PIANGO Monthly 3.1

The PIANGO Monthly is made possible through financial assistance from the Commonwealth Foundation, CCFD, Bread For the World, and NZODA

• Editorial
• NGO Forum for EFA 2000 Assessment Regional Conference, 15 January 2000, Bangkok
• PACIFIC ROUNDTABLE MEETING ON GENDER AND ECONOMIC REFORM, March 1st - 2nd, 2000, Nadi, Fiji
• Conference on Decentralised Cooperation in the Pacific, Pacific NGO's and the Future of the Lomé, Convention, Mocambo Hotel, Nadi. Fiji, March 21-24, 2000
• Vanuatu NGOs urges Government to stop further release of criminals

Editorial

Dear PIANGO Monthly readers, this is the first issue of the Monthly for the year 2000. The Monthly has been produced to update members and affiliates on happenings within the Secretariat and to give information on some activities that NGOs are involved in - we therefore look forward to receiving news, notices, etc. from you all. We welcome any advice or assistance from members and affiliates to make this medium of communication more useful to the whole NGO Community.

NGO Forum for EFA 2000 Assessment Regional Conference, 15 January 2000, Bangkok

The World Conference on Education For All (EFA) held at Jomtien (Thailand) in 1990 adopted a Declaration and a Framework for Action, in which it established a commitment to meet the basic education needs of all. The Member States, the international community and bilateral and multilateral cooperation agencies set objectives to be achieved by the year 2000. In the course of the mid-term review of the objectives of the Jomtien Conference in Amman (Jordan) in 1996 a critical assessment was carried out and a fresh commitment was made to achieve the goals set. A similar exercise is needed again in order to take stock of the situation, carry out a critical assessment of achievements, identify bottlenecks and draw up new, lasting, more effective and more appropriate strategies for laying down the foundations of lifelong learning for all.

In this context and in undertaking this comprehensive review of progress and lessons learned in the past ten years, the inter-agency Regional Technical Advisory Group (RTAG) has decided to put emphasis on regional conferences. The regional conference for the Asia-Pacific region was held in Bangkok from 17-20 January 2000. NGOs had a one day pre-conference session on 15 January 2000, during which they were to discuss and put together an NGO response(s) to the objectives of the Conference. The NGO Forum intended to obtain the following objectives: ;Discuss the main trends in basic education during the EFA Decade and develop perspectives for the future; Plan a strategy for a coordinated NGO participation in the Regional Forum and the World Education Forum.

The main themes for discussion regarding basic education the following: Community participation; Gender and ethnic considerations; Integration of basic educational activities into various fields/sectors relevant to sustainable development; Major political, institutional and structural changes and their impact of EFA; Partnerships and cooperation; The teacher's view of achievements and development in basic education.

PIANGO was invited and was represented at the meeting by Hassan Khan (Fiji Council of Social Services), Robert Bishop (Palau Community Action Agency), Carol Aru (Vanuatu Rural Development Training Centers Association), and Aisake Casimira (Fiji Council of Churches Research Group). The following points were noted by the group as worth considering and acted on:Growth in enrollment in education reveals a parallel growth in gender disparity between boys and girls; a point was made that the ministers of education are presently ministers of schooling and suggested they be ministers of learning; education should be demand driven and not supply driven. This practically means changing the focus in education to meet the demands of people rather than the demands of the market and availability of resources; education should be community based which implies going to the communities; suggestion that education be "freed" from its 'formal' and 'informal' labels, one which places heavy emphasis on education as a life long learning process; non-formal education needs to be inclusive, life-long, learners centred, decentralized and participatory; non-formal education needs more resources and emphasis and not just the formal system. It ought to be recognised as a legitimate form of education that is empowering; the pursuit of EFA should not be viewed as a race with a definite finish line but rather a life-long journey; lack of ownership of the vision of EFA in the Pacific region; the grouping of the Pacific with the Asian region, sometimes results in Pacific Island Countries' issues, concerns and values being swept aside. They see Pacific EFA priorities as those surrounding data collection, training and information technology.

PACIFIC ROUNDTABLE MEETING ON GENDER AND ECONOMIC REFORM, March 1st - 2nd, 2000, Nadi, Fiji

The South Pacific Forum Secretariat is planning to hold a Pacific Roundtable Meeting on Gender and Economic Reform 1st and 2nd March, 2000 at the Mocambo Hotel in Nadi, Fiji. The purpose of the Roundtable Meeting is to bring together representatives from Pacific governments and civil society organisations and the above agencies who have an interest in the gender differentiated effects of economic reform processes. It is planned that the meeting will use a participatory format to create an opportunity for all people attending to exchange information and views and to learn from each other. In addition the meeting will be designed to facilitate common understandings of shared interests and generate strategies to ensure that reforms take account of the development needs and skills of both women and men and avoid creating unequal burdens on either group.

