In its latest Discussion Starter, Unsure Refuge, the Pacific Institute of Public Policy (PiPP) investigates the consequences of a rapid increase in concessional lending to Pacific Island governments. With many investment projects failing and some of our countries heading on the path towards debt distress we reflect on whether it is time to reconsider lending practices across the region. The paper explores how the management of public finances is steadily being undermined by a desire to rapidly push through ill-thought-out lending agreements. Development partners create little space for understanding the full consequences of adding to debt burdens or to providing adequate analysis investment projects. Yet, at the same time, the vulnerability of Pacific Island states and their limited ability to meet the increasing demand for public services – including health and education – means we cannot tolerate the same levels of debt or continue to passively commit more revenues towards repayment. It is for this reason that we ask, “are our development partners acting like true friends?” Key messages of Unsure Refuge:

• The Pacific has witnessed a sudden increase in borrowing to pay for ill-considered infrastructure projects.
• Much of the lending has been based on flawed analysis – we can’t afford to keep making these mistakes.
• Our tolerance for debt must be a lot lower – our economies are too small and fragile to continue taking on more loans
• The rising cost of servicing debts means governments have less money to spend on services such as health and education

The aim of this paper is to stimulate an informed debate on concessional lending and the role it should play in our region. The full document can be downloaded here. For more information, please contact Kiery Manassah, kmanassah@pacificpolicy.org The Pacific Institute of Public Policy is an independent, non-partisan and not-for-profit think tank based in Port Vila, Vanuatu and exists to stimulate and support policy debate in the Pacific.

‘Business as usual is not a viable option. We are no longer on the same development journey that we began at the start of the new millennium. We must build a framework for the next era of global development that is legitimate and relevant, truly reflecting the development aspirations and challenges of people everywhere.’ – The Dili Consensus

Around the world, the pace is quickening in the process to determine what comes after the Millennium Development Goals expire in 2015. As custodians of the world’s largest ocean and home to some of its most vulnerable countries, the Pacific has a significant stake in redefining the global approach to development.

In its latest Discussion Starter, BLUE MARBLE – The Pacific in the post-2015 development agenda [PDF download], the Pacific Institute of Public Policy (PiPP) investigates the need for a new perspective on development, one which encompasses peace-building, state-building and well-being as fundamental prerequisites for development. It tracks the efforts of new and vulnerable developing nations to build a new vision to guide global development past 2015, when the Millennium Development Goals expire.

BLUE MARBLE’s key messages:

• - The MDGs were useful, but lacked the scope and specificity to properly address the needs of all developing countries, especially young, small and vulnerable nations. They did not reflect emerging priorities such as climate change and post-conflict nation building, and they ignored the role of wealthy nations in global development.
• - A new set of development priorities is needed. Looking beyond 2015, the inescapable truth is that we need a fundamental shift in development thinking. The Dili Consensus states: ‘We know that the well-being of our people depends upon the achievement of outcomes that were not adequately reflected in the MDGs, most notably in the areas of peace and justice and climate change. We know that we must shape our collective future, and that where factors impeding development are beyond our control we must speak with one voice in articulating our expectations of the global community.’
• - New visions require new voices. A number of new and revitalised international groupings are making themselves heard as we begin to define the post-2015 development agenda. The g7+, for example, has built consensus and solidarity in its assertion that peace-building and state-building goals are particularly relevant for post-conflict nations, as well as to new and to vulnerable countries, such as those in the Pacific. These nations are still seeking to build a sense of national identity and harmony amidst a maelstrom of competing forces.
• - Part of the challenge in this process is to find ways to streamline and consolidate policy initiatives via various groupings, whether sub-regionally, regionally, or internationally. Ultimately, each nation will chart its own course and identify its own priority areas, but building solidarity and sharing expertise benefits everyone.

The aim of this paper is to provide a platform for informed debate on how the post-2015 development agenda can be best shaped to accommodate Pacific interests. The full document can be downloaded here.

