Comments

Thanks for this post Carmen, There is another subset of intra-Melanesian migration for which it may be possible to obtain figures and that is for study. The USP set up means that there is movement between Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Fiji (although Solomon Islands is not, as yet, a receiving country) plus other Fijian universities are seeking to attract non-Fijian students. PNG has offered scholarships to Solomon Islands to study in universities in PNG. Plus there is a small amount of movement associated with studying at private institutions, predominantly bible colleges. Tess

I think Julie is on the money here. As an example, the UK government’s International Development Committee (a Commons Select Committee) <a href="http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/international-development-committee/news/substantive-pakistan/" rel="nofollow">proposed last year</a> that any future planned increases in UK development assistance to Pakistan should be conditional on action by the Government of Pakistan to increase the proportion of GDP it collects in tax from the wealthy. The chair of the committee said” “… the Committee is concerned that not enough tax is raised in Pakistan to fully finance improvements in the quality of life for poor people. In particular, we cannot expect people in the UK to pay taxes to improve education and health in Pakistan if the Pakistani elite do not pay meaningful amounts of income tax.”

Hi Marcus I think you raise a very important issue and one that merits further examination - the positioning of CSO/NGO groupings as between those that are donor-funded and those that aren't (and/or between those that receive core funding and those that don't). Certainly here in Vanuatu we have seen the 'NGO landscape' change significantly with the ramping up of presence and activity on the part of INGOs such as Oxfam, Save the Children, etc. This has had a range of effects both positive and negative and we are yet to see what the longer term impacts will be. Tess

A pre-print version of Heather Marquette's article (without the pay-wall) can be found <a href="https://www.academia.edu/414923/Civic_Education_for_Combating_Corruption_Lessons_From_Hong_Kong_and_the_US_for_Donor-Funded_Programmes_In_Poor_Countries" rel="nofollow">here</a>.

Hi Marcus, Thanks for your comment - good to hear from you. I don't have any systematic data to answer your question from but the sense I got from the 2014 campaign was that neither type of civil society had much impact on electoral collective action outside of Honiara (aid world funded NGOs may have had other influences via civic education campaigns and the like but these, while useful, won't change the fundamental clientelist nature of Solomons politics, I think). So, to answer your question, I don't think, at this point in time there's much practical difference between aid-world supported groups and more organic locally grown ones; but in the long run, I suspect it will be the home grown groups that bring the greatest hope for transformative change, while at the same time still believing that aid can do good in the meantime. Terence

Hi Max, Thanks for your comment. One thing to note of course is that many of the world's tax havens are not developing countries (the Cayman Islands, Jersey etc.). More broadly though, I agree with both you and Ms Bishop that we would live in a more equitable world if businesses couldn't tax shop amongst different countries. Terence

Also, one of the reasons large companies operate in developing nations is for the tax benefits. If you remove those benefits then the companies might not find it worthwhile going there. I can't help wondering if what she really means is that Australia is losing a lot of tax revenue from multinational giants and if they paid tax it would help the government budget deficit.

Hi Terence, and thanks for your excellent post. Your work in this area is fascinating and should be of great value to those interested in human development in Solomon Islands, as it goes to what I think is the nub of the issue - how do Solomon Islanders organize amongst themselves to pursue what they perceive to be their political interests. And likewise to Tess for your comments about FSII. I agree with you both that FSII appears to be a genuinely organic civil society group that appears to be coalescing and distilling supra-ethnic SI interests at a national level, something that to date has been mostly unheard of in the political history of modern SI. I also agree that this is a necessary part of SI's political development. I'd be interested to know if you have any comment around 'donor-certified' and 'donor-non-certified' civil society advocacy in SI, and their effect and reach in the recent SI election (donor-certified meaning donor-funded). In your fieldwork, did you pick up any data that reflected the influence and effects of such groups? And following, do you think there are pertinent issues around whether a group is 'certified' or non-certified', vis-à-vis their influence with grassroots citizens? Thanks again for your great post.

Hi Amos, I think it is a picture that many Papua New Guinean household do not want to see coming into the new year. Hopefully the leaders will embrace this otherwise gloomy future in a positive light as a challenge. I think this year is critical - it could be argued that there is still potential in the current administration to rectify some of these issues. Or probably not? Regards, Bal

This is very important for development sector and positive step taken by Asia Foundation. Yours Faithfully, Siba Pr.Pattojoshi,Secretary IYWW,MGO,ODISHA ,INDIA.

There was another flagship project, the ferry terminal at Ulee Lhue. The area has been restored and now a vibrant part of the Aceh economy, and the reconstruction of one of the most severely destroyed areas in Banda. Only 5,000 residents from the 35,000 prior to the Tsunami survived. LOGICA was a flagship project in addressing a core issue, namely governance

Thanks Tess, I agree: FSII are very interesting and promising (and in that they are not alone). I think in many ways the biggest challenge they will face will be whether they can elicit broad-based support in rural constituencies. If they could then possibly they might be a force for reform via the ballot box. It sounds like there is a fascinating comparative study to be done between the three countries' groups. Terence