Valery Wichman, Sioeli Tonga and Joy Waffi discuss honouring culture, working with cultural power dynamics in MEL and ensuring the hard to reach in the Pacific can be reachable within MEL practices. They also unpack data sovereignty and how MEL can work for donors as well as communities.
This podcast was made possible through SPC’s Funding with Intent initiative, funded by the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Please provide us feedback here: https://forms.office.com/r/yHK0eDhrex
Guests:
Sioeli Tonga – Head of Digital and ICT, Pacific Data Hub
Sioeli works at the intersection of technology, development and policy, turning complexity into clarity and data into action. A stauch advocate for ethical data use, all while leading development and innovation for digital public goods that serve the Pacific community, such as the Pacific Data Hub.
Valery Wichman – Lead of Strategy and Innovation, SPC
Valery is a lawyer by trade but has worked in the public policy space for the last 12 years - with her previous role as Director of Central Policy and Planning Office, Cook Islands Office of the Prime Minister, and the most recent project being the development of the Te Ara Akapapa’anga Nui 2020+ (the Cook Islands National Sustainable development Agenda 2020+) which gives a 100 year vision towards Turanga Memeitaki (wellbeing) and puts values at the forefront and people at its core.
Joy Marie Waffi – Development Practitioner and Consultant
Joy is an experienced Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) specialist with over 16 years of experience in research, evaluation, and inclusive governance across Papua New Guinea and, more recently, Vanuatu. She is passionate about ethical, locally led development and MEL practice that centres the voices and lived experiences of people, particularly women, youth, and marginalised groups.
Links:
Te Ara Akapapa’anga Nui (National Sustainable Development Agenda (NSDA) 2020+) 2021–2121: https://www.pmoffice.gov.ck/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Turanga-Meitaki-100-mataiti-Digital.pdf
Māori Data Governance Model: https://www.waikato.ac.nz/assets/Uploads/Research/Research-institutes-centres-and-groups/Institutes/Te-Ngira-Institute-for-Population-Research/Maori_Data_Governance_Model.pdf
Pacific Data Hub: https://pacificdata.org/
What does it mean to do MEL our way? Host EroniWavu is joined by Pacific MEL leaders Frances C. Koya Vaka'uta, Ruth Matela, Charlene Mersai, and Christina Hazelman for a powerful talanoa on what makes Pacific MELdistinct, and why it matters.
They unpack how MEL rooted in Pacific identity, culture, andrelationships offers not just a method, but a movement. They explore the evolution of MEL in the region and what it teaches us about accountability, care, contradictions, and courage.
This episode discusses “Navigating tensions between imposed frameworks and inherited values”, “The role of silence and relationships in how we learn”, “What’s gained when we don’t ignore context and culture”.
This podcast was made possible through SPC’s Funding withIntent initiative, funded by MFAT.
Please provide us feedback here: https://forms.office.com/r/yHK0eDhrex
Guests:
Charlene serves as the Secretariat of the NationalEnvironmental Protection Council (NEPC), Palau’s lead coordinator for the 2030 Agenda for SDGs and one of Palau’s Focal Points for GCF Previously, Ms. Mersai served as the Micronesia Challenge Regional Coordinator, Palau’s GEFOperational Focal Point and was among the first Board Members for the Palau Protected Areas Network Fund. Today she serves on the board of Palau Public Utilities Corporation.
Christina is the Knowledge Integration and Learning Officerat SPC and has been part of the Pacific MEL journey since its inception in 2019.With over a decade of experience working in the Pacific development regional space, Christina is an enthusiastic champion of Pacific MEL and will share her observations on the evolution of MEL within the Pacific.
Associate Professor Frances C. Koya Vaka‘uta is Team LeaderCulture for Development at SPC in Suva, Fiji. Before joining SPC, she was Director of the Oceania Centre for Arts, Culture and Pacific Studies, USP. Frances spent the last two decades teaching and researching in the areas of teacher education, curriculum studies, Pacific approaches to research, Pacificmethodologies, Pacific studies and Pacific arts and culture. She is passionate about Pacific arts and artists, the cultural and creative industries and is an advocate for contextual education, development and research.
Ruth is an indigenous Solomon Islander and currently Co-Lead Programmes and Innovation at the Pacific Feminist Fund. She gained her professional training in Economic Reform from the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University and later gained a Diploma in Christian Education from Texas Bible College. Ruth has over 20 years of experience in social research, MEL and accountability. Ruth has several published works on women and matrilineal land,gender and natural resource ownership, women’s economic empowerment and women’s participation in peacemaking in Solomon Islands.
