UNFPA COUNTRY SUPPORT TEAM

The primary purpose of the UNFPA Country Support Team for the South Pacific based in Suva, Fiji is to provide countries with high-quality technical support services to meet their needs, leading towards national self-reliance in the population field.

Among the functions of the Country Support Team towards this end, the injunction "to provide active and close backstopping to the local pool of national experts" implies more frequent interaction between CST Advisers and national counterparts than is afforded by the occasional in-country technical advisory visit.

This Discussion Papers series, initiated by us, seeks to establish a continuous dialogue with and among national programme personnel and collegues on the holistic approach to population and development in the countries of the region.

Pacific Island countries are facing daunting population related problems and issues in their efforts to foster economic growth and sustainable development. These problems and issues have been more vocally articulated in the process leading to ICPD 19 94 and a renewed interest in promoting more effective Pacific-specific population IEC programmes in the formal and the non-formal sectors is evident.

The present paper, prepared as a background document for the UNFPA Professional Meeting on Population Education and IEC in October 1994 at Paris, highlights the major population issues and concerns and the important trends, challenges and approaches i n population IEC pertaining to the Pacific Island countries.

In reproducing this Paper for advance dissemination, particularly to project directors in the region, it is our hope that it will contribute to a widespread recognition of the critical role of IEC in promoting the quality of life of the people of the Pacific Island countries, as well as elicit critical comments from a wider audience.

Sprawling across nearly 30 million square kilometres of ocean, the Pacific Island Countries cover a total land area of 550,000 sq.km. The sizes of the 22 countries in the South Pacific region vary greatly. Papua New Guinea ranks the largest with its 462,243 sq.km of land, much of which is mountainous terrain. Tuvalu is one of the smallest with its 9 coral atolls, having a total land area of 26 sq.km and nowhere more than 4.6 metres above sea level. The countries in the region as well as the island s within each country, comprising a total of nearly 7,500 islands of which about 500 are inhabited, are separated by hundreds or even thousand kilometres of ocean, and thus representing, according to Hau'ofa, 'a sea of islands'^{< A href="#1">1} rather than a collection of 'islands in the sea'.

The region is categorized into three geographic sub-regions called Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia. The total population of the region, estimated at nearly 6.3 million presently, is expected to double to 12 million in 30 years' time, if the curre nt annual population growth rate of 2.3 per cent continues unabated. The average fertility rate for the region is about 4.5 children per woman. Population size country-wise varies from Papua new Guinea's 4.2 million to Niue's 2,000. In terms of annual population growth rates, there is significant variation from a high of 4.2 per cent - of of the highest in the world - in Marshall Islands to a low of zero per cent in Niue. The negative growth rates in some of the Polynesian countries such as Western Sam oa, Tonga and Niue due to emigration, however, mask the natural increase of the population. Densities of population and Total Fertility Rates also vary from country to country.

Women do not enjoy equal status with men in most respects and the efforts at their empowerment are rather slow in almost all countries. Their role in most Pacific societies mainly relates to parenting, household work and subsistence food production. Among the critical issues for women are their gross under-representation in the formal sector labour force and their marginalisation from the mainstream of planning and decision-making.

A common element is a young age structure and a high dependency ration, due primarily to a combination of high fertility and falling mortality and in some cases, age-selectivity in migration. The extreme youthfulness of the population give the countr ies 'demographic momentum', because even if fertility rates fall significantly, the population will continue to grow rapidly because of the young age-structure. The implications of this young age structure for job creation are obvious. The labour force 15 years hence is already born. To quote Gannicott, "Despite the uncertanity of projections with a 20 year horizon and the paucity of labour market data, there can be little doubt that the task of coping with a rapidly increasing working population will, in most countries of the South Pacific, be more challenging than in the past"². Basic demographic estimates of selected Pacific Island countries are shown in the Annex.

