affairs and

Trade diplomatically says “it is fair to

say that progress has not been at the rate

any of us would have liked.” The picture

painted in the Asia Pacific MDG Report

2010/11 is not a pretty one. According to

the UN MDG Database, the only real

progress being made in the Pacific

relates to improving indicators around

tuberculosis. However, the report is

hampered by a shortage of reliable data.

That is a systemic problem in our region.

Data is scarce and patchy. Traditional

Pacific economies are also not money

based which exacerbates the

measurement problems. Many of our

standard measures are income based and

may not provide an accurate picture of

who is suffering hardship.

For me, that means we must honestly re-

appraise our efforts and commit to

practical policies which produce simple

outcomes like jobs. A lot of my thinking

is based on a multi-year, cross-party

report on New Zealand‟s relationships

with Pacific countries which was

conducted by the Foreign Affairs,

Defence and Trade Committee. Our final

report was tabled in Parliament last

December.

I want to pick up on two themes from

that report in the remainder of my speech

today.

Those admittedly challenging themes are

changing the focus of our aid

programmes and having an honest

appraisal of our regional architecture.

One of the first acts of this National-led

Government was to change the focus of

our overseas aid. This was a clear

manifesto commitment and I believe

completely the right thing to do.

When we came to Government two and a

half years ago, New Zealand‟s aid was

targeted at “poverty elimination” and

was spread thinly over 100 different

countries. Only around one third of that

aid money was spent in the Pacific. We

made a specific commitment to focus our

aid on the Pacific region and to switch

the focus to job creation. Our new aim is

to lift living standards in a sustainable

manner through increased economic

activity. This approach is the best way to

lift people out of poverty, malnutrition

and dependence.

The Pacific Paradox demonstrated the

old approach was not working. Figures

showed the Pacific was the most aid-rich

region in the world on a per capita basis

but that aid produced very limited

sustainable results. Change was required.

As a small country, our aid budget is

limited and we need to ensure every

dollar has maximum impact. We have

chosen to invest in developing the

building blocks for sustainable economic

development in this region.

The focus on poverty elimination

distracted us from the real issue. The

Pacific economies have not grown fast

enough to satisfy the aspirations of their

people. Higher costs of living are

seriously hurting vulnerable groups such

as those without fertile land or living in

remote areas.

Greater efforts are also required to

reduce oil dependence and to produce

more food domestically. Our challenge is

to lift our game to secure better

outcomes for our neighbours and friends.

In my view, New Zealand should

support our Pacific neighbours to move

from simply collecting royalties on their

exploited assets – fish, timber, minerals,

tourism – to the whole community being

involved from day one in the extraction,

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Processing, marketing and sale of the

resources. That will bring in the money

for the community and make a real

difference. This is why our select

committee report acknowledged the

difficulty of assembling capital in Pacific

states, because of land ownership

systems, and recommended that the

Government consider providing dollars -

$100 million – of its aid funds to share

the risk of entrepreneurial activity which

would facilitate job creation through the

region.

Let me give you a very specific example

the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade

Select Committee observed during a visit

to Tuvalu. There was a mother ship in a

lagoon which was operating with two

busy fishing vessels. All those ships

were foreign-owned and foreign-crewed.

It is fair to assume that the bulk of the

profits also went off-shore. Tuvalu only

received royalties on the declared catch.

The irony was that on the shores of the

same lagoon was a marine training

school which had been running for many

years. It has been funded by our aid

programme for 40 years and has trained

generations of Tuvaluans marine skills

they used to crew foreign ships. They

were also more likely to be on a salary

for a foreign company, sending home

remittances rather than running their

own businesses based on their fish

resource.

The committee concluded that getting

more local people involved in catching,

processing and marketing their own fish

stock would assist in the creation of

sustainable jobs and incomes, and result

in more economic independence for

Pacific communities.

That principle applies to all industries.

The committee‟s report recommended

aid funds be directed towards the

harvesting, processing and marketing of

island resources - including fish, tropical

timber, fruit and vegetables, minerals

and tourism. These are the sectors where

many Pacific island countries have

strong prospects for economic

development which in turn will lift

communities above poverty.

Initially, Pacific businesses may require

assistance developing their expertise and

banking reform will be required to allow

people to raise capital. Both of those

challenges can be met. We need to

understand that for the Pacific to grow

and prosper, New Zealand needs to be

hard-headed and focus on initiatives

which will deliver jobs and prosperity in

neighboring countries.

New Zealand aid increasingly goes

directly to communities, families and

private businesses, rather than being lost

in the system. For many years, too much

aid has been used to develop large

bureaucracies, or diverted into the hands

of local politicians and public servants.

That is one of the main reasons that

hundreds of millions of dollars in aid

have largely failed to lift living standards

in the way we all want to see.

Two weeks ago, I attended on behalf of

the Foreign Minister a ministerial

meeting at the Secretariat of the Pacific

Community in New Caledonia. There

were 175 people in attendance for five

whole days. The direct cost of the

meeting was more than $250,000 which

does not factor in the salary costs of the

875 working days consumed by

participants, far less the opportunity

costs of what these bright and successful

people could be doing instead of sitting

in a room drafting an eight-page

communiqué which in a practical sense

is of no value.

I can think of any number of activities

which would make more of a difference

in Atiu or along the Sepik River than

publishing another piece of paper like

the SPC communiqué or the Pacific

Plan. Neither will create jobs nor

advance Pacific communities in any

sense of improving their lot.

This meeting was not exceptional or

unusual. The Pacific hosts a procession

of heavily-resourced regional and

international agencies. For example, the

SPC employs 680 staff and has a budget

of $145 million. The Pacific Forum

Secretariat has over 100 staff. I think we

would all agree that these agencies can

do a lot of very good work in the region.

The issue is the high cost and the down-

stream effects on Pacific nations.

Staff at these regional organisations

enjoy remuneration, terms and

conditions that local governments and

local businesses simply cannot match.

This starves the Pacific country‟s

government, social services and

businesses of the best people which

consequently makes it harder to develop

a robust, sustainable economy. Of

serious concern is the drain of our

regional architecture - soaking up the

time of competent Pacific people –

which actually destabilises Pacific

Government as we saw in the Solomon

Islands in 2000. The recent change in

New Zealand‟s aid focus provides an

opportunity to launch an honest appraisal

of the Pacific‟s regional architecture. In

UNANZ NEWS JUNE 2011 ISSUE N°1

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THE PEOPLE‟S MOVEMENT FOR THE UNITED NATIONS 9 WWW.UNANZ.ORG.NZ

the last thirty years, the institutional

landscape has become crowded with

new nameplates. Professor Ron

Crocombe asserts there were 300

regional organisations in his book „The

South Pacific‟, published in 2001. The

Select Committee report notes that too

high a proportion of the region‟s

resources have been captured by public

services and bureaucracy.

Don‟t misunderstand me, acting together

as a region is really important. But we

also need to think about whether there

are too many regional organisations

consuming too much resource, and not

producing real outcomes. Do you

remember the Melanesian Spearhead

Group saying it would never have a

permanent secretariat? Well, along came

a foreign donor and now we have one –

it will be interesting to see what

outcomes that Secretariat delivers. It

seems to me that there is a struggle going

on in the region for the soul of our

regional activity.

This struggle is taking money and people

away from the private sector where the

real jobs are created. That is why our aid

must move away from bureaucracy and

into the productive sectors of island

economies.

If we were starting from a blank slate, I

doubt the emphasis would be on creating

regional bureaucracies. The emphasis

should be on the economy and

development. It is like the difference

between a communiqué on poverty

elimination and a solar power generator

which reduces dependence on imported

oil in Tonga.

