Pacific POPIN subregional network gives its views on the future

As mentioned in that issue, it also calls for the transfer of ESCAP's resource bases, and certain information services and products to appropriate channellers and disseminators during this time-frame, as had been discussed during the Asia-Pacific POPIN Consultative Workshop held in June 1995.

Q. UNFPA plans to cease funding the post of the Asia-Pacific POPIN coordinator in ESCAP at the end of 1998. Therefore, the functions currently carried out by the secretariat in coordinating Asia-Pacific POPIN will be transferred at that time to three subregional networks covering the national members in their respective subregion. As you will recall, the possibility of this development was mentioned a during the Consultative Workshop held at Bangkok in June 1995. Of course, ESCAP will not abandon Asia-Pacific POPIN, but its role will necessarily be quite limited. Could you please outline for the readers of this Bulletin what you think your Centre would be able to do to continue to foster population information networking both in-country and subregionally and regionally?

A. The University Library, in its capacity as focal point for the members of Pacific POPIN, remains committed to the Network and Asia-Pacific POPIN in several ways. We have every intention of continuing our coordinating role for the network members: Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. One of the tangible outputs of this commitment is the publication of the Pacific Information Newsletter of the University Library. Also, we shall continue to facilitate the exchange of population information between countries of the South Pacific by filling the requests for population information sent to the Library's Pacific Collection section. Another area that should be mentioned is our role as a clearinghouse for the distribution of population information materials, including multiple copies of publications, published within and outside the Pacific subregion.

Q. In the area of population information, some of the major goals of Asia-Pacific POPIN have been the establishment of standards for the effective sharing of data and information as well as the development of databases and directories for the benefit of the clients served by the national centres. What do you think are your centre's strong points in this regard?

A. The University Library, as focal point for Pacific POPIN, and the member countries of the Network have opted for CDS/ISIS as our software package. The University of the South Pacific Library possesses among its staff considerable expertise in the application of CDS/ISIS for the building of databases and directories. We also have the capacity and expertise to provide training in CDS/ISIS.

Q. What are you doing to set up or expand an in-country network that includes policy-making offices and those implementing your country's programme in family planning and maternal and child health?

A. As one of the recommendations emanating from the Pacific POPIN meeting held at the University Library in April 1995, national coordinators agreed that one of their prime functions was to expand in-country networking to include policy makers and representatives of non-governmental organizations in the areas of family planning and maternal and child health on their national population committees. Responses from the coordinators show some progress in this area.

Q. Could you give us a brief description of your current population information products and services, i.e. what you provide for your country and for others regionally or internationally?

A. We produce a range of population information products and services for our target audience. I'll describe some of these for you: we have initiated a Pacific POPIN section in the PIC newsletter that provides regular communication on network activities and publications received for distribution. We also provide database searches on specific population-related topics using our POPLINE CD-ROM service and the Library's own PASIFIKA database. One final item is our Recent Additions.

Q. What kind of information could your centre share with others in the region through the Asia-Pacific POPIN Bulletin? Please elaborate on the steps you plan to take in this regard.

A. The types of information that would be appropriate to share with others in the Asia-Pacific POPIN would be details about the problems we have encountered and the solutions we have devised in terms of maintaining our network. We could also share with others information about any new population publications produced by the various island countries in the South Pacific. Similarly, we would provide information about conferences, meetings and training courses related to the field of population and reproductive health held in our area. A final item would be input for a "needs column" or the like in the Asia-Pacific POPIN Bulletin so that members could advertise their training or other needs in the hope that members of Asia-Pacific POPIN might be able to provide help.

Q. Last year, ESCAP's work in information development over the previous five years was assessed by two internationally known information specialists. One of their recommendations was that some of the training activities normally conducted by ESCAP be subcontracted to various members of Asia-Pacific POPIN, according to their level of expertise. Do you think your centre has any particular expertise in this regard? Would you be interested in hosting an English-language training programme for other members on a TCDC-basis? If not, which of the national POPIN centres do you think could best conduct such training? Please discuss.

A. The University Library has training expertise in the following areas: library collection development and organization, and CDS/ISIS. Such training could be possible on a TCDC basis if funding is made available. Although we made a request to the University Grants Committee for such funding for the period 1997-1999, the result was negative. The University does not have sufficient funds for this purpose. We are going to look into the possibility of having funds reserved for this purpose in the future Population Studies Programme, but again it will be a matter of availability of such funds.

Q. What area of population information work do you find most difficult? Would it help if you could send one of your staff to be trained in that field at the ESCAP secretariat, understanding of course that you may have to obtain the funds yourself from government or donor sources to cover the cost of air fare and room and board etc.?

A. The area which poses the greatest problem for us within the Network is the lack of trained personnel at both the professional and paraprofessional levels. These would be staff whose specific duty it would be to collect and organize population information for access by users and the dissemination of information in forms suited to the needs of our users, namely, population specialists and village health workers. Although the USP Library can train information personnel, the difficulty is obtaining funding for the personnel concerned to be enrolled in a suitable distance-education programme, or to get him or her enrolled in, say, a two-week workshop. Another area that poses some difficulty for us is the repackaging of information. We do not have people who have the experience necessary for this task -- this is an area that ESCAP may wish to consider for helping us.

Q. You are aware of some of the benefits that can be obtained through the utilization of telecommunications technologies for population information work. What plans does your centre have to use telecommunication facilities such as the Internet for information access and dissemination? And CD-ROM? Multi-media?

A. The Pacific POPIN Network has informally been granted permission to use the University of the South Pacific Centres' e-mail connection in the countries concerned. These are being used as and when needed by the national coordinators. Member countries in the Network are negotiating with their national telecommunication services to link up to the Internet and they are at various stages of development in this process. The availability and use of CD-ROM and multi-media facilities in the member countries of Pacific POPIN varies greatly also. The concentration of development at present in all countries is focused on the main trading centre of the countries concerned rather than in the social sector.

Thank you very much, Ms. Reade Fong, for taking the time to answer these questions, which will be of great interest to our readers.