The economic situation of most of the countries is weak and the potentials for development are limited, being constrained by smallness, remoteness, isolation and fragmentation, lack of rerources, net out-flow of labour market skills and vulnerability to natural disasters. As the Pacific Human Development Report³ notes "... in the years since independence, rates of economic growth have been low and population growth has been high..... The combination of low economic growth and high population growth poses a serious threat to the future performance in human development of many Pacific island countries".

Rapid population growth, induced by high fertility and decreasing mortality, exerts severe pressure on the available resources particularly in the social sectors. It is difficult for targets to be met for increasing education, health and other servic es, let alone to maintain the inadequate level of coverage. Both financial and human resources are strained by the growing demands of services by an expanding population. Resources mobilisation, investment and growth targets - all important for raising employment levels and living standards - become elusive. "The failure of the economies of the Pacific to generate sufficient wage employment opportunities is producing a major strain on traditional support networks and is a serious threat to the cohesion of Pacific societies."⁴ Internal migration, from rural to urban areas, and the consequent need for employment promotion is a grave problem. Excessive rural to urban migrati! on, a key population distribution issue, leads to urban poverty and squalor in urban cities. Rising unemployment and under-employment, erosion of traditional culture and kinship, weakened family ties, increasing environmental degradation as well as escal ation of youth crime, suicide, alcohol abuse, juvenile delinquency and teenage pregnancy out of marriage and are some of the population-related problems confronting the countries. Incidence of AIDS/STDs has reportedly been on the increase, causing grave concern.

As Howlett observes, "Small nations are not simply replicas in miniature of larger nations: they are different not only in degree but also in kind"⁵. The Pacific Island Countries are ex periencing population growth as high as that in other developing countries in other regions and their population-related problems are similar, if not more acute. It is in this context that a comprehensive programming intervention through population infor mation, education and communication assumes significance in the countries of the region.

(i) Trends

UNFPA's programme of assistance in the region commenced in the 1970s and the initial area of support was related to maternal child health and family planning (MCH/FP). Such support concentrated on the improvement and accessibility of MCH/FP services. Based on the perceived needs of the individual countries, Population, Information, Education and Communication (IEC) as a key element in the wide range of population activities started in the early 1980s.

Since then, UNFPA has supported the development, implementation and promotion of programmes both in the formal and the non-formal sectors in terms of country-specific needs. With the collaboration and participation in UNFPA's programming process of U N specialised agencies - ILO, UNESCO and WHO - the programme evolved gradually in the region. The programming intervention which is still in a developing stage has progressively involved regional institutions and non-government organisations, and is bein g implemented through sectoral projects.

(a) The Formal Sector

In the formal sector, population education as part of a total social learning process is implemented through country-level projects to cover two broad settings: the school setting and the non-school setting with a broader range of learner groups. Pop olation education is a significant part of a comprehensive programme of education in social values. It is an educational response to various aspects of demographic problems - social, cultural, economic and environmental. It contributes in many ways to t he overall educational process and to development.

At the national level, population education programmes have been established under the aegis of the Ministries of Education, either as integral parts of Curriculum Development Centres or as separate units in the Ministries/Departments of Education. T he education system in the countries generally cover 11-12 years, comprising 6 years of primary, 3 years of junior secondary and 2-3 years of senior secondary. While opportunities for secondary schooling have expanded in recent years, there is still a la rge percentage of secondary age youth not in school in many countries. High dropout rates between levels are common. The programmes have focussed on the formal system largely in the secondary schools and teacher training colleges and in some cases at th e primary levels. Technical support has always been provided in the conceptualisation and design of projects, in-service teacher training, development of curricula and instructional materials, introduction of new training met! hodologies, regional training and facilitating flow of materials and information on population education. Workshops for teachers held during vacations, have focussed on curriculum development and teaching methodologies.