In difficult times, hard choices need to

be made. My suggestion would be to

consider consolidating the Secretariat of

the Pacific Community and the

Secretariat of the Pacific Islands Forum.

These organisations were formed during

the decolonisation period and have

undertaken some important work.

However, the political need for two

separate organisations in my personal

opinion has passed. We should be

aiming at having everyone all in one

canoe – paddling in unison and in the

same direction. This kind of

consolidation would free up people and

resources to manage companies, co-

operatives and community groups to

engage in real economic activity. It

would also make the regional voice

stronger, and less disparate.

New Zealand has taken a fresh approach

to aid and development.

Just as we always have, we will continue

to listen to and work in partnership with

our neighbours to build prosperous, safe

and just societies. We have a special

relationship with the Pacific and all New

Zealanders have an interest in being part

of a prosperous, safe region.

We recognise that effective and practical

– and I stress effective and practical –

aid has an important part to play, all the

more so in the present global economic

environment. When many people in our

own country are struggling, it is more

important than ever to make sure that

every single aid dollar we spend is used

effectively.

That is why New Zealand‟s assistance

will be increasingly focussed on getting

more people into jobs which can make

them a decent living. We want to deliver

a hand up, not a hand out. It is the same

approach we take in our own economy.

Achieving this will undoubtedly require

a greater proportion of our aid to be

channelled through NGO‟s, the private

sector and civil society. We should not

be afraid of that shift. It is our best

chance to break the Pacific Paradox and

create sustainable growth in the region.

The potential to create real employment

in the Pacific based on fish, forest,

horticultural, mineral extracts and

tourism is immense, and its strength over

the coming years will determine the

sustainability of all other development

gains. We want to see the Pacific

producing and trading more successfully

with New Zealand, Australia and other

countries. We want to see the Pacific

earning more from tourism and through

the remittances sent home by an

increasingly skilled labour force, as is

happening through the 30 Solomon

Islanders working in Greytown as we

speak this afternoon under the provisions

of the Regional Employment Scheme.

Importantly, we‟ll also be working with

Pacific countries to build the right

environment for growth to occur. That

means preventing corruption, poor

governance and conflict, all of which

will erode gains and impact on economic

development if left unchecked.

Today, I‟ve outlined the commitment to

a much stronger focus on broad-based

economic growth and increasing

practical aid effectiveness in the Pacific.

I have signalled the need to have a

serious look at regional organisations

and the drain they are creating on job

creation and business activity as well as

their destabilising impact on regional

governments.

In terms of the Millennium Development

Goals in the Pacific, I remain convinced

that an increased focus on job creation

and sustainable development will

enhance the achievability of the MDGs

across the region. Jobs, incomes,

independence and growth underpin

stronger, safer and healthier societies.

It is only by increasing the wealth of

communities that governments will be

able to afford and maintain the

education, health and other services their

people have a right to expect.

Past policies would see the Millennium

Development Goals remain ambitious

words on a page. The new approach

offers the best chance to make them a

reality and I think we all want to see that.

It‟s a virtuous circle.

I wish you well in your deliberations

over the next two days.

Thank you.

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The National President of the United

Nations Association of New Zealand,

Ambassador Michael Powles,

Members of the Association

Ladies and gentlemen

I want to thank the United Nations

Association of New Zealand for

allowing me a part in this year‟s

National Conference. Your President is

too much of a Samoan and I am always

compelled to respond when a dear friend

such as he comes calling, and more so

when his request provides me an

opportunity to speak on an issue so

central to the development and progress

of our region.

Indeed, the theme that you have chosen

this year – Achieving the Millennium

Development Goals in the Pacific – is at

the heart of the development work that

steers efforts of Forum Governments,

development partners, non-state actors

and regional organisations including my

own, the Pacific Islands Forum

Secretariat.

The 8 Millennium goals set in 2000 with

the deadline for achievement by 2015

will be familiar to you all. They are

time-bound and measurable goals

adopted by world leaders, including our

Pacific leaders, under solemn

commitment. A decade has now passed

since the commitment was made in the

Millennium Declaration; we have only 5

more years to the deadline.

Regional Progress on MDGs

I want to start with an account of what

we are doing in the region to reach the

MDGs, of progress being made and the

challenges being encountered.

Challenges

Pacific island countries are

disadvantaged by their geographic

isolation, small populations and limited

resources; conditions which are

compounded by their vulnerability to

natural disasters, susceptibility to global

economic shocks and exposure to the

impacts of climate change. These

challenges are even more pronounced for

the 7 smaller island States of the Forum:

Cook Islands, Kiribati, Marshall Islands,

Nauru, Niue, Palau and Tuvalu.

In their annual meeting in Port Vila,

Vanuatu last year, Forum Leaders

expressed concern about the region‟s

uneven progress towards achievement of

the MDGs. While there was

acknowledgement of the good advances

made in some areas, particularly in

education, there was general concern in

the slow progress made in critical areas

such as reducing poverty and addressing

gender, health and environmental issues.

No Pacific island country is on track to

achieve all the MDGs, and no MDG is

on track to be achieved by all countries.

In general, Polynesian countries are

recording steady rates of progress and

thus may be seen as performing

relatively well. In contrast, political

instability in the Melanesian countries is

seen as hindering their progress towards

the MDGs, while the Micronesian

countries of the North Pacific are making

slow progress, despite early gains.

It is important to highlight the conditions

and circumstances unique to Papua New

Guinea, particularly the size of the

country and large population, which

determine its progress and achievement

of the MDGs. PNG is home to almost 70

percent of the population of the entire

Pacific island countries, and so progress

measure at the regional level will

inevitably be affected, if not distorted, by

PNG‟s performance. This is quite

evident when we look at the Pacific‟s

progress on poverty. The vast majority

of the region‟s poor, around 2 million

ACHIEVING THE

MILLENNIUM

DEVELOPMENT

GOALS IN THE

PACIFIC TUILOMA NERONI SLADE Keynote Address by Tuiloma

Neroni Slade, Secretary

General, Pacific Islands Forum

Secretariat.

7 May 2011

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people, live in PNG, while the remaining

island countries account for roughly 0.6

million of the poor.

Tracking the region‟s progress towards

the MDGs poses ongoing issues. A

majority of Pacific island countries lack

the capacity to systematically provide

comprehensive and quality data needed

to monitor progress. As a result of the

absence of quality data there is a heavy

reliance on qualitative analysis and

anecdotal evidence to fill in the gaps.

Against this background, let me give you

a quick overview of the region‟s

performance against the 8 Millennium

goals, starting with the first, on

eliminating extreme poverty and hunger.

Poverty and hunger (MDG1)

Searching for an accepted definition of

poverty in the Pacific has been

problematic, as international norms of

poverty fail to account for cultural social

safety nets and subsistence lifestyles

prevalent in the region. Poverty, or

hardship, in the Pacific has therefore

been defined as inadequate access to

basic services such as health and

education, as well as inadequate access

to income opportunities. This „poverty of

opportunity‟ basically contributes to the

inability of people to lead the kind of

lives they aspire to.

Significant data gaps make it difficult to

monitor the poverty situation for the

region, but all indications however

suggest that poverty is most probably on

the increase. This is likely a result of low

economic growth, lack of employment

opportunities and rising inflation across

the region, made worse by the recent

global financial and economic crisis, as

well as the food and fuel crises before

that.

Addressing poverty towards the 2015

deadline will remain an uphill battle, in

light of the current jobless global

economic recovery and the looming

threat of another international food and

fuel crisis. Together, these global

conditions are likely to constrain

economic growth and job creation, while

sustaining relatively high inflation in the

region. They will also affect the level of

remittance flows to the region. Lack of

job opportunities for the growing youth

population in the Pacific could

potentially have spillover social

consequences linked to increased crime,

drug use and general lawlessness.

