Page 267 of 818
From Loudeen Parsons on I-Kiribati female seasonal workers in New Zealand: lived experiences
I agree with your perspective. I had a similar concern when RSE workers were stuck here over a year ago now owing to the lockdown situation. They were forced to pay for their own accomodation and many in one team I know of - lost NZD$1k at least. This meant they lost at that time WST$1700. No one was willing to take responisbility at all - so the teams had no choice, they were given letters outlining they had to meet their accomodation costs despite their longer stay not being their fault. When I commented (Radio NZ) . Fortunately shortly afterwards the teams got shipped out more quickly so they returned home. It would be good to have more transparency around contracts from the NZ side though so its important to raise this further when the RSE teams are all poised to re-enter once again. There needs to be standardised approaches developed across this sector.
From Gerard Guthrie on What does education look like for Kenya’s Samburu people?
Great experience! Why does it leave me wondering whether World Bank-promoted neo-liberal 'world best practice' competency-based curricula would be appropriate here?
From Bryan Bossley on A Fijian business surviving COVID without tourists or government help – just
Great stuff, Anne!
I love your innovative spirit!
Say Hi to my niece Leanne Hunter.
Bryan & Coralie
From Geoffrey & Jane Smith on I-Kiribati female seasonal workers in New Zealand: lived experiences
Wow, same story could be every nation involved in the Pacific worker scheme in Australia as well. COVID-19 we all hang our hat on this. When workers come to either NZ or Australia these workers sign a contract, correct, if the contract is that you work in these farms and you must stay extra time then your contract agreement is broken, correct. It would be fair to say both farmers or contractors have broken the contract that has been agreed on. It is then fair to say both NZ & Australian Governments should foot the bill that the workers have, spiritual, being separated from family, emotionally, we can go on. By now my bet is that every New Zealander, every Australian, is back in their country by now. Are our Brothers & Sisters back in their country, no.
From Ian Anderson on PNG’s plummeting vaccination rates: now the lowest in the world?
A worrying set of findings for several reasons. First, immunisation against those and similar diseases are effective in preventing death and disability especially among the poor. UNICEF, for <a href="https://www.unicef.org/immunization" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow ugc">example</a>, estimates that vaccines save five lives every minute globally, and prevent up to 3 million deaths a year.
Second, vaccination programs are very affordable and cost-effective in the vast majority of countries and circumstances worldwide.
Third, and interestingly, a political-economy side-benefit of vaccination programs is that they demonstrate a government can provide essential services even to remote areas, increasing the visibility of governments and, potentially, even the political "legitimacy" of governments.
Finally, if governments like PNG struggle to deliver and maintain basic and essential immunisation programs such as measles, DPT and Hep B, it does raise the question as to how well they can then respond to the usually much more expensive and complex challenge of responding to non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and stroke. That is relevant to PNG because the <a href="http://www.healthdata.org/papua-new-guinea" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow ugc">Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation</a>estimates that diabetes, ischemic heart disease, and stroke are now in the top five causes of death in PNG, showing a 51.4%, 45.2% and 36.6% increase respectively over the 10 year period 2009-2019
From Allen Red on International development research impact: 10 key insights
Hi. Your blog is very nice and informative. Thank you for giving information regarding 1. Partnerships should be at the foundation of international development research.
2. Meaningful participatory processes enable local actors to inform the research agenda and be involved in the research design.
3. The best funding arrangements support long-term partnerships and research co-design from the outset.
From Greg Westwood on ASEAN ag visa makes no sense
Ask why Aussies won't do this, because the money is crap. Once you pay for your accom and food, there ain't much left. Don't forget tax, might be lower now? They want to save a bit and also send money back for their family. These people will soon realise they can't save money and will look for other work or disappear.
From Terence Wood on What political crises in Vanuatu and Samoa tell us about their past and future
Thank you Ness,
Good point: in Vanuatu, as in Solomons and PNG, numerous parties in parliament (plus independents depending on rules) lead to coalition politics, and coalition politics contributes to instability and transactional politicking.
Laws designed to reduce party numbers are tempting, but may backfire, or have limited effects, and -- as you rightly state -- are worryingly anti-democratic. They probably aren't the pathway to change.
Thanks again for your comment.
Terence
From Richard Leren on Cross-border trade: Indonesia and PNG
What is the control at the moment with the presence of pandamic at the border of trading goods and services?
Is it still operating with at least some operative measure?
From Ness Karr on What political crises in Vanuatu and Samoa tell us about their past and future
Your point about the differences in Vanuatu society such as the anglophone/francophone divide spilling over into the political arena is spot on. Another impact of these divisive elements is that they breed too many political parties which promote differing Policies concerning national issues and these parties when elected into Parliament, don't have the capacity to form a one party Government since none of them have the capability to command the majority of the 52 seats, thus giving rise to the Coalition Government which has been the status quo in Vanuatu since the 1990's. A Government of such nature is fragile due to the differences harboured by these political parties and this is evident by the fact that there had never been a Coalition Government in Vanuatu that lasted it's entire term, apart from the Coalition led by Former PM Salwai which was the first to do so. However, that was not the case from 1980-1991 when there were only two prominent political parties in Vanuatu which resulted in an 11 year period of Governance by the Vanuaaku Pati, a fact that prompted some to call for Legislators to reduce the number of Political Parties in order to facilitate a healthy Political outcome, an option which some analysts pointed out is contrary to democratic principals.
From Terence Wood on What political crises in Vanuatu and Samoa tell us about their past and future
Thank you Greg,
That's a very interesting observation. The same discrepancy exists Solomon Islands, where I've had the chance to witness parliament in action - a small number of MPs have a clear interest in national issues, and capacity to address them, and they engage a lot. But most MPs don't.
But in Solomons there doesn't seem to be a trend of improvement over time. If you're witnessing change in Vanuatu (even if it's just a trend in potential performance), that's interesting, and possibly significant. Presumably it stems from voters placing more emphasis on candidates' capacity to address national issues?
Terence
From Ceridwen on What political crises in Vanuatu and Samoa tell us about their past and future