A key strategy has been the integration of population education as units within the regular school subjects such as Social Science, Biological Science, Home Economics, Agriculture and Environmental Studies. The content of the educational courses has included topics such as basic demogrqaphy, relationships of population factors to health, food and nutrition, environment and resources, education and other social services, urbanisation, employment and quality of life. Most of the countries have also in cluded family life/sexuality education, STD/AIDS, adolescent fertility, drugs and alcohol abuse and status of women in the curricula.

Instructional materials developed at the country-level have been in the form of teachers' guides, student booklets and videos. For instance, under the In-School Population Eduction project in Western Samoa, the following instructional materials have been produced for class levels 9, 10 and 11 recently: Social Education: "Be Counted"; "Our People: Where do they Live?"; "Our People: How do they Live?"; "Is Samoa One? How are we Organised?"; "How do we Learn?"; "How do we Value?"; "Population and Development". Mathematical Studies:"Mathematics in Family Population"; "Mathematics in Community Population." Environmental Science:"Making more of Me"; "Population Studies"; "My National World Around Me". Home Economics: "Populati on Education in Home Economic"; "Home Management"; "Home Management and Child Care". Multi-disciplinary Readers for years 7 and 8 have also been produced under the project.

(b) Non-Formal Sector

In the non-formal sector, a wide range of planned interventions have been carried out as part of population IEC with continuous technical assistance. These national activities, promoted through projects, are spread across various government ministrie s and departments as well as non-government organisations. The major target groups have included rural and urban communities, women, youth, cooperative members and workers. The broad objectives of the programme have been to develop a basic understandin g of population dynamics and the influence of population factors on social, economic and cultural aspects of everyday living; to create an appreciation of the significance and personal relevance of population change and to promote attitudes, values and sk ills conducive to responsible decision making with a view to enhancing quality of life and to accelerating human resources development. The programmes aimed at young men and young women have sought to foster an understanding ! of t heir roles as well as responsibilities and assist them in their emotional, physical and social development. Improvement of the role and status of women as benficiaries, providers and decision makers is a major thrust in the current programmes.

The content of the programme is determined through identification of the needs of the target audience. However, emphasis is laid in most programmes on core subjects such as: Human Development and Reproduction, Family Needs and Family Resources, Home Management, Family Relationships, Family Health and Nutrition, Family Budget, Maternal and Child Care, Family Planning, Income Generation Activities, Sanitation and Quality fo Life.

Most training in these programmes, which are called population/family welfare education or family life education, is based primarily on training of trainers through workshops held at the national level and through study tours and fellowships. The tra ined trainers are constituted in a mobile team of trainers trains leaders at the district levels and the leaders in turn undertake grassroots level activities, thus helping achieve 'multiplier effects'.

A wide variety of modalities is adopted to achieve the objectives of the programme through village level community meetings, evening classes, skills training, radio, drama, video, etc. Micro-level interpretation of population-related issues focussed on the family and individual aspects of life are emphasised. Attention is focussed on how the growth of the family, in terms of its size, needs and resources, affects each individual member of the family. In other words, the focus is on the problem of f amily welfare and family economics relating individual family decision-making to the family interpersonal communication and focus group discussions.

In some countries, community meetings used to be held at night in the church or community hall or outdoors, and usually accompanied by film showings (not necessarily on population) or video programmes. Often, the film would be interrupted for an hour or more for discussion on population/family life issues. These meetings, which included kava(traditional drink) and other non-alcoholic refreshments, would go on late into the night. Although no formal evaluation was conducted, anecdotal evidenc e suggests that these meetings were productive. A recently introduced approach in programme implementation is the identification and selection of voluntary motivators from among the trained leaders at the village level to serve as focal points for motiva tional activities.

