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Back to SIDT News Letter January February March April Inside this Issue   SIDT News SIDT Workshop and Trainings SIDT Project Updates Electoral Provisions SIDT FAQ                     Working for  a better Solomon Islands future   Phone: (677) 23409/26823(public phone) Fax: (677) 21131 Email: sidt@solomon.com.sb    contact BRENDA ABOUT your articles for LINK.   Solomon Islands Development Trust wishes to  thank AusAID through Australia Foundation for Asia (Africa) and the Pacific for making   it possible  for funding the production of this newsletter.

SIDT News VETE has a new Board of Trustees Village Eco-Timber Enterprise (VETE) has a new Board of Trustees. They had their first meeting on the 29th April. The first meeting was to look at the objectives of VETE. A community must be a trained community under the SIDT Ecoforestry Program before it can use VETE facilities to access overseas markets. Ecoforestry Program conducts training for communities upon request of any community. As another criteria VETE can accept the former SWIFT and SOLTRUST producers around the country after checking and accepting their Forestry Management Plan. However, VETE cannot accept communities who have been trained but later have land disputes or other disagreements between project members until these have been resolved. VETE will suspend communities who do not comply  to Sustainable Forestry Management standards that has been set by the SIDT Ecoforestry Program. VETE is not a profit making organization but one that carries out its work through support from donors. VETE is financially supported by Inter Church Cooperating Organization (ICCO) based in Netherlands and the Ecoforestry work is supported by Oxfam Australia. BLESS Project has a new Country Program Manager BLESS Project has a new Country Program Manager, he is Mr. Luke Johnston. Mr. Johnston replaces Ms Uma Menon who took up  a job in Vietnam. Mr. Johnston will be helping the BLESS Project Manageress Mrs. Jennifer Wate.   Since his arrival in the country Luke has taken up the task of helping Jennifer preparing for the Guadalcanal Women’ s Forum which will be held on the 5th May at the Goldridge Re-location area.  Luke first came into the country in 2000 when he worked with the National Council of Churches in Australia and working in partnership with SICA Federation of Women. He spent a month to complete his work with the National Council of Churches in 2002. However, in 2004 Luke  worked with Caritas Australia where he did consultancy for Caritas Solomon Islands. In an interview with LINK Luke said that being in the country for a week he can already see the challenges that are awaiting him. However, he is happy to have the chance to work in a Melanesian country. He has heard about SIDT as a well –known NGO in Solomon Islands and said that he is privileged to have the chance to work with it. Luke and his family will be in the country for a minimum of one year. BLESS Project Manageress first visit to Isabel Province BLESS Project Manageress Mrs. Jennifer Wate made her first visit to Isabel Province after taking up the job of Project Manageress on the 14th March.   Her visit was to monitor and update the project on what has been taking place in the field and more on the activities of the work of the CDW and their communities.  She also conducted a Village Profile  to get a baseline information of the people and data about the communities which she visited. She completed 14 communities. Speaking to LINK Mrs. Wate said that the Village Map exercises was grasped by communities on the usefulness of mapping. She also said that the communities needs continuous support from the Project and the Organization. Jennifer congratulated the village she had visited saying that besides their village activities Communities managed to finish the activities by the project. Zazao after a five years Logging Operation Zazao’s forest formally virgin forest now has five years logging operations. The effects of these operations are serious. What could anyone say to situation like this? Is this the outcome everyone expects? Logging operations in Zazao stopped at the beginning of April and the place was left lonely. On an hour visit to the camp site LINK newsletter witnessed what anyone cannot dream of. Peoples’ expectation is not the outcome in reality. They have benefited with small materials goods that could not replace their virgin forest which has been RIPPED away. Left are social distrust, broken relationship and a ruined environment. LASI marks Global Action Week Literacy Association of Solomon Islands (LASI) marked Global Action week on the 28th April. To mark the celebration the Assistant Chief Education Officer Honiara City Council visited the Honiara Literacy School to see what it needed for upgrading their facilities. Honiara Literacy School was established late last year in August. The aim of the school is to educate the disadvantaged those who do not have the chance to attend school. The school focused on Functional Literacy which look real issues in life.   