Comments

Good morning Dragos - here is some information on the support and activities of the PHAMA program. Please feel free to check out the website for more info: www.phamaplus.com.au https://phamaplus.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/PHAMA_Impact_Report_e-copy-final.pdf

I have recently visited this site and find the document super interesting. For an ordinary individual who cannot be able to reach out to such educational tools to build them in their economic growth, this is a wonderful page. Great job team and keep up the good work of serving our people who needs such intellectual minds.

Thank you Honourable Minister. There have been many views on both sides of the debate regarding PACER Plus. I agree there is a strong possibility that the Pacific Island Countries will achieve the benefits and economic opportunities that they anticipate through the PACER Plus Agreement. There are, without a doubt, high expectations and optimism amongst the Pacific Island Countries that have ratified the agreement that PACER Plus will deliver. In that context, we should recognise and acknowledge that our Pacific governments would not have signed and ratified the agreement if they didn’t think it would provide the opportunities to develop and improve their economies, improve the standards of living and gain access to better education and health services. As an Australian-Pacific islander, I am excited about the prospects and opportunities through the agreement, which we won’t realise unless we give it a try and fine-tune based on monitoring and applying lessons learned! Under PACER Plus, creating an enabling environment that facilitates market access and trade for the Pacific island producers and manufacturers will be central to economic development in the Pacific Island Countries. Understanding and addressing the regulatory aspects of those markets are important to maintain access to those markets. These are core business functions of the PHAMA Plus program (www.phamaplus.com.au), an initiative of the Australian and New Zealand governments that has been implemented by DT Global since 2011 and has continued to provide technical advice and capacity building support to the private sector in Fiji, PNG, Solomon Islands, Samoa, Tonga, and Vanuatu and now including the Small Island States through PACER Plus to address the Sanitary and Phytosanitary aspects of market access. Some successes of the program are documented in an Impact report (please refer to the Impact report on the PHAMA Plus website). As a result of COVID19, there is a renewed level of interest in Agriculture for the Pacific Islands. For example, the high demand and associated price of kava is attracting the youth and family members who have lost their jobs back into Agriculture. Importantly, it's not all about the money and these activities have to be balanced with the approach to achieve sustainable agriculture, managing climate change risks, addressing food security and food nutrition, environment degradation, etc. To achieve this, the PHAMA Plus program is working with stakeholders from both the public and private sectors to develop nature-based solutions such as the use of multi-cropping and agroforestry systems to develop ecological system resilience to adapt to the impacts of climate change and improve soil health. Where these activities relate to market access and trade, the program is leveraging private sector investment to attain HACCP certification to meet food safety and market requirements. One topic I am hopeful that the PACER Plus Agreement will allow us to discuss and negotiate improved requirements for is the export of kava to the Australian market. The domestic markets in kava producing countries represent a large part of the kava sector, and in recent years we have observed the continued increase of kava exports to lucrative overseas markets. However, this has not included the Australian market where kava is regarded as a Prohibited Import under the Customs Regulations. Under the Australian government ‘Pacific Step’ policy, reducing restrictions on kava exports from the Pacific through the 2 kava pilots are being presented as symbolic gestures of goodwill. However Australia needs to have a fair and transparent approach to enhancing the regional trade of kava, in alignment with the principles and values of the Step Up and as part of the Pacific family. A separate article will discuss and highlight the challenges and opportunities relating to the kava sector and the market opportunities in Australia. Ia manuia le tausaga fou - wishing you a blessed and happy new year!

Nice to recruit direct

Despite PNG's economic boom led by extrative industries, almost 40 percent of the country's population lives in poverty. The Government has not taken sufficient steps to address gender inequality, violence, corruption, or excessive use of force by Police. We need help with our living expenses.

I was a student who selected to ITI-port moresby campus.therefore,I'm applying for loan for 2021