Food poverty has generally not been a

major issue in the Pacific, given the

largely traditional subsistence

agricultural lifestyles of many island

countries. However, with increasing

urbanisation and growing dependence on

imported foodstuff, poor nutrition is a

major cause for concern. Poor nutrition

has led to the increase, already alarming,

in incidences of non-communicable and

lifestyle diseases in the Pacific. I will

touch again on the problem of NCDs in

the context of the health-related MDGs.

In considering the broader impacts of

poverty, special consideration should be

given to the plight of vulnerable groups

of society like woman and persons with

disabilities. Women, in particular, in

some traditional communities in the

region continue to suffer from various

forms of discrimination. So addressing

gender issues has an important bearing

for the fight against poverty.

While the prospects may seem bleak in

progressing achievement of this MDG,

Pacific countries have demonstrated their

resilience in the fight against poverty,

through interventions to facilitate access

to micro financing opportunities. The

success of the VANWODS programme

in Vanuatu and the South Pacific

Business Development Micro Finance

Scheme in Samoa, have empowered

women to access and utilise business

development services, where hitherto

access to banking services have been

limited.

Education (MDG2)

As alluded to earlier, the Pacific has

been doing well in education and is on

track to meet, if not already met, its

MDG targets in this area. In the broader

scheme of things this is a promising sign

against the region‟s progress in other

MDGs, primarily because it suggests the

region is making the right investments in

laying the foundations for more skilled

and productive communities.

Overall, good progress was noted in the

level of primary enrolment but there are

some weaknesses in primary completion

rates. Literacy rates in the Pacific are

generally high, averaging around 95

percent in all countries except PNG and

Solomon Islands. Pacific island

countries, like Samoa, Vanuatu, Palau,

Fiji, PNG and Solomon Islands, have

either abolished school fees or provided

grants to promote and improve access to

education. School grants have proved

effective in ensuring children are able to

access primary education and by

extension relieving the financial burden

on the poor; thus, also contributing to

poverty alleviation.

Given the enormity of its geographical

size and socio-economic and cultural

constraints, PNG recognised early that it

would not be able to achieve the

prescribed universal primary education

MDG targets. Thus, in maintaining the

importance given to its commitment to

achieve the MDGs, Papua New Guinea

instead set its own new targets to better

reflect local circumstances and a more

accurate measure of “progress” against

such circumstances.

To reinforce national efforts and sustain

gains made in Education, Forum

Education Ministers in 2009 endorsed

the Pacific Education Development

Framework to assist Pacific island

countries with the achievement of the

MDGs and Education for All goals. This

framework recognises that the quality of

education is just as important as the

access to education.

Gender (MDG3)

The Pacific island countries‟

performance in promoting gender

equality and empowering women is

mixed. Most countries are either on-track

or only slightly off-track in eliminating

the gender disparity in education. In

contrast, the majority of countries are

off-track with gender empowerment,

based on the proportion of women‟s

representation in parliament, for

example, and participation in the non-

agricultural labour force. The region has

one of the lowest records in the world for

the proportion of women in national

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parliaments and has recorded high levels

of violence against women, which has

derailed progress in achieving gender

equality.

While significant steps are still needed to

advance gender equality in the region,

some encouraging openings are being

pursued particularly in the area of

violence against women and in efforts to

increasing women‟s representation at

high levels of policy and decision-

making, in national parliaments and also

in other institutions.

Strong examples of this growing shift

includes legislation and policies to

eliminate violence against women being

advanced in Pacific countries recently,

including Vanuatu, Solomon Islands,

Samoa, FSM and Cook Islands. In terms

of women in decision making, a number

of national initiatives are underway in

several Pacific island countries exploring

the use of temporary special measures

and advocacy and awareness on the need

for greater women‟s participation in

decision making processes.

In recognition of the central role of

women in all levels of decision making,

Pacific island countries place great

emphasis on women‟s participation in

local government as critical to the

advancement of gender equality – an

indicator currently lacking in the MDG

3. In some Pacific countries, local

government have a higher representation

of women in elected and appointed

decision making positions than at the

national level. Although still token in

numbers and grossly under-represented

in local government, it is an important

area for consideration in tracking the

Pacific‟s progress.

Health (MDG5)

The performance of Pacific island

countries across the health-related

development goals, MDG 4 (child

mortality), 5 (maternal health) and 6

(HIV/AIDS, malaria, others), is mixed.

We have made good progress in

reducing child mortality, with mixed

performance in improving maternal

mortality rates, while combating HIV

and AIDS, and especially NCDs has

proven to be more difficult.

The region anticipates it will meet its

targets towards reducing child mortality

rates with countries that are slightly off-

track expected to achieve the goal with

accelerated effort. Across the region,

infant and under-5 year mortality rates

have declined steadily with significant

declines in Solomon Islands and

Vanuatu. Measles immunisation rates

have also generally improved. On

maternal health, most Pacific island

countries are on-track to reduce national

maternal mortality rates, while progress

towards achieving reproductive health

targets is slow and hindered again by the

lack of data. Teenage pregnancy

continues to be a concern in most island

countries.

The Pacific region is generally off-track

in achieving MDG 6 with growing

incidences of HIV and AIDS, and NCDs.

However, there is progress on the fight

against malaria, particularly in Vanuatu,

Solomon Islands and PNG where

malaria is endemic.

An emerging threat to the region is the

prevalence of NCDs. NCDs are the cause

of 75 percent of all Pacific deaths, and

NCD-related mortality and morbidity are

rising. This is an alarming rate

underpinned by unhealthy lifestyles and

environmental changes that make

communities susceptible to tobacco and

alcohol use, unhealthy diets and lack of

physical activity. Customary attitudes

and practices, especially regarding the

use of food in ceremonies and

exchanges, are other contributing factors.

These issues have not gone unnoticed in

the region. There is strong awareness and

commitment by governments and

communities to addressing NCDs as a

serious health issue. The [2-1-22] Pacific

Framework for the Prevention and

Control of NCDs now includes the

preparation of national NCD plans and

strategies and the integration of NCD

policies on tobacco, nutrition, physical

activity, alcohol, diabetes and cancer into

national programmes. The Framework

supports multi-sectoral approaches to

addressing NCDs, given that

contributing factors to the NCD problem

fall outside the health sector and equally

impact on the fight against NCDs.

Environmental sustainability (MDG7)

It goes without saying that like all

indigenous communities globally,

Pacific island countries and their people

have a high degree of economic and

cultural attachment and dependence on

the natural environment. Our natural

environment is a source of food and

shelter; it is the backbone to sustaining

traditional subsistence economies and

modern economic practice; and provides

the cultural resources that sustain our

sense of belonging and identity – in

essence, it is who we are as a people and

community.

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Yet, at the same time, it is also what

compounds conditions of vulnerability,

with natural disasters a common threat

across the Pacific, and now climate

change. Climate change remains the

greatest challenge for the region, as the

current and predicted effects are likely to

significantly undermine progress

towards development and for some of

the smaller island countries, survivability

and their very existence.

Again, as is the case with tracking

performance of other MDGs we are

hindered by the lack of comprehensive

data and given the centrality of

environmental sustainability to the

region, this is a serious weakness.

Forests and marine resources

We are also confronted with several

challenges in protecting the Pacific‟s

forests including conversion of natural

forest land for agriculture, as well as

guarding against exploitation and

degradation, particularly in the Solomon

Islands and parts of PNG. The

sustainability of marine and coastal

resources is equally important as more

than 80 percent of Pacific islanders live

in or near coastal areas and are

dependent on these resources for their

livelihood. The potential value to Pacific

countries of fisheries and aquaculture

production is estimated to be in excess of

US$2 billion.