For more information, please contact Kiery Manassah, kmanassah@pacificpolicy.org

For media interviews and commentary, please contact Dulciana Somare-Brash. dsomare-brash@pacificpolicy.org

The Pacific Institute of Public Policy is an independent, non-partisan and not-for-profit think tank based in Port Vila, Vanuatu and exists to stimulate and support policy debate in the Pacific.

Leaving home: Carteret Islanders are preparing to leave their island - photo credit: Ben Bohane, wakaphotos.com

Leaving home: Carteret Islanders are preparing to leave their island - photo credit: Ben Bohane, wakaphotos.com

A Chief from the Carteret atolls sits on a coconut stump that use to mark the shoreline - photo credit: Ben Bohane, wakaphotos.com

Rising seas and salinity are destroying many gardens - photo credit: Ben Bohane, wakaphotos.com

The Pacific Institute of Public Policy has today launched one of its periodic Discussion Starters, this time revisiting the climate change issue with a focus on the security implications for Pacific island nations.

As climate change begins to bite, Pacific governments are moving to think more deeply about how to integrate climate change into national security and other development policies. How is it affecting water and food security, energy security and international diplomacy?

This paper looks at concerns over the potential for loss of sovereignty, mass migration, military confrontation and the way climate aid-for-influence can have geopolitical consequences. It also frames the situation in the post-MDG (Millenium Development Goals) world that we are rapidly approaching.

Although the challenge ahead is confronting, this paper suggests the global interest in the post 2015-MDG development agenda presents an opportunity for our leaders to press our concerns more robustly on the international stage. It is apparent that future security issues will be driven by climate change, and it is these issues that will drive the development agenda in our region.

As the strategic importance of the region grows in a new era of superpower contest, Pacific nations are in a better position to make stronger demands in global forums to address the challenges and help provide global leadership.

Download the Discussion Starter here.

For more information contact us at pipp@pacificpolicy.org or +678 29 842.

Fest Napuan 2012 music festival - photo credit: Graham Crumb, imagicity.com

Fest Napuan 2012 music festival - photo credit: Graham Crumb, imagicity.com

Fest Napuan 2012 music festival - photo credit: Graham Crumb, imagicity.com

Fest Napuan 2012 music festival - photo credit: Graham Crumb, imagicity.com

The Pacific islands have traditionally been seen as having limited economic potential.  With a minor manufacturing base and a reliance on tourism, donor aid and basic agricultural commodity exports, island economies have long been challenged by geography, labour skills and tiny economies-of-scale.

But are we missing something?

The creative economy – based on art, music, film, media etc – has often been overlooked as a driver of economic growth, but is known to have an important knock-on effect on tourism and broader investment.

PiPP’s latest discussion paper looks into the need for Pacific governments and development partners to prioritise arts and culture.

A healthy arts and culture environment is fundamental to nation building. There are opportunities to expand economic activity through tourism and providing opportunities to exhibit and market creative works in metropolitan countries. The internet has a role to play, but is no silver bullet. Information sharing is vital in order for economic realities of the creative sector to be realised.

Commercialisation comes with risks, however, better policies will be required to protect rights associated with ownership of cultural knowledge, particularly with respect to asserting authenticity.

The full discussion paper can be downloaded here.

PiPP will bring together some creative minds on Saturday 7 July, when it hosts a panel discussion forum on building the creative economy alongside the Festival of Pacific Arts currently underway in Honiara, Solomon Islands.

For more information contact us atpipp@pacificpolicy.org or +678 29 842.

But are we missing something?

The creative economy – based on art, music, film, media etc – has often been overlooked as a driver of economic growth, but is known to have an important knock-on effect on tourism and broader investment.

PiPP’s latest discussion paper looks into the need for Pacific governments and development partners to prioritise arts and culture.

A healthy arts and culture environment is fundamental to nation building. There are opportunities to expand economic activity through tourism and providing opportunities to exhibit and market creative works in metropolitan countries. The internet has a role to play, but is no silver bullet. Information sharing is vital in order for economic realities of the creative sector to be realised.

Commercialisation comes with risks, however, better policies will be required to protect rights associated with ownership of cultural knowledge, particularly with respect to asserting authenticity.

The full discussion paper can be downloaded here.

