After a thirty year relationship of assistance to the Solomon Islands, the United Nations Population Fund UNFPA has opened a new office in the capital city of Solomon Islands, Honiara, in efforts to increase effectiveness in the delivery of its programmes.

"We are pleased to announce that UNFPA has setup a sub-office in the Solomon Islands. The focal person at this office will be our newly recruited Programme Analyst, Ms. Polini Boseto, who joins us with over 10 years experience in the area of social and development policy of the Solomon Islands. She also has a Masters in Science Degree from the Tufts University in Massachusetts, USA," said Mr Najib Assifi, Representative and Director Country Technical Services Team (CST), UNFPA Office for the Pacific based in Suva, Fiji.

"Polini will have the responsibility of managing and coordinating UNFPA Programmes in the Solomon Islands and she can be contacted by e-mail boseto [at] unfpa [dot] org. She will be located on the 1st floor at the City Center Ltd building, with UNICEF and UNDP based in Honiara," said Mr Assifi.

UNFPA assistance to Solomon Islands commenced in 1976 with support for the population census, Maternal Child Health and Family Planning Services (MCH/FP) programmes. These were aimed at providing self-sustaining, efficient and effective primary health care services and a family health programme that was readily available and accessible throughout the country. In addition, assistance was provided for population education in schools.

"In 1994, on the recommendation of a National Workshop on Population and Development, the Population Unit was moved from the Ministry of Health to the Ministry of National Planning and Development to facilitate the integration of population issues into national plans and policies," said Mr Assifi.

Since 1994, UNFPA gradually increased support for the Solomon Islands. In the current cycle (2003-2007), UNFPA's assistance to Solomon Islands is guided by ICPD-related goals and priorities, national Millennium Development Goals and poverty-reduction targets and the needs of the Solomon Islands in the context of ICPD and MDGs.

UNFPA's Population and Development programme of assistance in the Solomon Islands focus on strengthening reproductive health through the provision of family planning and other reproductive health commodities; reproductive health training programme for health workers; the Adolescent Health Development project; technical assistance and services to the Government in projects aimed at encouraging Male Involvement in Reproductive Health and gender equality. The UNFPA programme also focuses on supporting data collection and dissemination; population policy, and population advocacy.

The Solomon Islands has also benefited from a number of innovative initiatives:

- Survey on Adolescent Sexuality/Fertility and Women's Perspectives on Quality of Care of FP/RH Services executed by the USP;

- Gender Based Violence study which will be executed by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC);

- Development Theatre for RH Education and Capacity Building in the Pacific executed by Wan Smolbag Theatre.

- Supportive programmes for Conflict Recovery in the Solomon Islands ...– Human Security Fund project. The project was designed to assist the Ministry of Health in improving the reproductive and sexual health status of men, women and adolescents, with special focus on the displaced populations of Guadalcanal and Malaita provinces. The project also focused on training of Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) to properly handle clean delivery required by displaced women in the bushes and villages, and to provide means of transport to reach the population who were segregated due to the ethnic tension.

- Recently the UNFPA responded after the effects of the tsunami on the Solomon Islands, as part of the joint UN response, by supplying emergency reproductive health kits and equipment to affected areas. The supplies were aimed at providing expectant mothers a safer and cleaner environment for the delivery of their newborn children.

"The setting up of this office and the recruitment of the National Programme Analyst adds new meaning to UNFPA's programmes by allowing it to be more culturally sensitive, meaningful and more responsive. UNFPA plans to open similar sub-offices in Samoa and in the North Pacific in collaboration with other UN Agencies", said Mr Najib Assifi, Representative and Director Country Technical Services Team (CST), UNFPA Office for the Pacific. UNFPA, 02/07/07.