Therefore, conservation efforts are

critical to the region – the Micronesia

Challenge, launched in 2005, is one

example of a regional inter-

governmental initiative that facilitates

the conservation of marine and forest

resources in Micronesia.

Water and sanitation

At the household level though, the most

pressing of environmental issues for

most Pacific island families in their daily

lives is access to safe water and

improved sanitation. Polynesian

countries enjoy reasonably good levels

of access, while access for rural

households is a major concern for

Melanesian countries. Micronesian

countries are finding it particularly

challenging to provide access to safe

water and improved sanitation on

account of high urbanisation and

population densities. Rising urbanisation

is also a contributing factor to increasing

areas of squatter settlements and very

poor housing, particularly in Suva,

Honiara and Port Moresby.

Partnerships for development

As can be appreciated from this quick

account, this is a massive array of the

challenges, with inter-acting causes and

in almost every case affected by global

forces. Without assistance, it would be

beyond the capacities of many Pacific

island countries to manage alone in

achieving the MDGs. By good fortune,

the region enjoys a range of committed

partnerships with development partners

playing a critical role in helping

countries achieve the MDGs, which is

the premise of the 8th goal of global

partnerships for development.

Pacific countries would need to continue

to develop and nurture their own

arrangements of bilateral and multilateral

partnerships with other Governments and

organisations, and nationally with their

own civil society organisations

communities – no doubt by the accepted

standards of inclusiveness, transparency

and accountability. By those same

standards it would need to be recognised

that political stability and leadership are

critical. Improved governance in the

allocation and coordination of domestic

resources to support the achievement of

the MDGs is simply essential.

In the longer term there will be real

potential in regional economic

integration. Although negotiations on

trade integration continue to move

slowly, Pacific Leaders recognise that

trade agreements, fairly and successfully

negotiated, will bring significant

economic benefits to their countries,

particularly through higher trade and

investment flows. These economic

benefits would, in turn, potentially make

a significant contribution to the

achievement of the MDGs.

In addition, information and

communications technology presents

significant opportunities for the region to

achieve the MDGs as the benefits of the

use of ICT cuts across many of the

development goals. We know already the

benefits of the One-Laptop-Per-Child

programme which has positive

implications for the welfare of children,

access to education, as well as poverty

and hardship.

Regional efforts supporting MDGs achievement

I want now to say a few words about

what we in the regional organisations are

doing to support Forum countries

achieve the MDGs. The Forum

Secretariat is part of 9 regional

organisations that make up the Council

of Regional Organisations of the Pacific

or CROP, which meets at least once a

year under the permanent chairmanship

of the Forum Secretary General. The

work of the CROP is focussed on

implementing the Pacific Plan, the

Pacific Plan in turn being linked directly

to the achievement of the MDGs.

As you will know, Forum Leaders

adopted the Pacific Plan in 2005 as the

master strategy to strengthen and gain

regional cooperation and integration. The

vision of the Pacific Plan is for a region

of peace, democracy, economic

prosperity and good governance, a

region that values its diversity, natural

resources and human rights. The Pacific

vision echoes the fundamental values of

the Millennium Declaration – of

freedom, equality, solidarity, tolerance,

respect for nature, and shared

responsibility. As such, the Pacific Plan

serves as the foundation for the region‟s

efforts towards the achievement of the

MDGs.

The Pacific Plan is a “living document‟,

which means that it allows for the

implementation strategy to respond to

emerging issues and challenges. At their

meeting in 2009, Forum Leaders

endorsed 5 priority themes for

implementing the Pacific Plan, all of

which have direct links to the

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achievement of the MDGs. These 5

priorities are about:

fostering economic development and

promoting opportunities for broad-based

growth (covering trade, infrastructure,

fisheries, the energy sector, tourism,

transport, ICT, etc); (ii) improving livelihoods and the

well-being of Pacific peoples (in

food security, health, education,

gender-based violence and

opportunities for people living

with disabilities, etc); (iii) addressing climate change;

(iv) stronger and better

governance; and (v) improved social, political and

legal conditions for stability, safety

and security.

In 2010, last year, in line with the

“living” character of the Pacific Plan,

Forum Leaders endorsed emerging

issues that needed more

targeted effort, two of which were

directly linked to achieving the

MDGs: safe drinking water and basic

sanitation services; and increasing

literacy and numeracy rates in

selected Pacific island countries.

Also in 2010, Forum Leaders issued

their Port Vila Declaration on

Accelerating Progress on the

Achievement of the MDGs. The

commitment of this Declaration is to

accelerate progress towards achieving

the MDGs by localising the development

goals, advocating for the special needs of

the Pacific small island developing

States and through better development

coordination efforts. Leaders also called

on the support of development partners

and the international community to

develop innovative programmes to

expedite MDGs achievement, scale up

aid, improve aid effectiveness, support

for the strengthening of statistics, as well

as supporting Pacific communities

through the mainstreaming of the

Mauritius Strategy of Implementation of

the global programme for the sustainable

development of small island developing

States.

To give you some idea of how we are

actually going about this work, I need to

refer to the Development Compact

launched by Forum Leaders at their

meeting in Cairns, Australia, in 2009 in

response to concerns that the region was

generally off-track to achieve the MDGs

despite high levels of development

assistance. The Compact is also known

as the Cairns Compact, and its key

objective is to improve the coordination

and use of all available development

resources with the central aim of

achieving real progress against the

MDGs. The Compact focuses on:

► regular peer reviews and reporting of

countries national development plans to

strengthen planning and

implementation processes; ► development partner reporting on the

application of aid effectiveness good

practices; ► strengthening public financial

management systems;

► tracking the region‟s progress on the

MDGs; ► improving high level engagement with

the private sector; and ► tracking the overall effectiveness of

development efforts in the region.

As a result of the Compact, the Forum

Secretariat is now producing annual

reports to track the region‟s progress on

the MDGs. The report in 2011 will focus

on the health-related MDGs.

Civil society

An accounting of the regional

efforts towards achieving the

MDGs cannot be complete without

highlighting the critical importance

of the work and role of civil

society organisations and non-

governmental organisations in

supporting Pacific island countries.

These organisations have been

instrumental in areas such as

poverty reduction, gender equality,

and combating HIV and AIDS.

The role and contribution of church

organisations and local communities in

particular areas such education is

widespread throughout the region and

critically essential.

And that point brings me to the crux of

achieving the MDGs in the Pacific – it is

work that can only be managed through

effective partnerships and collaboration

between Governments across the region,

among communities, public

and private sectors, with non-State and

non-government actors, and among

regional organizations. For this reason,

we feel very pleased in being able to

participate in this conference, and again I

want to thank the United Nations

Association of New Zealand for

highlighting and promoting the MDGs,

and in such a pertinent manner in

promoting the aims and objectives of the

United Nations.

As I close, I note that 2011 marks the

40th anniversary of the Pacific Islands

Forum. It is, naturally, a time for

reflection: on the journey of 4 decades

and on the challenges encountered and

overcome; on the challenges which

linger, and those to come. For the

moment, in the context of the MDGs, we

have a target fix on the year 2015. We

cannot lose sight of that and the need to

re-assert commitment and to capitalize

on the collective strengths of our region

to achieve for all Pacific communities

the Millennium Development Goals.

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Professor Overton began by

acknowledging both the potential and

some limitations of the MDGs. That

they were agreed to by all of the UN

members states in 2000 was in itself an

achievement There is a remarkable

degree of acceptance and support for

them and they have real potential for

change offering something tangible to

monitor.

The first six are generally accepted by all

as fundamental to eradicating extreme

poverty and hunger (goal 1) and goal 7

on environmental sustainability is a

necessary wish list but Goal 8 on

developing a global partnership for

development must have been designed

by a Committee. It is an interesting

check list and can be seen more as fixing

the symptoms but not the causes.