PiPP will bring together some creative minds on Saturday 7 July, when it hosts a panel discussion forum on building the creative economy alongside the Festival of Pacific Arts currently underway in Honiara, Solomon Islands.

For more information contact us at pipp@pacificpolicy.org or +678 29 842.

For immediate release

PATRIOT GAMES

The Pacific Institute of Public Policy has launched its latest discussion paper on Pacific geopolitics – from an island viewpoint.

It seems everyone is ‘pivoting’ into the Pacific these days.

Around the region, new alliances, new fault-lines and new opportunities are opening up after decades of sleepy neglect.

For Pacific island nations caught in the middle of this new Great Game, many are no longer pliant islanders accepting whatever fate deals them, but active, engaged players deciding their own alliances and future.

Unlike yesteryear, when slow communications and hesitant leadership meant island communities generally went along with our more powerful patrons, today light-speed communications, assertive diplomacy and a feast of choices make Pacific states far more independent – and flexible – in our external relations.

For the traditional Pacific powers, nothing can be taken for granted anymore.

We hear much analysis from US think tanks, Chinese Generals, Australian academics and EU attachés about what the Asia-Pacific Century means, and how the great powers will co- operate or contest in this vast region. But almost nowhere do we hear what Pacific islanders themselves think or want – as if all the big decisions will be made for us, as the islands once again merely provide the backdrop for an international geopolitical chess game.

This is dangerous for all sides; for islanders who might have to face a battlefield at home if leaders miscalculate alliance politics; and for superpowers who don’t understand Pacific island culture and might find their best-made plans suddenly come unstuck due to local sensitivities.

This paper provides a platform for Pacific island strategists to be heard amid the superpower rivalry.

It also points to many of the themes to be highlighted when the institute hosts its annual Pacific Debate next week, bringing four of the region’s key strategic thinkers for an informed discussion on the future of Pacific geopolitics.

The full discussion paper can be downloaded here.

For more information contact Talita on +678 29842 or ttuipulotu@pacificpolicy.org or visit our website www.pacificpolicy.org.

The Pacific Institute of Public Policy (PiPP) is an independent not-for-profit think tank that exists to stimulate and support informed policy debate in and about Pacific island countries. 

‘Modes of communication are changing, new business ventures are emerging, and mobile phones are becoming a part of everyday life.’

That’s according to a research report by the Pacific Institute of Public Policy (PiPP); the third in a series of studies on telecommunications use, benefits, and constraints in Vanuatu.

PiPP in collaboration with AusAID/Government of Vanuatu Governance for Growth Programme and the Ministry of Infrastructure and Public Utilities have been mapping developments and changes in this area since 2008.  In 2011 PiPP collected information from over 1,000 individuals across 16 research sites on 8 of the country’s islands in household surveys and had consultations with more than 100 community representatives from the government sectors, NGO, household, youth and small businesses.

Some key findings from this research:

1. The overwhelming majority of households in Vanuatu have access to a mobile phone.  Four out of five respondents reported personally owning a mobile phone and an increasing number of households have access to three or more mobile phones
2.  Mobile phone usage is higher in urban areas than in rural locations, reflecting issues of more limited coverage, cost (whether actual or perceived) and reliability of service
3.  Gaps in complementary infrastructure affect people’s ability to get maximum benefit from mobile telephony; people have phones but may have difficulty getting access to electricity to charge up batteries or can use their phones get information about current prices for commodities but be unable to get those goods to market because of a lack of shipping or roads
4.  Mobile phones are used extensively in business in both rural and urban areas, particularly at the ‘supply’ (e.g. placing orders with wholesalers) and ‘distribution’ (e.g. to confirm transportation arrangements) stages of the value chain
5.  Use of the internet, whilst growing is still very much in its infancy but people in both urban and rural areas are keen to know more about this technology and are already anticipating the advantages it will bring them both socially and economically.

The full research findings report can be downloaded here.

The funding for this research was provided by AusAID through the Governance for Growth Programme.

For more information contact Talita on +678 29842 or ttuipulotu@pacificpolicy.org or visit our website www.pacificpolicy.org.