(PIANGO has been invited and will have a representative participating in this Roundtable meeting).

to conference report

Conference on Decentralised Cooperation in the Pacific, Pacific NGO's and the Future of the Lomé, Convention, Mocambo Hotel, Nadi. Fiji, March 21-24, 2000

In 1997, Pacific Concerns Resource Centre (PCRC) in Fiji and the European Centre on Pacific Issues (ECSIEP) in the Netherlands started a joint programme on the Lomé Convention. The programme is now funded by ICCO in the Netherlands and the European Commission, through an EU budget line to promote the process of Decentralised Cooperation.

The project's initial aim is to inform Pacific NGOs about the Lomé Convention between the European Union and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) States, and to involve NGOs in the debate on the future of this Convention, which will expire in the year 2000.

Another aim is to strengthen Pacific NGOs to use the potential in the ACP-EU partnership in the framework of the Lomé Convention, and within the other cooperation mechanisms which exist between the EU and the Pacific. The second objective is to involve Pacific NGOs at the national, regional and international levels of the Lomé Convention process in order to raise issues that are crucial for Pacific communities:

• intra-regional cooperation between small island states in the Pacific, Africa and Caribbean,
• the integration of civil society in any future EU-ACP partnership;
• the eradication of poverty
• making sure development cooperation programs address issues of gender and sustainable development
• highlighting the special characteristics of small island states
• integrating the Barbados Programme of Action into EU-ACP cooperation
• including overseas countries and territories in regional consultations in the Pacific.

In the continuity of its work on the Lomé Convention, PCRC was mandated by the 8th Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific Movement to:

• Monitor current development policies of the Pacific Islands nations, in particular with regard to the European Union and the areas of trade, the impact of globalisation and the role of civil society in the future Pacific-EU cooperation.
• Advocate for the inclusion of Pacific civil society in the future ACP-EU cooperation in policy development, planning and implementation of development programs.
• Institutionalise the process of Decentralised Cooperation in the framework of EU-Pacific cooperation.
• Renew the call for the inclusion of all Pacific Island countries into the ACP group.
• Call for the Inclusion of the French Occupied Territories in the ACP group.

After two and a half years of work in the Pacific region as well as in Europe, PCRC and ECSIEP are organizing this conference to bring together all the DC actors both from the Pacific region as well as those who have assisted from the European network to have an overview of the programme and to adopt an innovative programme for Decentralised Cooperation within the framework of the new EU-ACP Development Cooperation Agreement.

The conference is the regional summary of the respective national efforts to promote the process of Decentralised Cooperation as promoted and implemented by PCRC. Furthermore this conference endeavours to arrive at policy strategies and concrete measures on the future participation of NGO's in Lomé funded programmes.

The conference hopes to fulfill the following objectives:

• Assess strengths and weaknesses of the respective national efforts on promoting the process of Decentralised cooperation.
• Strategise on the increased involvement of Civil Society in the new EU-ACP Convention.
• Obtain concrete policies and measures to be taken to enhance European - Pacific networking and relations and Pacific NGO utilisation of EU resources.

(Courtesy of PCRC and ECSIEP)

to conference report

Vanuatu NGOs urges Government to stop further release of criminals

Vanuatu NGOs questioned Government decision to release 38 prisoners on the 31st of December 1999. There were 8 murderers, 3 rapists, 6 sexual offenders, 2 men who had committed incest, 16 men convicted of theft and 3 convicted of other offenses. On New Year's Day 2000, the prisoners were sent back to their families. Some of the families may have been glad to see them again but some of these men may have beaten their wives or raped or abused their children.

Questions that are being asked are, Is it good thing for such people to go back to their families without serving their sentences? What about the victims and their families? What about the laws of the country? How can this nation allow murderers, abusers of children and women to walk free from Jail without paying for what they did to others? The NGOs reminded the public that the Republic of Vanuatu guarantees the fundamental rights of security of the Citizens of Vanuatu and protection under the law in its Constitution.

NGOs believe that according to precedents of Common Law, this prerotgative to free prisoners is only used under very special circumstances either to rectify a mistake of the law because of very serious doubts concerning the guilty verdict of the offender. But it is never used to free all prisoners with no logic or consultation. The police are also affected by this practice, the NGOs claimed. They see criminals released after a very short time. Why should they bother trying to put people in prison when the government keeps releasing them? This practice of reeing the prisoners will inevitably lead to increase frustration and loss of morale among the Police and even worse to an increase in Police violence.

The NGO movement asks the government to stop any further indiscriminate release of criminals, to protect the security of the people of Vanuatu as laid down in the Constitution and to change the Prisoners ACt to include clear and reasonalbe criteria for the Minister to use his discretion, ad to include some provisions for the President to also follow the same reasonable guidelines.

(Following the release of prisoners, the NGO movement in Vanuatu have carried out an opinion poll to get public view on the issue)

(The PIANGO Monthly is made possible through financial assistance from the Commonwealth Foundation, CCFD, Bread For the World, and NZODA)