Speaking to LINK Newsletter Francis Wateliu Senior Training Officer LASI said that communities around Honiara should see this as an example and help the disadvantage ones in their various communities. Literacy does not mean only reading and writing but more importantly focuses on issues that are affecting them. An advantage could be learning about an issue that have not existed in the community so that people will prepared in advance to encounter whatever happens. Francis wished to assure communities around Honiara that the organization is prepared to help communities who wish to start a similar school for their communities. Currently they are helping BurnsCreek community to start their Literacy Program.    UP SIDT WORKSHOP AND TRAININGS ZERO completes RJP in preparation for Re-aforestation Project A total of Twenty-four participants attended a Restorative Justice Training as the first ground breaking training for Zazao Environmental Rights Organization (ZERO) Re-afforestation Project. The training conducted a Kilokaka village also included three other communities which are under the GOAL project. Zazao has been logged for the past five years by Earthmovers Group of Companies and it closed operations on the first week of April. The overall objective of the training was to help villagers get over the logging syndrome and work towards restoring a community. At the closing of the one week training the chiefs of the four communities thanked SIDT for such a training that could help their communities to cooperate and work together for a bright future. Speaking to LINK newsletter a female said that what shared during the training was not something new but the problem was that people have not realised that lack of cooperation could jeopardise an program that the community might be looking forward to in the near future. Preparation for Women’s Forum Twenty women from Central and North Guadalcanal attended a two days briefing for a Women’s Forum to be held at Goldridge Re-location in Central Guadalcanal. During the briefing the women studied key issues affecting village women. Three issues are the key to be discussed in the Forum. Water, Decision Making and Health Care. The Forum will be held on Thursday 5th at the Goldridge Re-location, central Guadalcanal. Members of Parliament and Provincial Government, Women’s Developments Officers and other invited guests will also attend the  Forum. In an interview Project Manager Jennifer Wate said that this the first of its kind to be held for Guadalcanal. She confirmed that the project will do similar ones for other project sites. “Looking forward for the Forum and women should see this as the first step to voice out issues of concern”, said Jennifer Wate.  UP SIDT PROJECT UPDATES ADMINISTRATION: Director Abraham Baeanisia attended a network meeting in Auki and at the same time he did an evaluation on the work of the BLESS Project in the Aoke/Langalanga Constituency.  John Roughan presented a paper on Restorative Justice program (RJP) which SIDT is currently working on. Technical Advisor Dr. John Roughan underwent an operation in Australia and was there for a  month. He returned at the end of April. Welcome home! John and congratulation for the quick recovery. VDW/TRAINING: Veronica with the help of the other departments completed the Restorative Justice Training conducted for the Prison inmates. The first twenty participants will graduate on the second week of May. The Training Officer also as sited in facilitating the Restorative Justice training conducted for communities under the Zazao Environmental Rights Organization (ZERO) in Isabel Province. PRINT MEDIA:  Brenda assisted in facilitating the Restorative Justice Training for Prison Inmates as well as the ZERO training in Isabel Province. Assisted students with school assignment and research write ups. ECOFORESTRY: Felix Narasia attended a  regional meeting in Fiji. Benol and Longden conducted the ground breaking training for Zazao Environmental Rights Organization (ZERO). Village Eco-Timber Exporters (VETE) had their first Board of Directors Meeting on the 29th April. RADIO/THEATRE/AUDIO: Joseph did an audio shooting of the Crime Prevention Rally conducted at the Cultural Village on the 30th April. He continued assisting the Honiara Youth Drama Group with their HIV/AIDS awareness campaign in Honiara. UP SIDT FAQ WHAT IS SIDT’S DEVELOPMENT WORK? · SIDT’s development  goal is to strengthen the quality of village living. WHY DOES SIDT WORK THIS WAY? · SIDT understands that the heart of the nation lies in the village life. That is why SIDT’s four area of concern: better nutrition, sanitation, improved health and securing modest amounts of money are some ways of strengthening the quality of village living. HOW  DOES  SIDT DO THIS WORK? To strengthen the quality of village living SIDT focuses on five works which village people can do, require small amounts of money and which immediately raise the quality of village living. For instance, the SIDT approach to better nutrition is to have families establish their own sup sup garden, sanitation is accomplished by having a family toilet, better health comes when  family members sleep under treated mosquito nets and cook and serve food from upgraded kitchen, and finally gain a bit of money by working on small income generating projects.  UP