Target audience specific population IEC materials have been produced under the various country-level projects. These materials are in the forms of flipcharts, posters, leaflets, training manuals, comics and skits. These seek to encourage target grou ps to talk and think about subjects that have a direct relationship to their lives and their future. To cite an example, under the "Population/Family Welfare Education for Women and Youth" project in Marshall Islands, implemented by the Ministry of Soci al Services, the following IEC materials have been developed recently: Posters on "Plan your Family for a Better Future", "Women in Development" and "Protect the Environment"; Leaflets on "Population and Resources", "Population and Developm ent", "Women in Development", "Youth Leadership" and "Family Life and Living Standards"; Flip charts "Family Well-Being", Comics on Social Issues and a Video film on "To Know Is To Live".

Community based outreach programmes carried out by non-government organisations (NGOs) have been successful. The Solomon Islands Development Trust, the Wan Smolbag Theatre in Vanuatu, the Soqosoqo Vakamarama (a Fijian women's organisation) and the Yo uth to Youth in Health in Marshall Islands are among the NGOs which have spearheaded the efforts in raising awareness on population issues and conveying family health/family planning messages.

(ii) Lessons

In the Pacific Island Countries, the programmes in the formal and the non-formal sectors targeted at various levels are still in their infancy. The UNFPA-funded projects in these sectors, which became operational in the eighties have, however, expand ed considerably in scope and substance. There is a growing awareness, appreciation and understanding of population issues to the extent that population issues are no longer as sensitive as before in the countries. In the absence of evaluat ion studies, it is difficult to ascertain the impact of the programmes int he individual countries concerned. The experience of the programmes and activities in these sectors has yielded valuable lessons, which are undoubtedly of great value in meeting the challenges ahead.

The programmes and the related activities in the countries are really examples of isolated efforts by Governments and NGOs. Different organisations are involved in IEC programmes within a country. They have their own priorities and areas of emphasis with special reference to their mandates. The non-availability of an inter-sectoral co-ordination mechanism at national levels, vested with the basic responsibility for overall-population activities, results in weakness in the system. Again, absence of effective coordination between central and local levels within projects and inadequate flow of information impairs programme implementation and development. One of the reasons for the lack f effective coordination and feedback is that full-ti me personnel are not normally available to projects and that the project staff who are part-time are unable to cope with the workload. This situation is exacerbated when the staff are transferred to other positions.

Issues related to management and administration have been found to greatly impinge on project efficacy. The location, range of responsibilities and staffing of the programme units within government ministries/departments vary widely. On e of the major problems is the critical shortage of qualified and committed staff. Building organisational capacity for programme implementation and raising programme performance require managerial efficiency and effectiveness. Training in management at operational levels has been haphazard. Management training for IEC personnel, so developing operational leadership for programme sustainability, is a crucial need.

Training of project personnel as well as trainers has been sporadic and training of teachers at the pre-service level has not been systematic. Nor has re-training or refresher training been given the deserved importance. Imparting of k nowledge and skills required for proper identification of target audience's needs, through training, has not attracted sufficient attention. The absence of coordination and the resultant deficiency in complementarity between the formal and the non-formal sectors is apparent. It is known that unless what children learn in school is complemented and reinforced in the homes and the community, such learning may not have lasting effect. Trained peer counsellors are admittedly persuasive motivators. But rec ognition of the advantages of adequate training in counselling skills is yet to gain ground.

An important area of concern is curriculum and instructional materials for the formal sector and target audience specific IEC materials in the non-formal sector. Though remarkable progress has been made in this field at the national level, these have been isolated examples produced on a one-time basis. Efforts have not been made for their periodic review to assess the degree of coherence in terms of consistency and sequence as well as their updating to reflect new developments and emerging populatio n-related social concerns. The need for collaborative efforts between the two sectors in the process of IEC materials development, pre-testing as well as exchange of materials and information has generally been overlooked. Absence of collab orative efforts among the sectors perhaps explains the increased emphasis on information and communication and the minimisation of education aspects in message development. It is also noted that in many countries, the target ! audi ence was viewed as general mass public, without any segmentation and prioritization. Some of the countries, of course, have had programmes for specific target groups.