There is the question of poverty and how

it relates to the Pacific region. What is

poverty in Pacific terms and how does it

relate globally.

Global Comparisons

What these show is that the situation is

not improving at the rate of other regions

especially Eastern and South eastern Asia

MDG’S AND THE

PACIFIC

PRESENTATION PROFESSOR JOHN OVERTON John Overton is Professor of

Development Studies at

Victoria University of

Wellington. He is a geographer

who has conducted research in

the Pacific Islands and East

Africa. He is currently working

on a Marsden Fund research

project on aid in the Pacific

region.

7 May 2011

UNANZ NEWS JUNE 2011 ISSUE N°1

Employed people living below $1.25 (PPP) per day, percentage of total employment

1991 2000 2009

Developing Regions 56.3 41.3 30.7

Sub-Saharan Africa 66.8 66.1 63.5

Latin America and the Caribbean 12.7 12.9 8.5

Eastern Asia 67.4 36.5 12.6

Southern Asia 60.9 53.3 51.3

South-Eastern Asia 53.5 41.8 27.6

Oceania 51.6 47.4 49.7

Developed Regions 0.0 0.0 0.0

Deaths of children before reaching the age of five per 1,000 live births

1990 2009

Developing Regions 99 66

Sub-Saharan Africa 180 129

Latin America and the Caribbean 52 23

Eastern Asia 45 19

Southern Asia 122 69

South-Eastern Asia 73 36

Oceania 76 59

Developed Regions 12 6

Maternal deaths per 100,000 live births

1990 2008

Developing Regions 450 290

Sub-Saharan Africa 870 640

Latin America and the Caribbean 140 85

Eastern Asia 110 41

Southern Asia 590 280

South-Eastern Asia 380 160

Oceania 290 230

Developed Regions 16 14

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Poverty in the Pacific

Infant Mortality Rate

(per 1000 live births)

Source: Asia-Pacific MDG Report 2010-11

see http://www.undp.org/mdg/countries.shtml

These show the real problem is PNG but

there is a little improvement in some

states and a regression in Vanuatu.

The Need for Long-Term Commitment

For aid to be effective it needs to be

ownership aligned and harmonised. We

tend to hand over the cheque and not the

driving wheel and when we do we need

to be more relaxed about where they

drive.

Intra-regional differences

The issue of Scale

Papua New Guinea

Population: 6,187,591 (2011 est.)

Total land area: 462,840 sq km

GDP per capita: $2,500 (2010 est.)

GDP: $14.93 billion (2010 est.)

Aid as % GNI: 5.2%

ODA per capita: $61.44

Tuvalu

Population: 10,544 (2011 est.)

Total land area: 26 sq km

GDP per capita: $2,615 (2009 est.)

GDP: $29.0 million (2009 est.)

Aid as % GDP: 59%

ODA per capita: $1346.15

There is some argument for removing

PNG from the statistics at one end of the

scale and Tuvalu at the other or

comparing different groups to make

comparisons with

Some Real Concerns

While there are not always enough

statistics available there are some real

concerns even excluding PNG in

primary schooling skilled birth

attendance forest cover and Co2

emissions. More specific to PNG are

issues of HIV safe drinking water and

basic sanitation. Many of these show

regression and others very slow

improvement.

Is Aid a good way to promote economic growth?

You need health and education to

promote economic growth.

You need economic growth to sustain

health and education programmes.

We need to keep thinking about MDGs

with a human face and not be to tied to

time constraints.

We do have a ½ billion overseas

development budget and a commitment

to the Pacific region.

UNANZ NEWS JUNE 2011 ISSUE N°1

1990 2008

Cook Islands 16 14

Fiji 19 16

Kiribati 65 38

PNG 67 53

Samoa 40 22

Solomon Islands 31 30

Vanuatu 23 27

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THE PEOPLE‟S MOVEMENT FOR THE UNITED NATIONS 17 WWW.UNANZ.ORG.NZ

Kia ora tatou and thank you for the

opportunity to address your Annual

Conference today.

I‟d like to warmly acknowledge Tuiloma

Neroni Slade, Talofa lava, and members

of the Diplomatic Corp here today.

I am speaking to you on behalf of

Amanda Ellis – who heads the New

Zealand Aid Programme. She is

currently in Istanbul attending the UN

Least Developed Countries Conference

and is sorry she is unable to be here

today

The 2015 deadline for achieving the

MDGs is fast approaching and progress

is slower than we would like. In our own

region, the Pacific, we are badly off

track in terms of achieving some of the

goals - in particular Goal 5, which relates

to Maternal Health.

Within its aid programme New Zealand

is prioritising the Pacific. The

programme supports sustainable

development through four themes:

Investing in economic development (a

real growth area); Promoting human

development; Improving resilience and

responding to disasters; and Building

safe and secure communities.

Within the Pacific, education is rightly

recognised as one of the most successful

means of enabling countries to achieve

economic development and we are

providing substantial support for the

sector. Currently we spend

approximately NZ$67 million annually

on educational support in the Pacific. It

is important that we can be confident

that our efforts in this area are generating

the results we expect, especially in terms

of the quality and relevance of the

education people receive.

We are working closely with others - in

particular Australia – to make sure that

this is the case. This investment by

countries and donors appears to be

paying off.

According to the 2010 Pacific Regional

MDG tracking report across the region

only PNG remains significantly off-track

to achieve MDG2. All Polynesian

countries have effectively already

achieved universal primary education,

although the challenge for these

countries now is to maintain this level

and to capture the remaining very small

percentage of children who are still

slipping-through-the-net.

We have a great story to tell in the

Solomon Islands.

The New Zealand Aid Programme is

helping the Solomon Islands Ministry of

Education to achieve its goal of

providing a quality basic education for

all children and eliminating gender

disparity at all levels of education. As

the lead donor in the Solomon Islands

education sector, New Zealand is

working with European Union, UNICEF

and most recently, AusAID, in

partnership with the Solomon Islands

Ministry of Education on a

comprehensive Education Sector

Programme. New Zealand‟s support for

education in the Solomon Islands has

contributed to a 30 percent increase in

the number of children enrolled in

primary school since 2003; training for

1,850 teachers; the building of 289

classroom blocks; and new English and

mathematics textbooks in 96 percent of

schools.

Perhaps most important of all, recent

results for the period 2006 – 2009 show

an 11 percent increase in children

achieving at a “satisfactory” literacy

level or above and 5 percent increase in

“satisfactory” numeracy results or above.

Despite the gains there is a long way to

go and a lot of work to do – 41 percent

of Solomons children still do not achieve

a satisfactory literacy level and 47

percent have similar problems in

JACKIE FRIZELLE DIRECTOR, DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY & EFFECTIVENESS New Zealand Aid Programme,

Ministry of Foreign Affairs and

Trade

7 May 2011

UNANZ NEWS JUNE 2011 ISSUE N°1

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THE PEOPLE‟S MOVEMENT FOR THE UNITED NATIONS 18 WWW.UNANZ.ORG.NZ

numeracy.

A new funding arrangement worth

NZ$33 million over three years was

signed last year to build on these

successes and help the Solomon Islands

government address the more serious

education challenges they still face.

Let‟s move to the second thing we need

to do make a difference - which is

ensuring there are resources available to

achieve the MDGs. There has been a

great deal of international dialogue,

including within the United Nations

(UN), around the provision of

development assistance in support of the

MDGs. This includes the campaign for

donors to achieve the UN Official

Development Assistance (ODA) target

of 0.7 percent of gross national income

and discussion of innovative financing

mechanisms.