It is good to read the alternative entry points to engage different sectors of 'communities' outside of the traditional "community". It is a good blog article addressing important issues and it raises many discussion points. 1) Mapping entry points are needed to be accompanied by impact pathways of how those entry points lead to real adaptation at different levels of communities. This includes mapping how are you going to evaluate the success of adaptation actions that resulted from the use of specific or combination of entry points. Sometimes, the same entry points can pass on misinformation or there are lots of "information traps" between the entry points and decision making for impacts. 2) The entry points can be used to transfer many components such as technology, information, skills but it is crucial to understand how each of these "things" transferred through can fit into the decision-making process for adaptation? 3) Yes context is very important, and I am interested to know how can these entry-points outside of the traditional community contribute to improved decision making for adaptation at the traditional community level. Given that everyone is expected to return to their own village/community and apply the information, technology, skills, how do these entry points linked to the decision context at the household level, traditional community and traditional/modern governance processes - where different knowledge types, values, rules and powers interact? It is not community versus non-community but I think it is more of how the non-community engagement approach could link to traditional/non-traditional community processes and decision making to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of adaptations. Relying on the good governance to simply pick up and support the flow of information, knowledge, technologies through the entry points is oversimplifying and overgeneralizing the complex processes involved in making decisions on adaptation at different decision stops. 4) These might be alternative entry points for an adaptation project (funded) but how can they become normal entry points for everyday "Self-made risk reduction decisions"? I think we (adaptation practitioners in Pacific Islands) should go further beyond communities in the sense to focus on "household adaptation approaches and processes". We have been focusing on community approaches because of the traditional model of community engagement and mobilization. I think in this fast-evolving time, focusing on the traditional community is not enough as most of our people are moving to urban areas and informal settlements - beyond the well established traditional community engagement methodologies and approach. So we need to shift the basic unit of our adaptation actions and measurements - household. It is also the basic unit for measuring livelihood, poverty and many other SDGs. If we measure entry points and adaptations at community and household levels then we are not leaving anyone behind. Adaptation, risk reduction and livelihood decisions should be everybody's responsibility. Thanks again for bringing this important point for discussion.

I would be interested in finding out more details on the export side, as mentioned above within The Pacific Horticultural and Agricultural Market Access Program (PHAMA Plus). Thanks.

Kia ora tatou Thanks for this interesting work. The next challenge is keeping open those windows forced apart by COVID, long enough and wide enough to nourish the core principle of self-determination. Is that long enough for international actors to recognise the foundational value of self-determination in subsequent relationships? Let's see.

you are right bro, these leaders are more on personal interest not people's interest. total power hungry ones.... great bro

Thanks Minister Hawke for this informative post. PACER plus aims to integrate the market for goods, services, and capital for the PIF region. While this could raise total PIF-GDP, some industries in selected quarters (nations) will suffer. Getting these import-competing industries (and their beneficiaries) onboard will require assistance with adjustment to minimize the costs of dislocation. Missing from PACER Plus are mechanisms for such assistance. Missing as well are mechanisms to better integrate the labour market of the PIF region. RSE (for New Zealand) and SWP and PLS (for Australia) are side agreements that could be absorbed within PACER Plus. These side-agreements have allowed workers from the islands (plus Timor-Leste) to work in Australia and New Zealand, but a lot more could be done – as for goods and services – to ease mobility of workers throughout the PIF-region. The gains from a deeply integrated labour market are likely to be larger than those for goods and services.

Thank you for bringing this book to our attention - I will seek it out. I would like to comment though on your reference to "smaller, more boutique outfits" - sometimes, these are hard-working, long-standing local civil society organisations, including small and medium-sized women's organisations who are struggling to stay afloat in the current context of aid implementation. And by the way, I have observed several occasions where these organisations have invested in training local staff, who are then coaxed by higher salaries into the ‘implementariat’. I would like to respond also with a poem - written in 2015 - and written in anger, inspired partly by spurious donor M&E requirements: WE’VE WON! WE’VE LOST! We fought long and hard to have our voices heard Through the years, we struggled and learned We made alliances with those in power We found the feminists in government camps, And some of us worked hard from within We searched our souls and our lives To make sure we walked the talk Human rights, a family and a world without violence We marched side by side and spoke our truth We believed the rhetoric of partnership We danced the logframe tango, we did the M&E And we remember those feminists, women and men Who created a space for us We took that space, we defined it, we were credible We believed in ourselves, we believed in them! We changed the space, we changed our world, We won! Resources for gender equality! Money to address men’s violence against women Policies, money, theories of change, money, research, money Value for money, outcomes – demonstrate or die. But you need them all, and in proper order, with diagrams! Short-term, medium-term, long-term, what-next-term? Spoon-feed them – social change is NOT linear! Change is MESSY – that is the point of the theory of change. What you count now, may not really count. Are the feminists within crowded out by gender experts? Experts, more experts – but whose knowledge counts? We fought against controlling behaviour by men, To be controlled? Never believe anyone who calls themselves an expert. There is a new game to learn, new boxes to tick, The goal posts move – and they move with each new guru If it looks like colonialism, smells like it, tastes like it, FEELS like it It IS colonialism! Yes, it dresses as gender expertise, It masquerades as neutral, technical and professional It has years of experience in many countries, here and there “We are doing this to make you stronger” Smash the pretence – it is patronising, it is colonialism! Do this, it makes no sense – or you don’t get the money. Thank me, ask me for advice, keep quiet – or you don’t get the money. Change your analysis, anything can be “best practice” – just don’t criticise them! Whose experience counts? Whose knowledge counts? We’ve lost!