Regional Pacific

Saving lives

Results to 2011-2012

• The Fiji School of Medicine has offered new programs to meet emerging health priorities in the Pacific, including short courses in clinical topics and Bachelors in Physiotherapy and mental health training.
• 40 counselling and testing sites in 8 Pacific island countries and territories provided HIV/STI counselling and testing to 27,495 Pacific Islanders.
• All 22 Pacific island countries and territories sustained polio-free status in 2011, having been certified free of polio in 2000.
• In 2011 164,755 children were vaccinated against measles and 22,647 children vaccinated against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (whooping cough) as a result of AusAID support.

Commitments 2012–13

• Support partners such as the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the Secretariat of the Pacific Community and the Fiji School of Medicine to address major health challenges in the Pacific, including immunisation, non- communicable diseases, HIV and sexually transmitted infections and the quality of specialised clinical services.

More about saving lives

Promoting opportunities for all

Results to 2011-2012

• 3,734 students have graduated from the Australia Pacific Technical College (APTC) since July 2007.
• The University of the South Pacific’s performance, measured by pass rates, retention rates and graduations is in line with comparable Australian universities including Central Queensland and James Cook.
• 2,613 Pacific Islanders with disability have been provided with assistive devices to enable their participation in community life.
• 10,280 female survivors of violence received counselling services in the Pacific in 2011.
• Training on gender and violence against women was provided to more than 11,000 police, legal officers, support staff in non-government organisations and other community members.

Commitments 2012–13

• Continue to support the Australia Pacific Technical College to provide Pacific Islanders with internationally recognised Certificate III and IV qualifications.
• In 2012 the Pacific Seasonal Worker Program transitioned from its pilot stage to a full program. It will be open to employers in the horticultural industry and seasonal workers from East Timor, Kiribati, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.
• 13 Disabled Peoples Organisations across 9 countries are being supported by the Pacific Disability Forum to establish and strengthen their organisations and to promote disability rights.

More about promoting opportunities for all

Sustainable economic development

Results to 2011-2012

• Our partnerships with banks and the private sector have helped more than 450,000 people in PNG, Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu and Fiji gain access to basic financial services.
• Supported a program to conserve fish stocks, develop commercial fisheries and aquaculture opportunities, update laws, and reduce illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing in Pacific waters.
• Helped Samoa develop commercial breadfruit production systems for exports to New Zealand.
• Our partnerships with local meteorological agencies allow climate-sensitive industries in the Pacific to make better-informed decisions about resources.

Commitments 2012–13

• Support the Forum Fisheries Agency, the Secretariat of the Pacific Community and national fisheries agencies to increase economic return to the region from fisheries.
• Help countries plan for and adapt to the impacts of climate change by improving food security, protecting water supplies and infrastructure and improving coastal management.

More about sustainable economic development

Effective governance

Results to 2011-2012

• Supported the Pacific Ombudsman Alliance to strengthen complaint handling and investigations in countries with an ombudsman or equivalent. In countries without ombudsmen, the alliance strengthened appropriate complaint handling structures.
• Supported the Pacific Legal Information Institute to put legal judgments, legislation, reports and rulings from 20 Pacific island countries and territories online. The institute has published over 110,000 documents in 158 databases and uploads approximately 4,000 new documents per year.
• Reforms in Solomon Islands mean that companies can now register in less than one and half days, and women can more easily establish businesses.
• Greater harmonisation of statistical standards in the Pacific means that statistics will be more comparable across the region.

Commitments 2012–13

• Continue to support key regional organisations, such as the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community to help countries develop a common policy agenda for the region.
• Continue to help Pacific island countries improve public financial management, including through support to the IMF-lead Pacific Financial Technical Assistance Centre.

More about effective governance

Humanitarian and disaster preparedness and response

Results to 2011-2012

• Provision of UNICEF regional pre-positioned emergency supplies and technical expertise to Tuvalu during the 2011 drought and Fiji for the 2012 floods.
• Establishment of disaster preparedness and response arrangements in over 100 communities across six countries through Australian international non-government organisations working with local partners.
• Supported the participation of country gender advocates at the 2011 Pacific Humanitarian Team annual meeting.