The grossly inadequate linkages between IEC programmes and service providers have been a major limitation. Closer collaboration between IEC practitioners and family planning service providers would evidently enhance the quality of the I EC programmes.

Lack of indicators for measurement of IEC impact is a glaring drawback. Monitoring and evaluation have been given low priority. There are very few studies in the region on population-related knowledge and values or even base line data. The documentation of successful programmes and experiences in projects implemented at the country level is inadequate. Additionally, the dissemination of the available documentation has been limited.

Different countries have cultural values and standards of their own, which are regarded by social groups as worthwhile and constitute established social mores. One such set of values is that relevant to population change and fertility norms. "Many S outh Pacific people consider that cultural taboos render frank, public discussion about sexual matters, at best difficult, at worst imposible. A raft of taboos on inter-gender, inter-kinship and inter-generation discussion exist. These "inter" taboos ar e sometimes complicated by "intra" taboos, making even private discussions problemaatic."⁶ That programmes should be culturally sensitive and should take into account the general social fabric and culture, including the influence of religious and community leaders is indeed an important lesson.

As noted above, the population IEC programme is in a developing stage in the countries of the region. However, it is observed that fertility has declined in many countries. this, perhaps, is in no small measure, due to the role of IEC. The le ssons learned from programme implementation present new insights to meet the challenges in sustaining and developing the programmes as well as to keep pace with the changes and demands in the society.

(i) The Port Vila Declaration

The ICPD 1994 process has reinforced the concerns of the region in regard to population and sustainable development. The high-level Technical Meeting and the Ministerial Meeting on Population and Sustainable Development held during 6-10 September 199 3 at Port Vila, Vanuatu identified key population and development issues of concern to the region and formulated a Pacific input for ICPD 1994. The meetings were organised by the Government of Vanuatu and the South Pacific Forum in Collaboration with the UNFPA. The Ministrial Meeting adopted the Port Vila Declaration on Population and Sustainable Development as its statement of commitment towards addressing the issues.

The Declaration emphasises the uniqueness of the region as reflected in its geographic, ecological and socio-cultural diversity and in its principles affirms inter alia, that "Access to safe and effective family planning services is a basic hum an right. Informed choice and access to a range of affordable family planning methods and services must be assured for all; coercoin must play no part in population policies and programmes". Promotion of population information, education and communicati on is among the resolutions contained in the Declaration.

The resolution states that "family planning is beneficial to the whole family, and, therefore, does not conflict with traditional Pacific family concepts, functions and roles but rather enhances this basic social unit." It also states that the effect ive implementation of population and sustainable development policies and programmes is, in large part, dependent on the free flow of information, including that designed and produced within the region, to all sections of the Pacific Island community. I t recognises the need for continued development of information, education and communication activities to promote family planning programmes and increase public awareness in the wide range of population issue

(ii) NGO for Action

The Pacific Region NGOs Conference on Population and Sustainable Development held from 2 to 4 March 1994 at Nadi, Fiji issues a Statement entitled "Pacific NGO Calls for Action and Equal Partnership on Population and Sustainable Development". The statement of NGOs signifies their commitment, dedication and contribution to improving the socio-economic and environmental situation of the peoples of the Pacific region, through more effective cooperation with Governments as well as among NGOs inth e areas of population and sustainable development.

The statement envisions that "Clear national policies on population and sustainable development must be formulated to address the wide range of issues relating to the political and socio-economic and environmental factors which determine population size and the quality of life for Pacific peoples." It urges that "Pacific countries should give greater recognition to the importance of population trends for development and should take the proven steps needed to accelerate their demographic tra nsition from high to low levels of fertility and mortality." It strongly reiterates that "the aim of family planning programmes must be to establish the widest possible freedom of choice in matters of procreation." In the chapter on Populatio n IEC, the statement underlines its importance and recommends "that traditional ways of communication through dances, songs, artifacts and carvings be utilised" as "these are modes of communication that are well know! n an d honoured in the Pacific region" through which "isolated communities can be reached."

