Search results

This paper seeks to analyse the audit findings, by the Auditor General's Office of the Solomon Islands, of the Ministry of Health and Medical Services, Solomon Islands' main health and medical agency that aims to coordinate the country's health and medical services.

Using electronic data from annual reports, audit findings on the Solomon Islands' Ministry of Health and Medical Services are textually analysed over a six year period (2006‐2011) to detect the milieu of reporting by Solomon Islands' main health agency.

Over a six year period, the Ministry of Health and Medical Services consistently found it difficult to generate accurate and timely annual reports as mandated by legislation. Critical governance issues of internal control, asset management, stock control and bank reconciliations are given short shrift by the Ministry.

The findings presented here are derived exclusively from textual analysis rather than through the medium of open‐ended questionnaires and mixed methodological techniques. However, the paper used authoritative local texts and explanations to overcome these limitations.

In low‐income countries, audit findings need to be fully integrated in the governance of the national health and medical services. The findings presented here provide practical guidance for those considering developing or improving health and medical services in low‐income countries.

Local audit findings have the major potential for improving health and medical services in low‐income countries within existing resource constraints. The audit findings presented here have relevance to the entirety of health and medical systems in low‐income countries.

Purpose – To critically assess engagements with capitalism in coastal fisheries development, considering their success or otherwise for coastal villagers.Approach – Using field research and written reports of projects and the concept of “social embeddedness” we analyze two fisheries development projects as local instances of capitalism.Findings – Coastal peoples in the Pacific have been selling marine products for cash since the earliest days of contact with both Europeans and Asians. Since the 1970s, there have also been fisheries development projects. Both types of engagement with capitalism have had problems with commercial viability and ecological sustainability. One way to understand these issues is to view global capitalist markets as penetrating into localities through the lens of local cultures. We find, however, that local cultures are only one factor among several needed to explain the outcomes of these instances of capitalism. Other explanations include nature, national political and economic contexts, and transnational development assistance frameworks. The defining features of “local capitalisms” thus arise from configurations of human and nonhuman, local and outside influences.Social implications – Development project design should account for local conditions including: (1) village-based socioeconomic approaches, (2) national political economic contexts, (3) frameworks that donors bring to projects, and (4) (in)effective resource management.Originality/value of paper – The chapter builds on the experience of the authors over 15 years across multiple projects. The analysis provides a framework for understanding problems people have encountered in trying to get what they want from capitalism, and is applicable outside the fisheries sector.

Examines the socio‐economic situation of the least developed Pacific Island nations (Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Samoa, Tuvalu and Kiribati) and the type of economics development advice which they have been given in recent years. Suggests that this advice was based on neo‐classical models and was insensitive to the institutional and cultural backgrounds of these countries. Argues that because of the insensitivity, proposed policies may be doomed and could result in further economic hardship.

Using the United Nations’ definition of least developed nations, examines the socioeconomic situation of the least developed Pacific island nations, namely the Melanesian countries – the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, the Polynesian countries – Samoa and Tuvalu, and the Micronesian country – Kiribati, and critically discusses the type of development policy advice given to these nations by Bretton Woods’ institutions and their “relatives”. Suggests that the emphasis of these institutions and many donor countries on the desirability of business‐led development, structural adjustment policies and the globalisation of these economies has paid insufficient attention to the cultural background, institutional and other constraints encountered by these economies and may have added to political instability in this region, as well as the occurrence of poverty and growing inequality. A different set of policy proposals would have emerged if greater account had been taken of the general views of Myrdal rather than relying almost exclusively on the neoclassical economic paradigm. This is especially unfortunate because severe poverty (even more so than in much of Asia) exists in several of these least developed nations e.g. the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.

This chapter presents an exploration of the ways in which humanitarian non-government organisations (NGOs) and communities affected by the 2014 floods in Solomon Islands interpreted and responded to the disaster, identifying factors that assisted and constrained stakeholders in disaster response and recovery. The research investigates the extent to which communities were consulted and participated in NGO responses, and the factors which informed community–NGO relationships. A qualitative case study approach was used, employing interviews, focus groups and document analysis, guided by a reflexive discourse analysis and narrative inquiry approach, which places the focus of the study on the experiences of participants. Communities played very limited roles in NGO responses, especially non-dominant or marginalised sectors of society, such as youth, women and people with disabilities. Failure to respond appropriately to the differentiated needs of affected populations can exacerbate their risk of experiencing secondary disaster. The authors argue that there is a need to improve the inclusiveness of responses to disaster, engaging women, youth and people with disabilities in decision making in order to respond more appropriately to their needs.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate ethnic identities emerging from the budgetary processes of the Anglican Church of Melanesia (COM) – the Solomon Islands.

An interpretive and case-based methodology is employed. Fieldwork consists of 27 interviews, document analysis and lived-observations. Ethnic identity and concepts of the indigenous culture inform the analysis.

Findings demonstrate how Church-led practices merge with indigenous processes and how, together, members negotiate their way through this complex budgeting process. A broadened network and community (wantok) is revealed, and through a sympathetic melding of Melanesian and Church tradition, a new ethnic-identity emerges. Issues of parishioners’ isolation, women’s roles and central accountability are not, as yet, fully integrated into this emerging identity.

There may be value in prioritising “people” over “timelines”, “discussion” over “deadlines” and in respecting local traditions in order to nurture the foundation for new identities. Also, and as evidenced, “nationhood” should not be assumed to be a powerful force in defining ethnic identity.

The value of respecting the complex interaction between tribal tradition and Church values by those in power is revealed.

“Ethnic identity” is revealed as a complex notion in the Solomon Islands Anglican COM.

A long-isolated culture’s construction of self-identity in the context of the COM is revealed.

This chapter examines the usefulness of the field of comparative and international education (CIE) in reference to supporting and informing the development of education in the Pacific Islands (Oceania) region. Accordingly, it reconsiders the conceptualization and practice of the field by unpacking understandings of CIE with specific reference to the Pacific Islands. I argue that advancing the field in Oceania entails critical examination of context, of persisting colonial legacies in education and the broader social, economic, and political landscape. Considerations of these discourses identify some of the tensions, contradictions, and ambivalences that eventuate as “education for national development” is reconciled with indigenous knowledges and the intellectual traditions that sustain Pacific island communities. Adopting a postcolonial perspective, this chapter explores recent educational initiatives in Papua New Guinea, Fiji, and Solomon Islands. These initiatives reveal the complexities and multifaceted dynamics that underpin the context of Pacific Islands systems of education. They also reflect how Pacific educational leaders negotiate global imperatives for education while observing indigenous knowledge systems and cultural values. The lessons drawn from these case studies suggest that comparative education scholars need to rethink partnerships with colleagues and neighbors in consideration of Pacific and indigenous (including Australia and New Zealand) cultural protocols of engagement by honoring respect and reciprocity, mutual benefit, and empowerment. Such conceptual and practical reconsiderations may facilitate an assessment of the impact of western intellectual contributions on systems of education in Oceania.