> Solomon Islands development report urges unity and empowerment Friday, 22 November 2002: After the destructive ethnic tensions of recent years, Solomon Islands needs national unity and its people need to have more say in politics. The country's first Human Development Report, entitled Building a Nation (<http://www.peoplefirst.net.sb/SIHDR/default.asp>), says peaceful coexistence and an expansion of development choices depend on national unity and community empowerment. Written by Solomon Islanders with support from UNDP and launched earlier this month in Honiara, the capital, the report analyses major challenges facing the people of the islands. It calls for a campaign against poverty by increasing food security and access to essential medicines, expanding employment opportunities by rehabilitating key economic sectors, and empowering people to ensure their voices are heard in local and national politics. The country needs to make progress in restoring social services, narrowing political divisions and bu
ilding economic infrastructure and people's livelihoods, says Governor-General Father Sir John Ini Lapli. "Human beings -- people of Solomon Islands -- are the key and primary resources," said the Governor-General. "When people are educated, have enough resources, are healthy and reach an adequate standard of living, they will become confident and able to face the challenges of nation building." Donald Kudu, project director of the report, says: "Deriving strength from our traditional systems of governance, government must be made more relevant and closer to the people it serves. Otherwise, we risk alienating the citizens of the Solomon Islands, the essential resource upon which successful development depends." The report points to marked disparities among provinces -- and between women and men -- in literacy, access to health services and economic opportunities. The islands lag behind other countries in the South Pacific in many areas of human development, it says. The literacy rate for women is 69 per cent
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is 84 per cent, for example, and only 38 per cent of secondary school students are girls. Per-person GDP declined from $904 in 1996 to $692 in 2000. Though the average number of people served by health facilities fell from 1,131 in 1992 to 800 in 1996, many facilities lack essential equipment and drugs. The report calls for steps to protect the environment and the economy's subsistence sector, curb government corruption, reduce political instability, and strengthen community high schools and rural training centres. It also advocates a national action plan to encourage women to participate more fully in public life and strengthen girls' education opportunities, and the promotion of wider awareness about family planning. For further information please contact Bruce Edwards (bedwards@freemail.com.au), UNDP Solomon Islands Media Coordinator, or Trygve Olfarnes (trygve.olfarnes@undp.org), UNDP Communications Office. Click here for information on Human Development Reports <http://hdr.undp.org/reports/default.cfm>
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