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Transcript of 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)
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
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
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
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.
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
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,
UNANZ NEWS JUNE 2011 ISSUE N°1
THE PEOPLE‟S MOVEMENT FOR THE UNITED NATIONS 8 WWW.UNANZ.ORG.NZ
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
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
THE PEOPLE‟S MOVEMENT FOR THE UNITED NATIONS 16 WWW.UNANZ.ORG.NZ
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
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
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
THE PEOPLE‟S MOVEMENT FOR THE UNITED NATIONS 19 WWW.UNANZ.ORG.NZ
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
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.
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
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.
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]
THE PEOPLE‟S MOVEMENT FOR THE UNITED NATIONS 24 WWW.UNANZ.ORG.NZ
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please send it to the newsletter
editor Pete Cowley.
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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: $___________