It is positive that the Organisation for

Economic Co-Operation and

Development (OECD) last month

announced that 2010 ODA flows are at

the highest level ever - 129 billion US

dollars - in spite of the financial and

economic crisis. This is a 6.5 percent

increase on the previous year. New

Zealand has been a part of this trend -

steadily increasing its ODA levels over

the past few years.

However talking about development

assistance misses the real point. Most of

the resources for addressing the

challenges set out in the MDGs come

from developing countries themselves –

from their own economies, their own tax

bases. Foreign investment and trade are

all a part of the picture. While there is a

great deal of variation – on average aid

makes up less than 15 percent of a

country‟s revenue.

So if we are serious about addressing the

challenges laid out in the MDGs we

must be serious about supporting our

partner countries to develop their

economies. This is the only way there

will ever be the resourcing needed to

meet the scale of the challenge to

achieve the MDGs.

Let me be very clear about this. There is

no dichotomy or competition between

economic development and the MDGs.

Economic development is an absolutely

necessary underpinning for achieving the

MDGs and achieving the MDGs is

absolutely necessary for sustainable

economic development. Smart aid

recognises this – and leverages country

resources to get big results.

An example of this is New Zealand‟s

work with transport infrastructure in

Vanuatu.Vanuatu has recognised that it

is important to ensure that good

initiatives in important economic sectors

such as tourism, fisheries or agriculture

do not fail for want of reasonable

transport linkages. In Vanuatu, for

example, development has been

constrained by poor roads which damage

vehicles, and stock and produce.

The poor state of some roads also

stopped tourists from visiting areas

outside the major centres, and

discouraged investment in business

opportunities such as resort

development. For this reason New

Zealand contributed NZ$14 million to a

US$75 million project led by the United

States‟ Millennium Challenge

Corporation to upgrade more than

150km of roads in Vanuatu.

The East Coast Santo Road, and the

Efate Ring Road have now officially

opened. The project has realigned and

upgraded 92km of road linking Port Vila

with outlying coastal villages on Efate

and 48km of road on the island of Santo.

The project was delivered ahead of

schedule and under budget, and is

already having an impact.

There are significantly increased traffic

flows on both roads, indicating travel is

now easier and less costly. And there are

reports that fresh produce is now more

readily available in the Port Vila market.

Of course road transport is just one part

of the story. The New Zealand Aid

Programme is also providing support for

inter-island shipping in Vanuatu, and

elsewhere, with air transport initiatives.

The talk of results leads me to my third,

final and most important point – good

intentions expressed as goals and the

resources to achieve them are irrelevant

if we don‟t get results. We need to

ensure our aid is effective.

In a sense the United Nations has been at

the forefront of the Aid Effectiveness

drive – rallying donors under a common

banner and providing clear targets and

goals that have been agreed by all

member states and major development

players. The ambitious targets in the

MDGs have focussed donors and

countries on the question of how can we

ensure aid works. It was clear that

development results achieved last

century were not in line with the level of

investment. Project style aid which told

countries what they needed and then

delivered it for them left a collection of

white elephants and failures behind.

So the development community took a

UNANZ NEWS JUNE 2011 ISSUE N°1

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long hard look at the evidence to try to

distil the essence of what matters in

making aid effective. The result was the

the Paris Declaration on Aid

Effectiveness (2005) and the Accra

Agenda for Action (2008). These are

international commitments to practices

that will improve aid effectiveness.

They are based on five key principles:

ownership, alignment, harmonization,

managing for results and mutual

accountability.

Ownership is based on the principle that

partner countries have a right and a

responsibility to exercise effective

leadership over their development

policies, and strategies and co-ordinate

development actions. They need to be in

the driver‟s seat.

Alignment means that donors should

base their overall support on partner

countries' national development

strategies and plans, align with their

budget and use country systems

wherever it is feasible.

Harmonisation is about donors working

together to coordinate their support, and

avoid duplication.

Managing for Results refers to

managing resources and improving

decision making with a focus on

development outcomes.

Mutual Accountability makes it clear

that both donors and partners are

accountable for development results and

there needs to be clarity and

transparency about commitments.

These principles have led to some

radically different approaches to aid over

the last decade. But has it worked? This

is a question that will be asked later this

year at the fourth High Level Meeting on

Aid Effectiveness which will be held in

Busan, Korea. Evidence that is emerging

in the preparation for this meeting is that

yes, it does work, but there is not enough

walking the talk around the

commitments. One thing is clear – it can

only work well if we all play by the

same rules. For this reason a key focus

for the Busan meeting will be to broaden

the tent to accommodate non-traditional

and emerging donors and philanthropic

organisations into the conversation on

what constitute the essential principles of

good development assistance.

Busan will bring together a broad range

of development partners – developing

countries, donors, multilateral

organisations, civil society

organisation‟s, private sector and

philanthropic organisations. This

question of aid effectiveness has never

been more important. We have only four

years left to achieve the MDGs so we

need an absolute focus on results.

Given the other pressures on New

Zealand and other governments‟ budgets

at the moment, there is also an increased

focus on the need to demonstrate value

for money, deliver results and leverage

across the collective donor effort to

deliver results. The evidence is clear that

if aid money is spent on multiple small

projects or in ways which do not support

local strategies and priorities, the

assistance we provide is unlikely to have

anything but a short-lived impact. Worse

still, multiple small projects can actually

draw key people away from what ought

to be their priority tasks. They can

actually slow down the development

process.

So we are working to increase the

average size of the projects and

programmes the New Zealand Aid

Programme supports, and to ensure that

the programmes we do support fit well

with local priorities, and will be

sustainable. Examples include the

education sector programmes we are

supporting in the Solomon Islands,

Vanuatu and Samoa.

We and our partners also need to know

more about how effective our assistance

has been. On the one hand, this is

essential so that we can learn from our

past experiences and make our future

efforts even more effective; on the other

because we must be able to better

demonstrate to our governments and

taxpayers how well we are using their

money .In order to do this we are

strengthening our focus on measures and

monitoring – in particular establishing

good baselines and monitoring the

impacts of the activities we support.

And our government partners are

increasingly becoming aware of the need

to report to their own Parliaments on the

use they are making of donor resources.

For example by reporting expected aid

programme support „on budget‟ and by

reporting on the overall effectiveness of

government aid efforts. Vanuatu has

established its own Monitoring and

Evaluation unit in the Prime Minister‟s

Office and has begun producing annual

development reports. This is indicative

of a wide international trend towards

more transparency around aid flows, aid

priorities and development results.

We heard this morning from the

Secretary General that the Pacific, with

the leadership of the Pacific Forum, has

taken things further. Following the 2009

Pacific Islands Forum held in Cairns,

Forum Leaders adopted the Cairns

Compact on Strengthening Development

Coordination in the Pacific in their

Communiqué.

The Cairns Compact includes the

following ideas:

a recognition that broad-based, private

sector-led growth is essential to

achieving faster development progress; a

recognition that improved governance

and service delivery are essential to

achieving faster development progress; a recognition that greater investment in

infrastructure would underpin greater

economic development; an acknowledgement that country

leadership, mutual accountability and

mutual responsibility between Forum

Island countries and their development

partners are fundamental to successful

development outcomes; the need to draw on international best-

practice as expressed in the Paris

Declaration on Aid Effectiveness and the

Accra Agenda for Action; and

of particular interest, a revitalised

commitment to the achievement of the

MDGs in the Pacific. In the Cairns Compact we see reflected,

a commitment to the MDGs – and to the

UNANZ NEWS JUNE 2011 ISSUE N°1

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THE PEOPLE‟S MOVEMENT FOR THE UNITED NATIONS 20 WWW.UNANZ.ORG.NZ

Aid Effectiveness principles and the kind

of sustainable development which will

underpin their achievement.

