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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
( 940kb) |
| 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.
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| Strategies/Studies Solomon Islands: Peace and Conflict Development Analysis: Emerging Priorities in Preventing Future Violent Conflict, UNDP and National Peace Council, 2004
( 939kb)
UNDP Solomon Islands Human Development Report 2002:
Volume I ( 21.3mb — large file) Volume II ( 2.3mb — large file)
Solomon Islands Agriculture and Rural Development Strategy — Building local foundations for rural development
( 2.5mb - large file) |
| Cultural and social considerations Solomon Islands: Cultural and Social Considerations ( 70kb)
(Important background information for people interacting with and working with Solomon Islanders)
Briefing Paper for the AusAID Solomon Islands Community Sector Program Design Mission, ACFOA/ACFID, November 2003 ( 434kb) |
| 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.
RAMSI
Academic papers and documents critiquing RAMSI |
| Governance Much has been written about what constitutes a workable State in Solomon Islands. The following papers give some insight into the issue:
Bridging the gap between state and society: New directions for the Solomon Islands, Oxfam, July 2006 ( 1.3mb — large file)
Draft Communique on Political Governance: Leadership and Accountability, Workshop for Parliamentarians and Provincial Premiers, 3 June 2005 (38kb)
Power Shift – To the People, Ashley Wickham, August 2004 ( 115kb)
Paving and Paying our own way, Ashley Wickham, June 2004 ( 159kb)
National Integrity Systems: Transparency International Country Study Report: Solomon Islands 2004 , Peter Larmour and Manuhuia Barcham, 2004 ( 560kb)
Stimulating National Dialogue: Discussion document, Paul Roughan, December 2003 ( 84kb) |
| Food security Western and Choiseul Province Earthquake and Tsunami Disaster
Rapid Assessment of Agriculture and Food Security, Kastom Gaden Association ( 539kb)
Extreme living, extreme need ( 2.6mb — large file)
A report of the 2006 Kastom Gaden Association assessment of the food security and livelihood potential of the Weather Coast of Makira, Solomon Islands | | | | |