Links
· Pacific MEL (PacMEL) https://spc.int/updates/blog/2022/03/continuously-improving-monitoring-evaluation-and-learning-systems-key-for
· Pacific MEL Diploma https://www.spc.int/DigitalLibrary/SPC/Collection/Pacific_MEL
· Kakala Research Framework
· (PDF) Kakala Research Framework
· Kakala Research Framework | SpringerLink
· The Pacific Pause/Silence
· Babasiga: A study on silence
· silence | Southern Perspectives
· Pacific Frameworks and Relationality Koya, C.F.(2017). Rethinking Research as Relational Space in the Pacific Pedagogy andPraxis
· Palau Voluntary National Review https://hlpf.un.org/sites/default/files/statement/2021/palau-2.pdf
· Cultural etiquette handbook https://www.spc.int/digitallibrary/get/sz6zkSPC
The climate crisis is no longer a distant threat but an urgent reality. Pacific Island communities feel the worst effects, even though they produce less than 0.03% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions.
This unfair situation brings attention to the "loss and damage" concept, highlighting the need to address the economic and non-economic losses these vulnerable regions face that are caused as a result of increased or more frequent disaster, a changing climate and the existential threat that climate change poses on communities, cultures and livelihoods.
To gain insight into the critical issue of 'loss and damage,' we spoke with leaders, activists, and experts from across the Pacific who experience these impacts first-hand and advocate for support.
The solidarity amongst the pacific islands delegation to conserve our region and protect it from the ongoing impacts of climate change was evident at the United Nations Climate Change conference or COP27.
Climate Change Experts from the Pacific Community and other CROP Agencies were present in Sharm-El-Sheikh, Egypt to support and lend a voice to the pleas of the pacific people for the developed world to take action in reducing green house gas emissions with the target ‘1.5 to stay alive’.
For half a century the Pacific Community has been working in collaboration with pacific islands countries and territories to preserve, protect and promote the regions unique traditions as custodians of the Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture or FestPac.
In July 2022, SPC celebrated the 50th anniversary of FestPac and the launch of the Pacific Regional Culture Strategy 2022-2032. The event coincided with the Pacific Island Leaders Forum and a week long exhibition was held to mark the occasion and setting the stage for the 13th FestPac to be hosted by Hawaii in 2024.
In early September 2022, the fourth cycle report of the Pacific Islands Literacy and Numeracy Assessment (PILNA) was launched in Suva Fiji.
Administered through the Pacific Community’s Educational Quality and Assessment Programme (EQAP), over 40,000 students sat for PILNA in 15 pacific island countries and territories.
Through PILNA, the region has set a global benchmark to ensure that children in the pacific get high quality education.
To ensure the region has the capacity and the technical know- how to advance agriculture and aquaculture in the region, a new cadre of experts are being trained through the Australian Center for International Agriculture Research (ACIAR).
The Pacific Community (SPC) is a key partner for ACIAR and SPC and ACIAR have worked in partnership for more than 30 years. SPC helps deliver Australia’s wider strategies to benefit the region’s fisheries, agriculture, forestry and biosecurity sectors.
ACIAR’s scholarship and mentoring programs is increasing regional capacity for long term food security.
Pacific Islands Leaders met in Suva Fiji in July 2022, where the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent was endorsed. The strategy focuses on seven key thematic areas: political leadership and regionalism, people-centered development, peace and security, resources and economic development, climate change and disasters, ocean and environment, and finally, technology and connectivity. The carefully laid out strategy highlights some key areas of concern and implementation guidelines to ensure it trickles down to society.
From the onset of the COVID 19 pandemic, the Pacific Community has worked with donor agencies and partners to strengthen and safeguard the health of Pacific Islanders.
Working with international agencies and local authorities, SPC, the World Health Organisation and the World Food Program helped provide much need medical and humanitarian resources to strengthen COVID 19 preparedness and response.
The Pacific Community (SPC)'s Centre for Pacific Crops and Trees (CePaCT) has won the 2022 Island Innovation award for Innovative Island Research. The award, which supported by the Clinton Global Initiative, was presented by Island Innovation, a global network that connects island stakeholders through digital communication and events. It is part of the rapidly increasing interest, recognition and investment being made in Pacific Food systems.
As the Pacific region looks towards a post COVID economy, the potential of cocoa is seen as a valuable resource for small hold farmers. Known by local farmers as green gold, the quality of Pacific cocoa is increasingly being recognized internationally, and in some cases the resulting chocolate products have been ranked with some the the best in the world.
