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Back to SIDT News Letter January February March 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 MP for Central Kwara’ae praises SIDT’s outreach “As a Leader I need to know what is happening in my constituency,” said Hon. Fred Fono. He said this in a consultation meeting held with him about  SIDT’s BLESS and GOAL projects. Hon. Fono was impressed with the work that SIDT has been carrying out with Good Governance since it works in line with a constituency development Plan which he is compiling for his own constituency.   According to Hon. Fono his Ministry is working on Legislation to be tabled in Parliament which  requires each Parliament Member to produce an Annual Report which states what is being achieved in their communities and what is carried forward. He sees the four years term in Parliament as being sort and that there should be a framework in which everyone should work according to. It is alarming at the level of assistance which is given to the communities through their Member of Parliament and known as the Rural Constituency Development Fund (RCDF). Each year an amount of $400,00.00 is given to each Member of Parliament as RCDF. A total of $20 million for the 52 members of Parliament. CSP shows great interest This was said during a meeting held with Community Sector Program (CSP). In a brief introduction of the program Val Stanley Community Service Advisor said that the program is in its transition period as it was formally known as CPRF. She expressed that the program is focusing on Capacity Building especially on the issue of Livelihood how communities can prioritise their real needs and a change in community management. At the end of the meeting Head of CSP team Dr. Franz Arnty CSP has asked SIDT to produce the information on where they are working so that a Network could be established. CPRF has been supporting  SIDT’s work through funding the Restorative Justice Program carried out for communities.   East Makira’s first ever Eco-timber export More than 30 cubic meter of Timber from East Makira is ready to be exported. This is an achievement for the SIDT Ecoforestry department. The export is first ever Eco-timber from Makira Province.   The export is a positive outcome from a training conducted late last year in Makira for interested communities in Makira who want to engage in Eco-timber exporting. Speaking to LINK Newsletter Jeffrey Dennis confirmed that according to the history of Ecoforestry Timber Exports, this is the first time for any project to export the species of Rosewood and Vitex. “Rosewood is a very expensive species,” said Jeffrey. The SIDT/ Ecoforestry Department wishes to congratulate the communities in East Makira for their commitment towards making the first ever export from Makira Province. Honiara Community news By Jennifer Wate Kombuvatu Kombuvatu community who had their first Restorative Justice training in November last year is getting organised with this time they set up a Crime Prevention Committee for the community. Following the training the youths, women and men of the community have come to know each other well compared to what was before. Young people are organising themselves and the women group are already putting together plans for the remaining months   of the year. The fourteen 14 member committee consists of women members of the Kombivatu women’s group, bank officers, businessmen, housewives and other workers. The Kombivatu community had been organising certain activities for its community members. Different activities such as fundraisings were already organised including a recent one in aid of the Tsunami victims. Young people also set up their futsal team.   Community News Ghorabau Community Development Association was established in August 2004.  This establishment came about when the community felt that there is a need for community to be organised in order to tap financial assistance from any Donor. Speaking with LINK Newsletter Eric Tessie the Chairman of Ghorabau Community Association said that the establishment of the association is like a road or guideline which  the community will follow. Ghorabau Community is part of the SIDT/GOAL Project and Tessie expressed their happiness to be part of the Project. “It is our cry for desire that my community will achieve something from being part of the GOAL Project. He said that the community looks at achieving a funded project before the end of this year 2005.     Could RJP Change your life? If YES or NO and here are the Positive Results from the Restorative Justice Programme (RJP) as Brenda Mauli writes Kombivatu Community in Honiara has established a Crime Prevention Committee for their Community. They had their first meeting on Saturday with Chief Superintendent Romanu Tikotikoca Advisor Provincial Police Commander Honiara.   Prison Inmates have asked for RJP after the class was suspended in August last year. Communities in Small Malaita are always referring to the community tree during their village meetings. The community tree was introduced during GOAL project Initial Scoping.  Police Recruits last year have seen RJP as important in their daily duties and operations especially in working with their commanders. A Prisoner who completed his term in prison have seen the importance of RJP and have decided to take the training back to Vangunu, Marovo. He will came to get back up information and that he will also facilitate at any training organised.  A recommendation was made by 4 Catholic communities on Savo namely Sisiaka, Reko, Chapaniata and Koela after attending RJP that individual villages on the Island should attend RJP. It is seen as an important tool for villages to work together.   