Commitments 2012–13

• Continue to complement Pacific island countries’ humanitarian response and recovery from disasters through established regional mechanisms, such as the FRANZ Arrangement and the Pacific Humanitarian Team.
• Assume an active role in advocating for the protection of vulnerable groups, within the Pacific Humanitarian Team.

More about humanitarian and disaster preparedness and response

Australian ODA to Regional Pacific, 2005–06 to 2012–13 ($m)

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The graph above shows the Australian Official Development Assistance to Regional Pacific, including AusAID funding and funding by Other Government Departments (OGD).

The exact values are as follows:

• 2005–06: AusAID $37,397,713 OGD $3,203,272
• 2006–07: AusAID $59,088,938 OGD $5,386,371
• 2007–08: AusAID $89,253,854 OGD $3,292,040
• 2008–09: AusAID $142,148,140 OGD $4,153,504
• 2009–10: AusAID $124,689,196 OGD $9,487,157
• 2010–11: AusAID $153,274,603 OGD $11,656,873
• 2011–12: AusAID $105,521,348 OGD $15,480,083
• 2012–13: AusAID $117,923,009 OGD $10,774,519

Australian ODA to the Pacific region by strategic goal, 2009–10 to 2012–13 (%)

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The graph above shows Australian Official Development Assistance to Regional Pacific by strategic goal.

The exact values are as follows (%):

• 2012–13
  Saving lives: 14
  Promoting opportunities for all: 10
  Sustainable economic development: 28
  Effective governance: 25
  Humanitarian and disaster response: 2
  Cross cutting: 21
• 2011–12
  Saving lives: 16
  Promoting opportunities for all: 13
  Sustainable economic development: 14
  Effective governance: 30
  Humanitarian and disaster response: 2
  Cross cutting: 26
• 2010–11
  Saving lives: 18
  Promoting opportunities for all: 6
  Sustainable economic development: 25
  Effective governance: 25
  Humanitarian and disaster response: 5
  Cross cutting: 21
• 2009–10
  Saving lives: 17
  Promoting opportunities for all: 7
  Sustainable economic development: 23
  Effective governance: 30
  Humanitarian and disaster response: 4
  Cross cutting: 20

Other ODA in Whole of Government 2010–11 to 2011–12 ($'000)

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The graph above shows the Australian Official Development Assistance to Regional Pacific by Other Government Departments.

The exact values are as follows:

• States and territories:
  2010–11: -. 2011–12: -
• Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Community:
  2010–11: $44,400. 2011–12: $57,200
• Resources, Energy and Tourism:
  2010–11: $12,800. 2011–12: -
• Regional Australia, Local Government, Arts and Sport:
  2010–11: -. 2011–12: -
• Prime Minister and Cabinet:
  2010–11: $57,500. 2011–12: -
• Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education:
  2010–11: -. 2011–12: $43,000
• Immigration and Citizenship:
  2010-11: $701,200. 2011-12: $1,361,700
• Health and Ageing:
  2010–11: $506,200. 2011–12: $939,700
• Foreign Affairs and Trade:
  2010–11: $50,000. 2011–12: -
• Education, Employment and Workplace Relations:
  2010–11: -. 2011–12: -
• Attorney-Generals - Customs and Border Protection:
  2010–11: $2,002,100. 2011–12: $2,361,000
• Attorney-Generals - Australian Federal Police:
  2010–11: $7,415,600. 2011–12: $10,673,500
• Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry:
  2010–11: $866,900. 2011–12: $44,000

Research overview

AusAID funds research in the Pacific in support of its regional program.

Asia and Pacific Policy Studies 2011-2015

The Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies (APPS) is a partnership with the Australian National University to improve scholarship and research on South East Asia and the Pacific.

