Solomon Islands

ACFID members' work in Solomon Islands

Approximately 20 Australian ACFID members currently work in the Solomon Islands undertaking a wide range of activities including: agriculture, child protection, community development, disaster management, education, environment, governance, health, income generation, literacy, peace building, water and sanitation and youth. They work in close partnership with local Solomon Islands civil society organisations as well as with the Solomon Islands Government.

The way Australian NGOs work with Solomon Islands partners

Give priority to needs/interests of Solomon Islands communities
Encourage self-help and self-reliance
Involve Solomon Islanders from earliest stages of program design
Seek to enhance gender equity in all activities
Appreciate Solomon Islands cultures and history
Endeavour to communicate with Solomon Islanders in Pidgin
Work to complement AusAID's Solomon Islands Community Sector Strategy 2007-2011

Photo courtesy of APACE

ACFID Solomon Islands pre-deployment briefing to Australian Federal Police (PDF)

Facts and figures — development challenges facing Solomon Islands

Solomon Islands faces a number of development challenges, not dissimilar to its Melanesian neighbour, Papua New Guinea.

Life expectancy of Solomon Islanders is approximately 64 for females and 62 for males (1999 census figures);
42 per cent of the population is under 15 years of age and 21per cent is in the 15–24 years age group (the age group used by UNICEF to define ‘youth’) (1999 census figures);
High youth unemployment – grave implications for social unrest and lawlessness;
20–25 per cent of school age children never attend primary school and 30 per cent drop out before completing primary school. Only half the children attending primary school can be placed in secondary school. 60 per cent of secondary school students are ‘pushed out’ at the end of form 3 and 85 per cent of children have been forced out by form 5 — only a small minority go beyond 5 years of secondary school;
Females have lower rates of participation in education than males;
Adult literacy rates very low — variously estimated at 25–40 per cent of population;
Rapid population growth — 3 per cent per annum — expected to double by 2027; and
Tensions associated with a clash between modern life/ cash economy and subsistence/village lifestyle.

Strategies/studies

Cultural and social considerations

Solomon Islands: Cultural and Social Considerations (PDF)

Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI)

RAMSI was created in July 2003 as a long-term exercise aimed at helping Solomon Islands return to stability, peace and a growing economy. It is a partnership between the Government and people of Solomon Islands and the contributing countries of the Pacific region, namely: Australia, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, New Zealand, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Tonga.
Academic papers and documents critiquing RAMSI

Governance

Much has been written about what constitutes a workable state in Solomon Islands.
New papers will be available here soon.

Food security

Extreme living, extreme need: A report of the 2006 Kastom Gaden Association assessment of the food security and livelihood potential of the Weather Coast of Makira, Solomon Islands (PDF)

Resources

Strengthening civil society in Solomon Islands: Organisational and network development in Development Services Exchange, Michael Upton, 2006 (PDF)

Solomon Islands Transitional Country Strategy 2006–mid 2007, AusAID

Solomon Islands Smallholder Agriculture Study, AusAID, 2006

Personal tools

Sections