The Pacific Community (SPC) has announced the appointment of Mereseini Rakuita as its ‘Principal Strategic Lead – Pacific Women’. Ms Rakuita will champion the organisation’s work on gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls to bring about the transformational changes required to improve the status of women and girls in the Pacific.
“I’m deeply humbled and honoured to be appointed to this role to serve the women, men, girls and boys of this region and to bring about greater gender equality across the region. Success for Pacific Women Lead will take close collaboration and open dialogue with SPC colleagues, member governments, development partners and civil society including faith-based organisations and the private sector. But I am confident that we share the same vision and that working together, we will achieve it. I wish to give specific thanks for the support to my appointment from the women’s movements and civil society partners, including the warm messages from the Fiji Women's Crisis Centre, femLINKpacific, and the Fiji Women’s Rights Movement.”
https://www.spc.int/updates/news/media-release/2022/03/mereseini-rakuita-announced-as-spcs-principal-strategic-lead
On Saturday 15 January 2022, the Hunga volcano erupted sending a plume of ash and volcanic gas 30 kilometers into the atmosphere and generating tsunami waves across the Pacific. The full impact of this eruption is still being assessed, but the greatest devastation occurred on islands of Tonga.
CRGA 51 and the 12th Conference of the Pacific Community saw the adoption of new strategic plan for the organization and a new star on the SPC flag. We highlight some of the key outcomes in this special podcast.
Traditional and cultural ceremonies in the Pacific would not be complete without a feast, which almost always includes pork and pork products. It is difficult to imagine a function without it. However, the Pacific pig industry is now under threat and an all out effort is being undertaken to ‘Save our bacon’.
The importance of securing and ensuring sustainable use of the regions agricultural commodities, fisheries resources and forests was the underlying focus at the Seventh Regional Meeting of the Pacific Heads of Agriculture and Forestry Services (PHOAFS) held earlier this month. With a focus on food systems security, the region prepares to present a united voice at the inaugural UN Global Food System Summit and showcase how in the midst of the global pandemic the pacific people have and continue to persevere.
The forum was hosted and chaired by the Government of Fiji in partnership with the Pacific Community (SPC), Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) and the Fiji Ministries of Agriculture and Forestry.
Building on the successful implementation of the Strengthening Water Security of Vulnerable Island States program, the Pacific Community is assisting member states to improve access to clean water sources and safe hygiene.
The initial five-year sub-regional project supported atoll countries to build the skills , systems and basic infrastructure to better anticipate, respond to, and withstand the impacts of drought, while carrying out ground water assessments.
In 2019, SPC brought together member states, donor agencies and partners to map out the next phase of assistance for targeted countries.
More than 16,000 Pacific people work in the Maritime sector. Across the Pacific, local restrictions have severely curtailed access to supplies like fuel for local fishing boats, bringing to the fore the issue of food security and the need for longer term, sustainable solutions.
In this episode, we reflect on the devastating impact of the global pandemic on people’s lives and the reset our Ocean needs as the Pacific region calls on the world to reflect on our past to inform innovation for our future.
The 14th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women and the 7th Meeting of Pacific Ministers for Women will be held from 27-29 April and 4 May respectively. Hosted by French Polynesia, this year’s conference and ministers meeting will be delivered via a blended approach of in-person and virtual interaction given that travel restrictions are still being observed across the region due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Funding support for this event has been provided by the Governments of Australia and the Spotlight Initiative.
In this first of a special two part edition of the Podcast we heard from the host nation and regional women leaders on the challenges for Pacific women and expectations for the Triennial.
Sigatoka Valley is known as the 'Salad Bowl' of Fiji proving a majority of the islands fresh fruits and vegetables. But this highly fertile region also attracts hungry pests eager to take a bite out of the bowl.
The Pacific Community through its Land Resources Division is now better equipped to prepare and respond to these threats through its the first of its kind, plant health laboratory.
Commissioned in later October 2020 the lab is housed at the SPC Campus in Narere in Fiji and will allow Pacific Island Countries to develop controls for emerging biosecurity threats, including pests and diseases. Designed to bolster regional capacity, the plant health laboratory enables SPC scientists to study various pests and diseases requiring a high level of biosecurity containment, such as insects, fungi, viruses, and bacteria.
In this episode we travel with plant health specialists to the Sigatoka Valley and talk with farmers about measures to protect their crops.
