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from Fiji Live This story introduces a book that gives statistics on the number of poor in Fiji. - Kale More Indo Fijians are living below the poverty line (37 per cent) compared to Fijians (34 per cent).This was one of the findings (incidence of poverty) highlighted in the book, the Quantitative Analysis of Poverty in Fiji written by University of the South Pacific (USP) academic, Professor Wadan NarseyUSP vice Chancellor Professor Rajesh Chandra launched the book today at the USP.Speaking at the launching Dr Narsey highlighted that knowing the difference between “incidence of poverty” and “poverty gap” was vital for understanding Fiji’s lack of genuine political dialogue on poverty.He said Indo-Fijian political parties would like to use this result while major Fijian...

from Island BusinessHelp-out, not hand-out!Dr Satish ChandKevin Rudd, the new Australian Prime Minister, made an official tour of Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands mid-last month. If the reception he received in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea and its capital Port Moresby is any indication, than this was more than a welcome visit.Just over 100 days in office, PM Rudd has signalled that the close neighbours and developments therein will get their fair share of attention.The PM and Bob McMullan, his parliamentary secretary for development assistance, had announced in the lead-up to the Australian elections of their intentions to use the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to build consensus on future international cooperation.For readers not familiar with the MDGs, suffice to note here...

from the Fiji Times THE National Council's Task Force on poverty, social justice and human rights has been given working papers to discuss."This is the committee dealing with poverty issues, social justice and human rights so those were the three issues that we were discussing with the paper that had been prepared," said chairman, Father Kevin Barr said."A lot of information has been prepared and a lot of information has been available on those three issues so the working group had all these papers made available to us.""And we looked at what still needed to be done, we had a look at our tasks, also papers that still needed to be written but it was a very enthusiastic meeting because these are issues that concern people."That was our first meeting we're getting off the ground and...

from The Fiji Times Every year, some 9.7 million children die before their fifth birthday. Most of these children live in developing countries and die from a disease or a combination of diseases that could be easily prevented or treated antibiotics for pneumonia, for example, or a simple mix of salts and sugars for diarrhoea.Malnutrition contributes to around half of these deaths.Child mortality is closely linked to poverty.Advances in infant and child survival are more slow in poor countries and to the poorest people in wealthier countries.Improvements in public health services are key, including safe water and better sanitation.Education, especially for girls and mothers, will also save children's lives. Raising incomes can help, but little will be achieved unless a greater effort is...

from the Fiji Times About 200 youths from all over Fiji converged on Lautoka for the Youth at Risk 2007 seminar.Part of their program was to sign a petition for a "stand up against poverty" banner to eventually reach Africa.This youth-driven project aims to achieve a Guinness world record by creating the globe's biggest banner for Make Poverty HistoryThe joint banner will be a huge show of support for the world's poor and a call for world leaders to make poverty history, especially in African countries.In every region of the world Oceania, Asia, Africa, Europe, North America, South America and the Middle East youth organisations are creating Banners Against Poverty.These banners will be displayed over October 16-17 as part of Stand Up and Speak Out against poverty as well as for the...

from The Fiji Times A race was held in Lautoka to shed light on the issue of poverty.The event, organised by the Foundation for Rural Integrated Enterprise N Development, attracted attention.Event coordinator Jone Nawaikula said with its theme, "Stand up and speak out against poverty", teams from various social backgrounds from schools, security services and businesshouses took time out to participate in the one-day event.He said the organisation decided against holding a seminar or training-like format in the usual training rooms, opting for an outdoor fun activity but with a serious message.He said it also gave participants the opportunity to work as a team."Humor, passion and courage were displayed here today as 100 young people hustle through Lautoka City," he said."Amidst cracking...

from The Fiji Times THE country's second city has placed itself in the driving seat of a campaign against poverty.On Friday, Lautoka Mayor Councillor Rohit Kumar launched a month-long campaign hoping to encourage others to join the fight against poverty.While unveiling a momentum to commemorate the launch of the "Global Call for Action against Poverty month," Mr Kumar said it was vital to play a part in the campaign because the situation in Fiji was worsening."I'm very hopeful this would encourage people to acknowledge poverty and take at least one action against poverty around them," he said."It could be very small and within the community or it could be talking to your leaders and ensuring things change for the many suffering around us."Mr Kumar said the council was grateful to be part...

from The Fiji Times The Interim Government's intention to cut funding for poverty alleviation is regrettable considering the growing number of poor people, social activist Father Kevin Barr says."I hope we can look forward in future budgets by this Interim Government to more being allocated for the poor," said Fr Barr, the director of the Ecumenical Centre for Research, Education and Advocacy (ECREA)."It is very regrettable there is a diminishing of funds for poverty alleviation as there are so many poor people in the country."Interim Finance Minister Mahendra Chaudhry announced a cut was likely for poverty alleviation in the revised budget. Fr Barr said if past surveys of poverty were anything to go by, the situation could be worrying and more money was needed to counter that. A Housing...

In a letter sent today marking the two-month anniversary of interim Prime Minister Voreque Bainimarama’s military coup in Fiji, Human Rights Watch called on him and President Ratu Josefa Iloilo to ensure the swift return to an elected government....

The University of the South Pacific (USP) and APDIP-initiated International Open Source Network (IOSN) awarded four projects in the Pacific Island Countries grants to develop free/open source software (FOSS) applications....

APDIP helped organize a session on Internet Governance for the UNESCAP Sub-regional Conference on ICT for Development in Pacific Island Developing Countries....

The University of the South Pacific (USP) in partnership with APDIP-initiated International Open Source Network (IOSN) is pleased to launch the USP-IOSN Microgrant Programme for Pacific Island Countries. This Programme is a competitive grants scheme available to individuals or teams in the Pacific Island Countries....

A USP-IOSN Microgrant awarded in September 2004 to Dr. William J. Blanke and Dr. Paul Geraghty to create a spell check dictionary for the Fijian language for use with the OpenOffice free/open source software suite of office programs....

The University of the South Pacific (USP) and APDIP-initiated International Open Source Network (IOSN) awarded four projects in the Pacific Island Countries grants to develop free/open source software (FOSS) applications....

A training of trainers programme in Fiji for participants from South Pacific island nations was held over 10 days (31 October - 11 November 2005), after which participants sat for an examination to be certified as LPI Level 1 Linux professionals. In conjunction with this training, local proctors were trained and certified....

In order to address the growing information and technological needs of the Asia and Pacific region, the International Open Source Network (IOSN) has established three new Centres of Excellence – IOSN ASEAN+3, IOSN PIC (Pacific Island Countries), and IOSN South Asia. Together, these Centres will continue the research and development, networking, institutional strengthening, and training undertaken by IOSN over the last three years to advance the adoption of free/open source software, open standards, and open content across the region....

As part of the project entitled "Capacity Building of Asia Pacific e-Government Initiatives," APDIP, UNDP's Asia Regional Governance Programme and the United Nation Centre for Regional Development (UNCRD) jointly organized a regional workshop in Bangkok, Thailand on 24-25 April 2006 to review and disuss 20 case studies from 12 different Asia-Pacific countries. This workshop was held back-to-back with egov Asia 2006, the Asian e-government conference, and at the same venue in Rama Gardens Hotel and Resort in Bangkok....