The outputs of this initiative will be:

• a high quality journal, which will publish, disseminate and strengthen policy-related research on development in South East Asia and the Pacific, with a focus on economics and governance
• dissemination and outreach activities, which will enhance networks for the conduct and application of research about development in South East Asia and the Pacific
• Pacific Research Partnerships, to build the capacity of Pacific scholars in research, writing successful research funding proposals and publishing and presenting academic papers of a standard for publication in the APPS.

Research for the Pacific Infrastructure Advisory Centre

This contract supports the funding of the Pacific Infrastructure Advisory Centre, the technical arm of the multi-donor funded Pacific Region Infrastructure Facility to engage in three major research activities:

• Benchmarking of Pacific Power Utilities
• Pacific Infrastructure Performance Indicators
• Linking Infrastructure planning with national budget processes in Pacific Island Countries

Capacity training for sustainable urban water management in Vanuatu

This activity will support a series of workshops in Port Vila to develop a unified vision for Port Vila's urban water system in the future. This project includes analysis of demographic, social, economic and environmental factors to develop a road map and policy framework for improved urban water management. A report documenting the current state of Port Vila's water system and developing a vision of urban water management into the future produced at the 2nd workshop will form the basis of a peer-reviewed paper to be presented at the Pacific Water and Wastewater Association Conference. This work will also feed into future research projects between Monash University and Government of Vanuatu.

2012 Flood rehabilitation pilot project

This activity supports a range of mitigation activities in response to the 2012 flooding in Fiji. The disaster preparedness component of this project includes research and bulking of seeds. In particular assessment of:

pre-harvest fungicides applied post disaster, for the control of disease
• post-harvest treatments
• methods to control fruit sunburn cause by defoliation.

Research into financing Technical Vocational Education & Training (TVET) in the Pacific

This research aims to provide an analysis of the existing systems for financing technical vocational education and training (TVET) in seven Pacific countries, and identify common financing issues and options to make financing the TVET sub-sector more efficient and effective.

The study will be used to generate new knowledge about the costs and financing of post-secondary TVET in the Pacific that will be used by Pacific Island governments to inform policy, planning and budgeting, as well as by donors to inform investment decisions and country programming.

Research for the Australian Sports Outreach Program

The Australian Sports Outreach Program (ASOP) is a partnership with the Australian Sports Commission (ASC). ASC has engaged a research consortium, Sustineo, to conduct a comprehensive 3-year research and monitoring evaluation initiative to assess the contribution of ASOP to the Pacific; to strengthen the monitoring and evaluation frameworks of ASOP in the Pacific; and to provide policy makers with evidence-based lessons and policy advice to further improve development-through-sport investment in the Pacific.

State, Society and Governance in Melanesia Program

Core research funding to the State, Society, and Governance in Melanesia Program (SSGM) at the Australian National University. The funding supports mutually agreed research topics and outputs in four priority areas of:

• politics, leadership and governance
• conflict, justice and peace-building
• poverty, livelihoods and rural development
• gender and social change.

The outputs include high-quality relevant research to inform government policies and programs in Pacific Island countries; innovative communication strategies to maximise uptake of research into policy, such as short policy briefs; and activities that build capacity of local researchers from the Pacific region.

Pacific Institute for Public Policy

Core funding to The Pacific Institute of Public Policy (PiPP) to support the think tank to stimulate and support informed policy debate in the Pacific.

Central to PiPP's model of engagement with policy stakeholders is research communications. They draw out practical applications from research findings that can advance national development programs. Information is shared using innovative, people-centred communication processes. Written material is published in user-relevant formats and languages, and complemented using other media including audio and video podcasts, discussion forums, social networking, press, radio and television.

Where is the Pacific region?

Statistics

Countries in the Pacific region are diverse, with population sizes ranging from 1,625 in Niue to 7 million in Papua New Guinea. Any region-wide statistics would be heavily dominated by Papua New Guinea and Fiji. This would skew the overall statistics, making them unhelpful.

Individual country statistics are available on the relevant country pages.