The Pacific Institute of Public Policy (PiPP) is an independent not-for-profit think tank that exists to stimulate and support informed policy debate in and about Pacific island countries.

So said a Facebook user recently in response to the political turmoil in Papua New Guinea. Internet use is on the rise throughout the Pacific. From Fiji’s warring blogs, to new online businesses in Vanuatu, to Tonga’s inflows of cash and cultural influences from nationals living abroad. Across the Pacific the internet is ending the tyranny of distance and strengthening social bonds.

With increasing access to the internet, the latest discussion paper from the Pacific Institute of Public Policy (PiPP) examines this shifting technology landscape.

The number of Pacific people using social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook to access and spread information is growing rapidly. With the rise of citizen journalism, Pacific voices are becoming a recognisable force, and frustrated citizens are speaking out.

Some may see this as a threat, but it’s manageable, especially as online social networks have a lot in common with traditional society. This gives Pacific islanders a distinct edge balancing the challenge of protecting traditional virtues while stepping into a landscape that is being fundamentally transformed.

Dan McGarry, the institute’s chief technologist, notes that ‘while the region’s leaders are notably absent, the online conversation goes on without them’. The internet is here to stay, and leaders who accept it and engage with an increasingly connected citizenry will benefit.

On the policy front, open competition and a strong independent regulatory environment generate the most benefit for everyone. Healthy competition also allows government to maintain balance in an economic sector whose value will only increase.

The full discussion paper can be downloaded here: Net Benefits – PiPP Discussion Paper #20

For more information contact Talita on +678 29842 or ttuipulotu@pacificpolicy.org.

In classic Melanesian fashion, both are upping the ante with payback moves that are starting to spiral dangerously. Politics here does not always follow the niceties of process and protocol. Power is rarely given – it is taken.

A circuit breaker is required but who can do it? PNG has no council of chiefs, or a president, or a high profile religious leader. It has a governor general who appears paralysed and a judiciary that has become entangled.  Somare is right to be concerned about the precedence set by a government that ignores a supreme court judgment.

Fortunately, PNG’s military culture has not developed like its neighbours in Fiji and Indonesia so they remain wary about vaulting over civilian rule, despite Colonel Sasa’s recent attempt at a military takeover – a one-day fizzler that attracted little support.

But PNG has a way out – via the floor of parliament and a return to traditional kastom values by its leaders.

PNG has a Westminster system, but is also a Melanesian nation, part of a region where kastom values add a strong underlying current to politics and everyday life. The Melanesian Way is based on shared values of community, tolerance and consensus, rather than western style individualism and confrontational party politics.

In his 1975 autobiography published in the same year he became PNG’s first prime minister, Michael Somare wrote about the wisdom of Sana, the kastom title he was bestowed with from his father and grandfather.

Somare’s father told him:

Every clan has its own special magic, and ours is the magic of peace. When people come to fight us, we call them to eat first. We sit down together. We talk. We eat….we believe that after eating, their minds will be changed. They will not want to fight us anymore.

The role of a Sana is to be, by turns, a fight leader and a peacemaker.

Somare used the Sana role off fight leader to unite and bring independence to his people. Now, 40 years later, in the twilight of his political career, he seems intent on maintaining this fight leader instinct when it may be time to draw on the Sana wisdom of peacemaker instead.

Sir Michael could return to kastom values to resolve the crisis and preserve his legacy. He may have a supreme court judgment on his side, but PNG’s parliament and people have largely moved on from his rule. It would be better for those around him to focus now on his legacy and transition to the next generation so he is well remembered as the father of the nation who brought independence and later, helped transform the economy with significant investment. He needs – and deserves – a dignified exit from politics with his nation at peace, not sliding into civil unrest and its institutions undermined.

After his Fight Leader gestures – backing an attempted coup and contempt charges against the PM – is the hope he will now make a Sana gesture of peace. A compromise might be to drop his claims to be PM as long as he can remain an MP, giving him 5 months in parliament until the next election to manage his departure and rally those loyal to him.