A participant who attended RJP when conducted for Guadalcanal Province brought back 2 divided groups in a disagreement over the Power of Autonomy on Goldridge. He applied mediation by meeting the conflicting groups separately. until they came to a common understanding. With the high demand for the Restorative Justice Program (RJP), the program has got a line up series of training for the month of April. RJP will continue with Prison Inmates and the first group of 20 inmates will graduate on the first week of April. 2nd Police Recruit Intake for 2005 will attend the program from 4th –8th April 2005. A 3 member team from SIDT will leave for Isabel Province on the second week of April to conduct a RJP at Zazao for the ZERO Project.  RELATED STORIES: Dr. John Roughan has been invited for a three days conference at the Queensland University, Brisbane Australia. The theme of the conference is on Peace and Reconciliation. It is the first time for Queensland University to host a Peace and Reconciliation Conference for Asia and Pacific. The Queensland University has established a new Faculty which looks at Peace and Reconciliation in South East Asia. John left on the 29th March 2005 and will return on the 5th April. After returning he will be facilitating a  Talk -  Back Show workshop which will go on for ten days.     UP SIDT WORKSHOP AND TRAININGS Honiara Women attend Management Seminar “The action of another person can make a difference” said Dr. Neil Flangann in a one hour session held at the SIDT Building on 19th March 2005. Dr. Flangann an Australian Lecturer in Management and also Author who wrote on management in his famous book called the Management Bible. He explained that everyone is a manager in whatever they do. He made an example and referred to a Ladder saying that everybody is a manager climbing the ladder or we can also stay at home be home managers. Dr. Flanagann reiterated his message to the women as human beings are flexible and can adapt to situations. He went on to say that as Managers if you cannot motivate someone to do something then that means you have a problem. He strongly recommended that communication is the only way to let others know that you want something or you want them to do something.  According to Dr. Flangann there are challenges in Management and the they : As a Manager how can you?….Inspire people rather than just empowering them. Get people to show mutual respect rooted in a common understanding and deep understanding. Involve deeply enough to know when not to get involved. Realise that know-how is more than just knowledge. He concluded his seminar by leaving a saying which says, “FINDING ENOUGH TIME WILL ALWAYS REMAIN AN ISSUE.” SIDT Staff attends Strategic Planning workshop   On the first week of March, SIDT staff attended a Strategic Planning workshop conducted and facilitated by David Shires consultant AFAP.  The workshop was to look at ways to address  priorities weakness identified at a stakeholders meeting. The Staff were given the task to find ways of addressing Internal, External weakness and existing strength which the organization can work towards.   The two days workshop has given departments within the organization on how they could work together to and come up with a strategic plan for the organization. Contents discussed during the workshop was to have a vision for the next three years. Departments had to look at goals, objectives and activities for the next three years.  Speaking to LINK Jennifer Wate BLESS Project Manager said that she was happy with the process of the Strategic Planning because it has involved different people such Stakeholders, SIDT staff and End users.It has started from November when there was an action plan set out for the organization.     In relation to the training Technical Advisor of SIDT Dr. John Roughan said the workshop was an opportunity for SIDT staff to know with any internal problem it needs everyone’s helping hand to solve it rather than relying on the  management. However, during the workshop constructive ideas were shared by the staff. It was the first of kind training conducted which involve SIDT staff.   Workshop was co-ordinated by BLESS  Project with  support from  Australia Foundation for Asia Pacific (AFAP) and funded by Ausaid. Gove Village Isabel Province completes PLA Training A two days PLA workshop was conducted at Gove Village, Hograno District, Isabel Province. The workshop was attended by six participants consisting of 2 youths and 4 elders.  The content of the workshop focused on the VQLI exercises, mappings, problem ranking  and concluded with a Community Action Plan. For John Pinuru BLESS Community Development Worker (CDW) Hograno District, Isabel Province. The training at Gove was his second training since employed as CDW. The first PLA training was at Alualu village was in October 2004 which 15 participants attended a four days training.  According to Mr. Pinuru the training was to equip villagers with tools on how to identify community needs. Also in the training participants identify ways to address the different issues.   To commemorate International Women’s Day with the Theme GENDER EQUALITY women in media industry were given leadership role within their respective organizations. SIDT Information Advocacy Department conducted an hours training on Basic Writing Skills. SIDT staff and Community Development Workers of SIDT/BLESS Project attended the Training workshop. The training was conducted by Brenda reporter for the LINK Newsletter and assisted by former Editor. The aim was to train community workers and SIDT staff on Basic News writing skills. For a wide coverage of community news the aim of the training was that the community workers and SIDT staff send their news stories about the communities to LINK Newsletter and answering the six basic questions and they are the 5 Ws and a H. Give them Who, When, Where, Why and How.  