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NewZAID updates you in brief on key issues and events on the NZAID agenda. Please click on the useful links included in this newsletter to explore issues in greater depth.
Timor-Leste has enormous challenges in education with only 38 percent of 6 year olds enrolling in Grade 1 and 50 percent of the adult population being illiterate.
Between 2005-2008, NZAID supported two UNDP Education Advisors on a Non-Formal Education Programme in Timor-Leste. The advisors worked closely with Ministry of Education counterparts and community groups to develop a core curriculum for adult and adolescent literacy programmes.
The programme produced Tetun and Portugese literacy manuals (Hakat ba Oin and Iha Dalan), trained 300 teachers on literacy instruction, and used the manuals to deliver a national literacy programme to 250 groups in all 13 districts of Timor-Leste. Monitoring and evaluation of the literacy programme is ongoing, along with further capacity strengthening of the Non-Formal Education Unit in the Timor-Leste Ministry of Education.
For more information contact Laura.Cleary@nzaid.govt.nz
The Nelson Community Probation & Psychological Services (CPPS) have been sharing their knowledge and skills with Ni-Vanuatu Probation Officers as part of a New Zealand Agency for International Development (NZAID) project supported by the New Zealand Department of Corrections.
CPPS Service Manager, Alan Clarke says the Nelson office have been working with two Ni-Vanuatu Probation Officers over the last five months and are pleased to be welcoming a third this week.
“The probation service in Vanuatu was established in 2006 and is still evolving. The Department is working in collaboration with NZAID to provide technical advice and training to the Ni-Vanuatu officers both in Vanuatu and also here in New Zealand.
“There are around 160 offenders serving community based sentences in Vanuatu compared to 85,000 in New Zealand. While we have over 1,600 CPPS staff in New Zealand they have 12 probation staff in Vanuatu.”
Alan says the community based sentences available in Vanuatu are limited to community work, parole and supervision due to the issues around isolation and communication.
“In Vanuatu, there is also still a strong focus on reconciliation through customary ceremonies so Probation Officers are heavily involved in these on a local village level.”
John Junior Ierogen has been a Probation Officer in Vanuatu for two years and looks after around 20-30 offenders. John says while he was in New Zealand he was impressed with the ‘Kiwi way of life’.
“There seems to be a lot more consideration for people of different classes, races and disabilities here in New Zealand compared to Vanuatu. One of the main differences I saw was the number of programmes available to offenders in the community. Back home, we don’t have programmes and rely on counsellors to provide individuals with support.”
John says while experiencing the beautiful country-side and the great food in New Zealand he learnt a lot about time management.
“The staff here have been fantastic. The training course we undertook has taught me how to write short and concise reports for the judge while being able to assess offenders’ risks and needs.”
John says he would recommend other Ni-Vanuatu Probation Officers to undertake training in New Zealand.
“It was a very big eye-opener for me. The only downside was that I didn’t have enough time to learn everything.”
Darval Simon has been a Probation Officer in Vanuatu for almost two years and is extremely grateful for the opportunity to work with the Nelson CPPS staff.
“We have received a lot of support from the staff here which has been great as there has been lots of work to do here, especially with the addition of home detention and community detention sentences.
“I have learnt a lot about sentence management, report writing and undertaking assessments and will be recommending this training to colleagues in Vanuatu.”
Alan says although they were sad to say goodbye to Darval and John they look forward to working with Senior Probation Officer Daniel Tavoa who arrived from Vanuatu on the weekend for a one-month placement.
For more information contact Leonard.Chan@nzaid.govt.nz
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| John and Darvall visiting the Marae in Nelson |
The Lale community on Ranongga, Western Province of the Solomon Islands have a new sea passage thanks to the combined efforts of NZAID, WorldFish Center and Village Technology Trust as part of a Post Earthquake/Tsunami Fishers Livelihood Recovery Project.
The earthquake of April 2007, lifted the island of Ranongga metres out of the sea, exposing coastal reefs and stranding some villages like Lale, which were unable to gain safe access to the sea by boat.
Following the earthquake, Lale people identified that making a passage through the uplifted, and now dead coral shelf in front of the village was a priority.
In early 2008 NZAID funded World Fish Center and Village Technology Trust, Gizo to conduct a Solomon Islands Fisheries Recovery project. In the case of Lale this included improving the ability for the community to have safe access the sea.
Village Technology Trust managed the Lale channel clearance part of this project. A passage was created using manpower provided by the community and led by three technicians from Gizo. The team were supported by the Lale community while working days, and often nights as well, over a five week period. The passage was made by burning the exposed coral reef then excavated using hand tools and has resulted in a safe area for canoes to come ashore.
The new passage will benefit not only the residents of Lale itself but also neighbouring villages that require access to the clinic. The people of Lale are justifiably proud of the work that has been completed and the passage was officially opened on 21 November 2008.
For more information contact Matthew.Howell@nzaid.govt.nz
An isolated rural region in South America could soon benefit from the skills of scientists from a small island nation half the world away.
Staff from New Zealand-based Landcare Research will spend the next three years participating in an NZAID project to try and improve the lives of people in the Cotopaxi region of Ecuador. Cotopaxi is situated in central Ecuador, mostly in the high Andes above 2000 metres above sea level and is home to about 350,000 people. Seventy-three percent of the population is rural-based with 51 percent dependent on agriculture. The vast majority of landholdings are less than a hectare and correspond to poor, indigenous farming households on marginal land.
The work aims to encourage rural inhabitants – especially highland indigenous communities – to develop more sustainable livelihoods based on better management of the natural resource base in ‘paramo’ areas and associated watersheds, taking climate change into account and supported by their local government. The NZAID funded project will be led by Dr Chris Wheatley of Nelson, and carried out with two European NGOs already working in Ecuador, who are already well connected with ‘second order organisations’ working at community level in Cotopaxi province.
For more information contact: Winnie.Mahowa@nzaid.govt.nz
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