Humanity must shape Pacific Development Agenda

Suva – Humanity and respect must underlie any discussion on reshaping the Pacific development agenda.

This sentiment was echoed at the Rethinking Development Working Group meeting at Pacific Islands Associaiton of NGOs in Suva late last week.

The meeting which comprised of representatives from local NGOs such as Social Empowerment and Education Program, Ecumenical Centre for Research and Education, Interfaith Fiji and the Transformative Leadership Program discussed the need for a systems change to the framing of the region’s development agenda.

Led by PIANGOs senior technical officer, Laitia Tamata, the meeting also discussed the work done by various NGO and community partners in the past three years to promote the need for community’s to participate in creating their ideal Pacific.

“Our working group comprises of our donor, Bread for the World Fiji partners who been consistently working around this Rethinking Development theme for years and have accumulated valuable knowledge and experiences from which PIANGO can learn from,” Mr tamata said.

“PIANGO’s aim through the Rethinking Development, Reshaping the Pacific We want project is t strengthen Pacific civil society organisations so they can shape and influence development in the region,” he said.

He said self-determination or decolonisation and next generation leadership are the two main components of the project.

“This first meeting is really to involve those who are experts and their experiences to shape how this program will ultimately be designed and delivered at national level,” Mr Tamata.

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