Nor is the current impasse just about domestic politics and individual egos – the current situation reflects increasing geopolitical pressures on PNG as it emerges as the resource El Dorado of the South Pacific and an emerging Pacific power in its own right. It is strengthening the role of sub-regional groups like the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) and becoming more assertive in regional fora.

Somare’s Look North policy means that his backers in Indonesia, Malaysia and China also have a stake in this fight, while the O’Neill government enjoys quiet support in Australia and the Pacific. Under Somare, Indonesia knew it could always contain the movement in West Papua for independence from gaining institutional sympathy in PNG. But Deputy PM Namah has already signalled a tougher approach to Indonesia following an air incident and ongoing Indonesian military incursions into PNG. A new generation of PNG and Melanesian leaders are on a collision course with Indonesia over its continuing hold over West Papua. In recent weeks, the MSG (representing PNG, East Timor, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji and New Caledonia) has offered West Papuan leaders the opportunity to formally apply for observer status, something Somare (alone) had blocked before.

Canberra has not made any overt displays of support for the O’Neill/Namah government and maybe less concerned about who is in power now, as long as there is an orderly transition to an election in June, where it is quite possible that none of the current protagonists will emerge as PM.

Somare’s father gave him another piece of advice when he was young:

You don’t win people by being angry with them. Sana invites people. When you see a canoe coming, go down to the beach, help them to pull their canoe ashore. Invite them in. People will always remember the man who helped them to pull up their canoe.

The bottom line is that for most Papua New Guineans, they don’t care about the legal details of this constitutional crisis, they just want a government that delivers basic services to them without endless political instability and graft.

Will Papua New Guineans remember Somare as the man who helped them pull up their canoe?

That will depend much on whether the Grand Chief wishes to remain a fight leader or a peacemaker in the final stage of a long and illustrious career. Kastom leadership and parliamentary process are the way out for PNG to resolve its crisis, if only Somare is allowed, and prepared, to sit down in parliament and “eat” with his “enemies”. By reverting to kastom peacemaking in a dark hour, Somare would cement his legacy as a statesman in PNG and throughout the Pacific.

This opinion piece by Ben Bohane, PiPP communications director, was also published on The Australian website. 

By Dan McGarry 

A recent post on the PiPP website discussing social networks in Vanuatu is titled in part ‘Social networks with a conscience’. It looked at the recent rise in local Facebook activity by and showed compelling evidence that, despite a vastly under-serviced population, ni-Vanuatu are still leveraging social media to discuss social and political change.

The speed with which Facebook has been appropriated by young ni-Vanuatu (nearly 70% of all Vanuatu Facebook users are under 35) is truly remarkable. Indeed, the number and variety of Facebook Vanuatu-focused pages and groups is a close reflection of the wide range of affiliations and interests that characterises its society.

The melding of online shorthand (‘lol’ and other related bits of written semaphore) with Bislama and several other local languages strongly suggests that Facebook is being quickly and closely woven into the social fabric. For example, the expression ‘yu save finis’ – a humourous Bislama expression reminiscent of Monty Python’s famous ‘nudge nudge wink wink’ – has been shortened to ‘sae vnis’. ‘Wanem’ – Bislama for ‘what’ – is often abbreviated to ‘1m’.

As with all forms of expression, social media use in Vanuatu exposes both the best and the worst of its society. In a March 2010 column in the Vanuatu Daily Post, I looked at a tragic case of ‘village justice’, in which two brothers accused of sorcery and ‘posen’ (the traditional practice of subtle murder using local toxins) were tracked from their home village of Kaiovo on Maewo island to Lolowei hospital on neighbouring Ambae island:

Before long, a caller from Maewo ascertained the brothers’ presence in Ambae, and a motor boat was dispatched. Reports estimate that up to a dozen men armed with axes and bush knives arrived at Lolowei. They proceeded to the outpatient clinic and promptly murdered the first brother. Stunned onlookers watched as they struck him dead, then dragged his corpse down to the shore, mocking and abusing it as they went. The second brother met the same fate soon afterward.

Within hours of the events, the story began to spread that accusations of sorcery and murder were the cause of this tragic episode.