As we heard this morning, the key

objective of the Compact is to drive

more effective coordination of available

resources from both Pacific Island

Countries and development partners, to

achieve real progress against the MDGs.

The Compact plainly states that the

private sector contributions to

development in the Pacific have been

poorly understood, engaged, or

encouraged. Small steps forward are

being taken with a facilitated dialogue in

the margins of the Pacific Islands Forum

Leaders' meeting, which New Zealand

will host in 2011, and we aim to take the

Private Sector Dialogue to a new level.

The UN is looking at its own processes

and approach to development to ensure it

is doing all it can to deliver aid

effectively to the world‟s poorest – in

line with the aid effectiveness agenda.

As you will be aware the UN has been

going through a reform process aimed at

delivering more coherent, effective and

efficient support to countries seeking to

attain internationally agreed

development goals, including the

Millennium Development Goals.

Increasing coherence across the UN

system and „Delivering as One‟ are

major priorities for the UN. This mirrors

some of the changes currently being

implemented around the way New

Zealand delivers aid.

At the Ministry we have also been going

through a process to ensure we are

delivering our development assistance in

a way which meets the needs of our

closest neighbours and the Government‟s

priorities for international development.

We are rolling out a new business model

and structure to ensure that we are able

to effectively deliver on sustainable

economic development, including a

Sustainable Economic Development and

Thematic Division.

And to ensure that we are able to

effectively partner with a range of

different stakeholders including the

private sector, non-government

organisations, and the state sector, and to

coordinate meaningfully with donors, we

have established a Partnerships Division.

So to sum up: We need to know what we

are trying to achieve and the MDGs have

helped to give us this focus and to hold

our feet to the fire around clear targets.

The countries we work with need

resourcing to achieve the MDGs and the

most sustainable way of achieving that is

through economic development

And thirdly aid needs to be more

effective which requires new behaviours

and new partnerships.

I‟m still hoping for a celebration in 2015

when we achieve the MDGs - the world

should be a much better place than it was

in 2000.

UNANZ NEWS JUNE 2011 ISSUE N°1

PHD students Mele Katea Paea, Anna Joski, and Aaron Packard, 350˚ Pacific representative, speaking at the

Opening Ceremony in Parliament on the 6th May 2011.

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THE PEOPLE‟S MOVEMENT FOR THE UNITED NATIONS 21 WWW.UNANZ.ORG.NZ

The Conference was held over one and a

half days, opening on Friday afternoon

in the Beehive Theatrette Parliament

Buildings, by John Hayes MP Chair of

the Foreign Affairs Select Committee.

The Session focussed on voices of the

young and their aspirations and

promotion of the MDGs.

The National Finals of the UNANZ

Secondary School Speech Award is

always a highlight of the Conference and

this year was no exception. Six regional

winners gave us powerful messages

about How Can Youth promote the

Achievement of Development Goals.

The judges must have had a difficult

decision to make, as the standard was

very high. Byron Terris from

Auckland‟s Sacred Heart College was

the overall winner and will travel with

the UN Youth delegation to Adelaide in

July to participate in the Australian

Model UN. Congratulations to all the

students.

We then heard from Anna Joskin a Phd

student from Papua New Guinea who

having been a classroom practitioner for

18 years used her own experience to

share how an ordinary working person is

helping to achieve the MDGs in the

Pacific. She advocates education as a

tool to pursue the MDGs using

relationships which have been the

cornerstone of Pacific cultures, including

values of respect, reciprocal relationship

and extended family kinship.

Mele Katea Paea a Phd student from

Tonga began by saying that for her

leadership values are embedded in

Tonga culture and have developed and

shaped her knowledge and experiences.

Leadership is founded on people‟s

interactions within a communal context,

which forms the basis of achieving

shared goals

We then had four very impressive

presentations from four young people

who inspire other young people here and

in the Pacific region to work for the

achievement of the development goals.

Aaron Packard 350.org Pacific-NZ co-

ordinator focuses on the impact of

Climate Change and builds on the

capacity of young people to support

citizen action and amplify the voices of

the most vulnerable.

Will Watterson gave a very effective

impressive presentation on the Global

Poverty Project 1.4 Billion Reasons that

is an educational programme that has

played to thousands of young people

throughout Australia and New Zealand,

encouraging them to support the MDGs

and have a vision to end extreme poverty

within a generation.

Sarah Wood spoke of the work of P3 a

NZ based organisation founded by Divya

Dhar – former UN Youth - that is fast

becoming the premier international

development organisation for young

people in New Zealand. A delegation of

12 had gone to the MDG Summit in New

York last September.

Elizabeth Chan National Vice President

NOTES FROM THE

CONFERENCE

CONVENER ROBIN HALLIDAY [email protected]

Speech Award finalists (L to R)

Therese Verhoek: Wanganui High

School Wanganui

Sam Olley: Craigshead School

Canterbury

Byron Terris: Sacred Heart College

Auckland (Winner)

Yousef Ahmed: Wellington College

Emily Wilson: Tauranga Girls College

Tauranga

Ria Nadakkavukaran: Hillcrest High

School Hamilton

Image: National Speech Awards

Ceremony 6 May 2011

Photo: Lachlan Mackay

UNANZ NEWS JUNE 2011 ISSUE N°1

Will Watterson and Sarah Wood

speaking at the Opening

Ceremony

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THE PEOPLE‟S MOVEMENT FOR THE UNITED NATIONS 22 WWW.UNANZ.ORG.NZ

Fo

Education UN Youth gave us a lively

and entertaining account of the Model

UN‟s held throughout New Zealand and

the delegations they take overseas. She

is now developing Model UN resources

for classroom teaching. The Saturday

Seminar in Parliament‟s Legislative

Chamber began with the keynote speaker

Tuiloma Neroni Slade Sec General

Pacific Forum Secretariat followed by

Jackie Frizzelle representing Amanda

Ellis Director NZAID and Professor

John Overton Victoria University

Development Studies.

Afternoon Panels:

► Eliminating Poverty with Vicki Soanes,

Mele Katea Paea and Sarah Morris

UNICEF Advocate ► Education and Gender Equality Anna

Joskins, Dr Edna Tait UNESCO Pacific

Educationalist Beryl Anderson UN

Women ► Child Health, Maternal Health

HIV/AIDS Dr Api Talemaitoga Min of

Health ► Branwen Millar International Family

Planning

► Environmental Sustainability and

Tourism Dr Wren Green Council for

International Development Neil

Plimmer Tourism Consultant Ross

Corbett Tourism Resource Consultant.

► Infrastructure Trade and Access to

Credit: Roderic Alley, Craig Sims

ANZ, Graham Hassall, School of

Governance, Peter Conway CTU We were very fortunate to have such

well informed panellist with a wide

range of practical experience in

delivering aid and or researching Aid in

the Pacific

Quotes from Panelists:

On Health:

“The health sector needs to join in the

fight against poverty and equity for all in

order to improve the health of Pacific

peoples in the region”

- Dr Api Talemaitoga Min of Health

On Tourism:

“In introducing the panel I should

declare my own position – I am not an

unbiased chairman here. I believe

strongly that tourism can play a major

part in helping the Pacific Island

countries reach the Millennium

Development goals. It earns foreign

exchange, creates jobs, strengthen

community businesses and much else. I

am fully aware of the criticisms. The

foreign exchange leaks out to overseas

business, local cultures get corrupted the

natural environment gets degraded. In

my experience all these negatives can be

managed though. Certainly tourism

growth needs careful management and a

high degree of local input and control.

But if well managed the negatives can be

contained and even converted to

positives, and the benefits will vastly

outweigh them. We will see if our

panellists agree.”

