FSPI

The Voices and Choices: Gardening Good Governance in the Pacific program is FSPI's signature initiative that seeks to promote a long-term solution to poverty and political instability in the Pacific. Voices and Choices addresses the threats to peace and sustainable development by fostering or 'gardening' good governance within communities in four Pacific nations - Fiji, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and Kiribati. The project is managed in partnership with Just World Partners (UK), PCDF, FSP Vanuatu, Solomon Islands Development Trust (SIDT), Environmental Concerns Action Network of the Solomon Islands (ECANSI) and FSP Kiribati. The University of the South Pacific, the Australian National University and the Regional Rights and Resources Team (RRRT) provide technical assistance as needed. This project is supported by the UK Department for International Development (DFID), the New Zealand Agency for International Development (NZAID) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

The "Voices and Choices Project" works in four areas:

• At community level - to facilitate local planning and decision-making through the creation and implementation of community "life plans" or action plans. Community life plans are created by the people themselves, making use of "participatory learning and action" (PLA) tools. These tools enable communities to identify local governance issues and identify solutions that can be fed up to the national and regional level. This process empowers communities to take steps to resolve critical problems (such as leadership issues and inadequate local services and structures) in ways they believe most appropriate.

• At district level - to improve linkages between communities and municipal or other sub-national authorities. The aim is to promote the development and use of appropriate structures and processes to better engage citizens in official decision-making systems and to enhance the capacity for effective civic engagement.

• At national level - to build capacity in the area of good governance by raising awareness of citizen's rights and responsibilities through incorporating rights-based principles within school curricula and national-level governance policies.

• At regional level - to establish and work with a Regional Governance Advisory Group to strengthen regional and national-level governance, promote greater accountability and transparency and to lobby for increased participation by communities and civil society agencies in policy-making processes.

To date, the project has recruited and trained local consultants who are responsible for facilitating community planning and for the implementation of these plans. Community mapping has been completed with four communities in both Fiji and Vanuatu, and in one community in each of Solomon Islands and Kiribati. The mapping exercises are accompanied by a survey on knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) that serves to establish the baseline against which the impact of the project will be later assessed. Fiji has begun to record its' community activities on video for possible dissemination to other NGOs. The completion of this effort by the Fiji team has been deterred by high costs of video projection. In Vanuatu, the project won a UNDP Human Rights award. These case studies will be used as the basis for a video documentary to be completed next year.

Progress on the Voices and Choices Project varies between the four participating countries largely due to the difference in commencement dates. Fiji - now in the implementation

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