The Information Department produces a monthly newsletter which covers the organization’s monthly activities. The department is manned by one personnel since it lost one of resourceful staff Jennifer Wate to the BLESS Project. For most participants News Writing can only be done by Journalists. However, after attending the training LINK Newsletter can now receive stories from other Provinces.  Communities Undergo Marine Management Training Marine Protected Area (MPA) is a new vocabulary for communities in Solomon Islands. This was addressed and explained in a 4 day workshop conducted by SIDT/Coral Farming Project at Maravagi, Central Islands Province. The workshop used a practical exercise on MPA. The training was held from the 21st– 24th February 2005. A total of 42 including 3 female participants attended the workshop representing Western, Choiseul, Marau, Langalanga Lagoon, Wagina and Isabel Provinces. The training, the first of its kind for communities, identified MPA in their communities. MPA was introduced into the country late last year after a series of consultation and awareness by the project. Speaking to LINK Silverio Wale said various communities are being selected according to  different criteria. “There are communities who have been overharvesting for export” said Wale. “This is seen as a threat by the project,”  he said. According to Wale the project has made some very big achievements. For example, the Langalanga lagoon has had the biggest dynamite blasts which 10-11 blasts per day. After series of consultation and awareness the area has established 2 MPA sites. For most communities MPA is a scientific name so communities have suggested using the name “TAMBU SITES”. From this success two other communities are willing to join and they are at Malu’u and Suava Bay. In other related stories Mr. Silverio Wale is re-elected for 2 years as the country’s representative to Local Marine Management Area (LMMA) which is an International Organization. He attended a meeting a Philippine for National Coordinators of LMMA. He left the country on 15th March and returned on the 24th. Hugo Tafea has just completed a review on Marine Life in Langalanga and is ready to attend a workshop on Socio– Economic at the School of Applied Science in Fiji. North -West Guadalcanal attends Proposal Writing Training Seven Communities in North West Guadalcanal attended a three days training on Proposal writing. These communities were selected communities under the SIDT / GOAL Project. The communities namely: Tamboko, Duidui, Vatukulau, Ghorabau, Kusika, Labukulila and Naro have completed a week training on Participatory Learning Action (PLA) late last year.   Speaking to LINK Newsletter participants said that the training is a new concept or idea they have learnt and they are happy to be the fortunate ones who have come through this training. For most communities after the first training they have established committees which will work with the SIDT/GOAL Project. The SIDT /GOAL Project Training Team will conduct trainings for the remaining communities before June this year. In other related stories Dr. John Roughan will be Acting GOAL Project Manager since the Project Manager Nichol Pilosi will left the organization at the end of March. UP SIDT PROJECT UPDATES Radio/Theatre and SIDT Updates Audio program will start in April when the department gets their camera from W.H.O. Coordinator  Joseph Major with his department will produce programmes on Health Issues. The Audio Team will visit Zazao, Isabel Province under the Zazao Environmental Resource Organization (ZERO). Zazao has being a Logging Site is vulnerable to Health Issues as the effects of Logging. The Honiara Youth Drama Group will attend at Drama Training from 7th-9th April. The training will be will be conducted by WanSmol Bag Drama Group from Vanuatu. After the Training the group will do their first Provincial Tour to the Western Province to do performance on HIV/AIDS in coordination with Adolescence Reproductive Health (ARH) project. SIDT UPDATES; Walter Turasi will be attending a Talk-Back Show from the 4th—15th April at SIBC.Walter will represent SIDT’s information department. Veronica , Brenda and Abraham will be conducting Restorative Justice Training for Police New Recruits from 4th– 8th April 2005 at the Rove Police Training School. Zazao Restorative Justice Training is scheduled for the second week of April. A team from the departments Training and Ecoforestry will facilitate the training.   · Abraham will leave on 7th April for Nadi Fiji to attend  a one week PIANGO Executive meeting.  HAUS DEPARTMENT UPDATES Coopers Bros Limited (CBL) is finalising SIDT’s Audit accounts for 2004. Leonard Marzyano Chief Accountant SIDT confirmed to LINK Newsletter that they are in the finalising everything.  SIDT’s Finance Department is manned by one personnel. Annually the organization’s accounts is audited.       BLESS project The Community Development Workers(CDW) working under the BLESS project returned to their respective provinces during the second week of March. During their time in town the six CDWs were able to put together their three(3) months work plan for March to May.  