- Neil Plimmer

“An example of where tourism can help

with the MDGs was found in the remote

community of Lake Sebu, Mindanao,

Southern Philippines. A women’s

handicraft project assisted by the NZ

government between 2004-2007

improved access to markets and income

derived from traditional handicrafts.

One of the outcomes of the project was,

as reported by the women, a sense of

empowerment and confidence to rise up

against domestic violence. This was

because some of the women became the

major income earner in the household. “

- Ross Corbett

The Conference concluded with a very

enjoyable dinner in the James Cook

Grand Chancellor with Tuiloma Neroni

Slade Chris Woodthorpe (UN

Information centre Canberra) and

Elizabeth Chan the incoming UN Youth

President speaking.

Suggestions for follow up discussion groups on Pacific issues

► Governance: Why are laws not

applied? Are the laws alien to local

values? ► Development partnership: What does it

entail? To quote Professor John

Overton „being in the front seat and

rusting the driver.‟ ► Health Issues - especially reproductive

health.

► Eliminating poverty vs job creation: A

false debate? To quote Jackie Frizzelle

„there is room for both.‟

► Environmental Issues & Refugees. ► Customary law - including land issues. ► Security issues: Exit strategy for The

Solomons RAMSI Force. ► Donors working together to incorporate

small scale projects.

► Movements of labour: access to jobs.

UNANZ NEWS JUNE 2011 ISSUE N°1

Robin Halliday - Wellington

Branch President, and 2011

Conference Convener.

Above: Tuiloma Neroni Slade

and Alyn Ware.

Below:Elizabeth Chan speaking

at the Conference Dinner.

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THE PEOPLE‟S MOVEMENT FOR THE UNITED NATIONS 23 WWW.UNANZ.ORG.NZ

INVESTOR NEWSLETTER ISSUE N°3 FALL 2008

UNANZ NEWS JUNE 2011 ISSUE N°1

The past couple of months have been a

busy yet exciting time for UN Youth

New Zealand.

Last month UN Youth successfully held

its annual Youth Declaration conference.

This provided an opportunity for 144

high school students to come together

and voice their opinions and aspirations

on relevant areas of policy affecting

themselves and their communities. The

students created a Declaration of their

views, which has now been sent to

groups in New Zealand and the world

who have a responsibility to consider

these views.

Over the past month all four UN Youth

regions have held their AGMs to elect a

new council. The regions are continually

holding events for both high school and

university students within their region.

They are also actively seeking to expand

their reach, for example the Auckland

Region has recently been communicating

with students in Waikato and Tauranga

interested in holding MUN events.

This weekend we are holding the

National Officeholder Development

Conference which is attached to our

National Annual General Meeting. The

conference provides a great opportunity

for officeholder training, strategizing,

socializing and reflecting.

The next major event for UN Youth New

Zealand is our NZMUN 2011 where 230

high school students will come together

in Wellington during early July, for four

days of debating topical issues and

interacting with like-minded peers."

UN YOUTH UPDATE CHLOE MUGGERIDGE UN Youth - [email protected]

When I attended my first Model UN in

2005, I had no idea I would get so

involved in an organisation with a funny

name like UNYANZ. Countless Model

UNs later, I've become part of the

National Executive of a rebranded and

reinvigorated UN Youth. And I've loved

every moment of my involvement.

What drives our organisation is our

shared aim of inspiring global citizens,

and doing so through our Model UN

programmes. In my role as National

Vice-President for Education, I've

emphasised three aspects of Model UN:

fostering a culture of creativity, inspiring

global citizens and empowering agents

of change.

Model UN fosters creativity through

role-play: at a historical Model UN set in

1945, for example, delegates had to

imagine an alternative reality by

recreating the rules for international

engagement in the post-World War II

era. Model UN inspires global citizens

by encouraging young people to debate

global issues such as human rights,

environmental sustainability and more.

By discussing ideas about justice (and

injustice) and human rights, we hope to

empower young people with the passion

and knowledge to make a difference in

their own communities.

But what drives our organisation even

more is our friendship. After every

event, we see a flurry of facebook

activity as delegates become friends and

stay in touch. Many of the delegates

become office-holders, helping to

organise events for others. We currently

have around 70 office-holders in UN

Youth, a large group of young people

whom I feel are part of a

tightknit family. It is not uncommon to

find seven or eight UN Youth office-

holders staying in the same flat at our

National Councils! It's our friendships

and mutual respect that ties this

organisation together.

Finally, I would like to thank UNANZ

for their ongoing support of UN Youth.

We look forward very much to working

with the new UNANZ National

Executive.

UNANZ CONFERENCE SPEAKING NOTES ELIZABETH CHAN UN Youth - [email protected]

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THE PEOPLE‟S MOVEMENT FOR THE UNITED NATIONS 24 WWW.UNANZ.ORG.NZ

ABOUT THE

UNANZ NEWS The UNANZ News is the

quarterly publication of the

United Nations Association of

New Zealand.

UNANZ News welcomes

articles, short letters, and

images from outside sources.

If you would like to submit

something for consideration,

please send it to the newsletter

editor Pete Cowley.

CONTACT PO Box 24-494

Wellington Central

Wellington 6142,New Zealand

(04) 496 9638

[email protected]

PATRONS: HE Sir Anand Satyanand

- Governor General of NZ

Rt Hon Helen Clark

- Administrator UNDP

WE THE PEOPLES

FOUNDATION Trustees: Pamela Jeffries,

John Hayes, Russell Marshall.

To make a donation or

bequest to the We The

Peoples Foundation for the

benefit of UNANZ please

contact [email protected].

Charities Commission

CC38918

Incorporated Societies 215914

WWW.UNANZ.ORG.NZ

UNANZ NEWS JUNE 2011 ISSUE N°1

UNANZ

National Council and Affiliates

National President

Michael Powles

National Vice Presidents

Mary Davies-Colley

Lachlan Mackay

UN Youth Prisedent

Elizabeth Chan

Treasurer

Robin Haliday

National Council Representatives

Izolda Kazemzadeh

Special Officers

Natasha Barnes - Peace and Security

John Morgan - Human Rights

Gray Southon - UN Renewal

Jean-Paul Bizoza - Humanitarian Affairs

Gray Southon - WFUNA Liaison

Ordinary Members

Margaret Arnold

Alyn Ware

Affiliate Representatives

Bradley McDonald (Esperanto)

Beryl Anderson (NCW)

Joy Dunsheath (UN Women)

Branch Presidents

Northern Region: Michael Shroff, and

Gary Russell

Waikato: Mano Manoharan

Tauranga: Gray Southon

Wanganui: Kate Smith

Wellington: Robin Halliday

Canterbury: Mary McGiven

Honorary Life Members

Gwen Ryan, Margaret Knight,

Dame Laurie Salas, Robin Halliday,

Lady Rhyl Jansen, Joan Morrell,

Grace Hollander, Ivan Demsem,

Carrick Lewis, Patricia Morrison,

Diana Unwin, Clinton Johnson,

Gita Brooke, Mary Gray,

Colin McGregor

Affiliate Members

National Council of Women NZ

NZ Assn of Rationalists & Humanists

NZ Council of Trade Unions

Operation Peace Through Unity

Soroptimist International SW Pacific

NZ Esperanto Association Inc

UN Women, Bahai,

Womens International League for Peace

and Freedom.

UNANZ Membership:

Name: ___________________________________________________________

Address: __________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

Phone: _______________________Email:________________________________

Region of choice: Membership Fee:

❍ Canterbury ❍ Tauranga ❍ Individual/Family - $30

❍ Wellington ❍ Waikato ❍ Student/Unwaged - $20

❍ Wanganui ❍ Northern ❍ Affiliated Oganisation - $50

❍ Corporate Member - $100

Send to: PO Box 24494, WGTN ❍ Donation: $___________