SPC endorses Cairns Compact goals


 


The recent meeting of the Conference of the Pacific Community, the governing body of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), focused on how to maximise the impacts of SPC’s regionally provided services at the level of the organisation’s member countries and territories.
The sixth meeting of the conference, which took place in Nuku’alofa on 12 to 13 October, brought together 19 of SPC’s 22 member countries and territories and its four metropolitan members (Australia, France, New Zealand and the United States of America).
The conference was attended by heads or deputy heads of governments from Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Niue and Tonga. Other member countries and territories were represented by ministers, ambassadors and senior officials.
Delegates encouraged SPC to further enhance partnerships with other agencies and development partners to streamline service delivery and monitor the impact of regional services at national level.
The conference endorsed the goals of the Cairns Compact on strengthening development coordination in the Pacific and encouraged the secretariat where feasible to contribute to its successful implementation in collaboration with the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat.
Delegates also expressed support for SPC’s decentralisation initiative, under which it has developed a growing network of regional and country offices across the Pacific over the past four years—noting that decentralisation must enhance rather than undermine services to people.
The conference agenda included presentations by resource people from several islands member countries who spoke about the impact SPC’s regional programmes are making at the national level in many sectors.
These included establishing rural Internet connectivity for schools and health clinics, improving crop varieties for atoll agriculture, and breeding taro varieties that are resistant to plant diseases.
Another SPC initiative that was discussed in relation to the theme of the conference was the development of joint country strategies.
Members expressed their support for these strategies, which outline the scope of SPC’s planned assistance to each of its 22 member countries over a defined period and are integrated with each country’s national development plan or strategy.
SPC Director-General Dr Jimmie Rodgers said SPC aimed to complete strategies with Fiji, Guam, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu in 2010. Once these are completed, SPC will have developed strategies with each of its 22 islands member countries and territories.
He informed the CRGA (Committee of Representatives of Governments and Administrations) that other Pacific regional organisations are increasingly participating in missions to develop the strategies, noting that this could be the start of a process that could lead to a number of regional agencies having one integrated strategy with member countries.
SPC has expanded rapidly over the last few years in size and scope, and under a reform process for regional institutions this will continue, with the organisation growing from having 390 staff in 2009 to 540 in January next year when most of the Suva-based Pacific Islands Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC) and all of the South Pacific Board of Educational Assessment (SPBEA) merge with SPC.
Given the growth in the scope of its work programme, as well as its heavy dependence on unpredictable project funding to provide services on which member countries rely, SPC has undertaken an effort to identify its core functions and the minimum services that must be provided in order to ensure ongoing and predictable funding for these priorities.
To facilitate this initiative, the conference endorsed the establishment of a subcommittee to guide the secretariat in undertaking an in-depth analysis of its core functions and the most appropriate funding modalities.
The conference welcomed Australia’s announcement that it will provide A$10 million over four years to SPC to strengthen its support for statistical services in the Pacific region.
Parliamentary Secretary for Development Assistance Bob McMullan said statistics were fundamentally important and Australia was concerned about the lack of resources to develop statistical information in countries.
Of note at the conference was the interest on the part of the United States to re-engage with the region. The delegate of the United States, Alcy Frelick, said the US welcomed the opportunity to be present at a meeting where there were ‘huge hearts and good minds’ wanting to make improvements in the world.
“We are at a marvellous point in history,” she said, adding that the United States had its ‘first Pacific president’ in office (President Obama was born in Hawai’i).
The conference reappointed Rodgers to lead SPC for another two years.