In this case, it was the widespread availability of mobile phones that allowed vigilantism to spread beyond the confines of the village. But given the close relationship between calling, texting and online activity, it is hardly controversial to suggest that such social phenomena are equally expressible via Facebook and other online resources.

Mob behaviour is hardly unique to Vanuatu, of course. In the same column, I recounted other examples of such activity:

The same week this story emerged, Internet pundits noted the rise of a pernicious and dangerous trend in online ‘crowd sourcing’ behaviour. People in China have taken to organising themselves to avenge various social transgressions. Using social networking tools, they identify and publicly shame people who, they claim, have committed various acts of cruelty and callousness.

In one case, a Chinese woman posted a video of herself as she tortured and killed a kitten with her stiletto heels. Indignant viewers tracked down personal details including her name, address and employer and began a harassment campaign that culminated in her flight into hiding.

Technology can change lives, but it does little to change human nature.

PiPP’s annual surveys measuring the social effects of mobile telecommunications in Vanuatu demonstrate clearly that one of the primary benefits of ubiquitous mobile services is to reinforce social bonds and to sustain them over distance.

But social dynamics are equally capable of expressing both regressive and progressive tendencies. In practice, they are more effective as platforms for emotion than reason. Facebook in particular is a medium designed to facilitate ‘quick hits’ of information rather than longer, more nuanced communication. Posts are short and often pointed. Comment size typically ranges between nearly semaphoric expostulations (“LOL!!”) and a bare sentence or two of unsupported assertion.

The dearth of research and opinion authored by and for ni-Vanuatu further exacerbates this effect. In short, people have few authoritative sources to link to when communicating with others. Conversations float, un-referenced and un-contextualised.

But the purpose of this note is not to derogate Facebook’s value. It is to observe, rather, that the vast majority of human interaction – online and off – consists of such brief, emotive exchanges. This has always been the stuff of which social solidarity is woven. For better and for worse.

Looking abroad, so-called ‘Twitter revolutions’ like the Arab Spring and Iran’s abortive Green Uprising show that social networks were more often used to mobilise people than to express the underlying ideas that united them. (Naïve observers of the Occupy movement wrongly interpreted this phenomenon to mean that the movement had no focus.)

Facebook, Twitter and related services, therefore, serve a logistical purpose more often than a philosophical one.

In Vanuatu, this is best exemplified by the recent ‘outing’ of a young woman who’d been accused of prostituting herself. A Facebook group[1] recently featured the uploaded photo of the woman. Although it was cropped to hide most of her body, the clear suggestion was that she was nude.

Immediately, the comments began to pile in. Within 48 hours, over 300 comments had been posted. The vast majority castigated – and often ridiculed – the woman. Some suggested that copies of her photo be printed out and posted around her neighbourhood. Many of the comments were shockingly vulgar. Happily, very few recommended physical confrontation, and a notable minority expressed sympathy and the desire to provide counsel and guidance. The resemblance to the dialogue one often sees in a village or family meeting was striking.

In tightly-knit communities such as Vanuatu’s, social opprobrium is a fickle and sometimes violent tool. Equally important, though, is the fact that this same social dynamism can, as ‘Social networks with a conscience’ suggests, become a crucial catalyst for positive change.

But let’s be clear: Facebook and co. are primarily forums for like-minded people to come together. They are the catalysts, not the agents, of social change.

Debate, when it comes – if it comes – will almost certainly take place elsewhere. Last November’s Youth Against Corruption forum, held at Chiefs’ Nakamal in Port Vila, provides a possible model for twinning debate and discussion with the wide-casting capabilities of online social media. Throughout the two-day event, youth volunteers maintained a constant online presence. At the venue itself, they installed an ad hoc media centre, including free-access PCs, a donated Internet link, live video feed, a Facebook page and a dedicated website.

The impact of this anti-corruption event has yet to make itself evident, but as Vanuatu moves closer to national elections in 2012, policy-makers and political observers alike would do well to pay close attention. ‘Social networks with a conscience’ rightly observes that politicians are notably absent from this dialogue. With them or without them, the use of social media will only intensify in the months and years to come.