Arrangement for the BLESS new manager’s tour to the provinces starting with Isabel was finalised. First trip will be on the 31st March. The BLESS office which is used to be downstairs of the SIDT building is now moved upstairs. The BLESS manager is part of the SIDT Management team made a familiarisation visit to the Minister of Planning Hon. Fred Fono. The BLESS project also has communties who are under Hon. Fono’s constituency. The meeting was very worthwhile as Mr Fono welcomes SIDT to feel free to share information about their its work with his Ministry. A similar meeting was held with the Community Sector Programme. One of SIDT’s former trainer Mrs Mary Marsh of Australia is now working with CSP.  First Visit by SIDT to Zero Zazao Environmental Resource Organisation (ZERO) is a new program introduced by SIDT. The visit was done on March 16th. Also during the visit equipments valuing $10,000.00 was given to ZERO. It strongly indicated that ZERO has started. Zazao has been a logged area and the four villages located in the area are also facing the problems from the effects of Logging. Four villages have shown green light that they want to be part of the ZERO project.   The aim of SIDT/ Ecoforestry program was to help these communities do re-afforestation. Besides re-afforestation those affected should know and understand that development is about people’s Livelihood and not money. There are series of training planned for ZERO. The first training Restorative Justice will commence by 5th April followed by Ecoforestry and re-afforestation workshop. The four villages in the ZERO project are:  Hirolegu Village, Galillee Village, Hurapelo Village, Glugluro Village   ZERO project is funded by International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) via Foundation of the People of South Pacific International (FSPI)  and part of SIDT GOAL Project. GOAL Project Update GOAL Project has yet to move further because of delay in the disbursement of funds from the Foundation of the People of South Pacific (FSPI) and European Union (EU) in Brussels for year 2 (2005) . However, the project continued to scope new communities over the 1st quarter of this year which includes 6 new communities in Small Malaita in February  and 4 in Isabel around Kilokaka namely: Hirolegu, Galilee, Hurapelo and Glugluro all in the Hograno District. These communities scoping exercise was conducted by Longden and Francis of the Ecoforestry Departement while doing an introductory training in Zazao in March on Ecoforestry. This brings the total communities to 44 from 34 covered so far but at different stages, at the close of 2004 with the inclusion of 10 new communities in the 1st quarter. It is anticipated that by end of June 2005, all earmarked communities for the project be covered with all trainings provided.   Also in March the GOAL Project team and SIDT Senior Management have been holding discussions with the possible donors, such as European Union (SI Office) (EU), Community Sector Program (CSP) formerly CPRF to put forward SIDT approaches in preparing the Solomon Islands communities especially the 130 communities currently under the GOAL and BLESS Project.  UP ELECTORAL PROVISIONS The following list gives a brief description of the election offences under the provision of the National Parliament ( Electoral Provisions) Act , 1980. This is a continuation from the February issue.  Failing to keep the secrecy   of the voting in all elections. Max fine $100.00 or 3 months imprisonment or both. (sect. 69. (1)) No one is allowed to tell any other person (except as approved for by section 38(g) in respect of a blind or disabled person who may be assisted by the Presiding  Officer) for whom an elector is voting or has voted. Max fine $100 or 3 months imprisonment or both. (sect. 69 (2)) Bribery treating and Undue Influencing. Max fine $200 or 6 months imprisonment or both. (sect.70) Together with a 5 year disqualification in respect of registration as an elector, voting an being elected or being a member of Parliament. (sect.76) Voting more than once. Max fine $100.00 or 3 months imprisonment or both. (sect.7(2)) Voting under another person’s name. Max fine $100.00 or 3 months imprisonment or both Voting or causing another to vote , knowing that he or the other person is forbidden from voting. Max fine $100.00 or 3 months imprisonment or both. (sect. 77 (a)) Publishing before or during an election a false statement of the withdrawal of a candidate. Max fine $100.00 or 3 months imprisonment or both. No one is allowed to act or incite others to act in a disorderly manner thereby interfering with lawful public meetings. Max $100.00 or 3 months imprisonment or both. (sect.78)  More on election offences in our next month issue UP Farewell! Nick and all the best Nichol Pilosi, SIDT Operations Manager and GOAL Project Manager leaves SIDT at the end of March. Nichol joined the organization in 2002 as Project Coordinator: Butterfly Ranching. At the end of three months probation a vacancy for Operation Manager  came up, He decided to give it a go and with 12 years experience in management with then SIPL as Assistant Divisional Manager Nichol got one of SIDT”s top job as the Operations Manager. Being the Operations Manager Nichol came to understand what an NGO is and how it operates.  Being in the main engine of the organization, the operations Department gives him the challenge to press on forward. With Nichol’s initiative to complete a proposal in a day’s duration and negotiating with FSPI came the birth of GOAL Project and later other projects funded by FSPI and AFAP.                                                            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