(i) Increased Awareness and Sustained Commitment

Almost all of the countries in the region show an alert awareness of population trends and issues and their potential effects, as reflected in policy announcements. However, only four countries - Federated States of Micronesia, Marshall Islands, Papu a New Guinea and Solomon Islands - have adopted national population policies. Admittedly, without a national population policy, there is no clear direction for national population programmes which would include a strategic IEC plan with clear linkages wi th national development objectives. Even with a national population policy, the lack of a national co-ordination mechanism permits individual sectors to operate programmes in isolation. An institutional mechanism to coordinate the development and implem entation of population programmes within the framework of a comprehensive and well-articulated national population policy is indeed a necessity. The establishment of multi-sectoral National Population Coordinating Committees ! under the auspices of the National Population councils in Marshall Islands and Papua New Guinea is an example of meeting the felt need.

A high level of awareness and strong commitment on the part of political leaders, policy makers, planners and administrators at all levels would contribute to the establishment of institutional arrangements for co-ordination and monitoring of the prog ramme. Increased awareness and steady commitment are vital in the formulation of clearly defined objectives and targets as part of national goals for social and economic development. Commitment at the highest level may not ensure effective implementatio n of programmes unless the commitment percolates to those responsible for programme delivery. Towards this end, population IEC could play a critical role in creating the required political will as well as in mobilising sustained support at all levels.

(ii) Research-based Information

"Information requirements for policy formulation and programme implementation cover a wide spectrum of users, from decision makers to top levels of national Governments, to couples practising contraception at the grass-roots level whose actions determ ine the success of population programmes."⁷

A serious impediment in population IEC programme promotion in the countries, is the general paucity of information generated through systematic research and evaluation. Preparation of a national and regional directory of research personnel, organisat ions and institutions and materials is important in this regard. Regional or national workshops to underline the importance of research to identify specific needs for IEC inputs in population programmes would be desirable.

There is a definite need to initiate a variety of evaluation and research activities in the Pacific, including studies on population-related knowledge, attitudes and values, KAP surveys, action-oriented type of research, such as whether successful lea rning takes place when population content is integrated with other subjects or when offered as a single subject, and assessment of the efficiency and effectiveness of curricula, methodologies, materials and media combinations. It is also necessary to dev elop socio-cultural research related to population activities. Research on a continuing basis is needed of programme implementation to obtain systematic and timely feedback about the effects and impact of IEC activities.

(iii) Reaching Neglected Audiences and Concerns

In most of the Pacific Island countries, women and youth have been important target groups in population IEC programmes. They have been treated as special audience groups and projects have focussed on them. It is important to divide women into more homogenous categories with common problems and needs. Quite clearly adolescent girls have very different needs from young married women and older women have special needs. For adolescents, family life education and training, with sex education as a comp onent, is a definite need. Programmes have to be devised to meet this need and, at the same time, help raise the marriage age and delay and space child births. In the education of girls, there needs to be complementarity between in-school population edu cation and out-of-school IEC. Training in skills and income-generation activities could be important entry points for family life education for girls so enabling a receptive audience. Programmes aimed at the newly-married co! uple s also need to be promoted.

Educating and reaching out to the men in society has, to a great extent, been neglected in the Pacific. It is an accepted fact that males wield greater authority in the family. However, in the area of family planning and contraceptive use, the role of males in fertility decisions tends to be undersestimated and ignored. Recent experiences in Fiji by the Soqosoqo Vakamarama and the Fiji Red Cross Society, for instance, show a growing interest among men in family planning related information. The fi ndings from the study of three reproductive health videos reveal the interest shown by men in this subject. According to Winn, et al, men who watched the videos "were fascinated by the subject and wanted to know more"⁸. Men's active participation in widening family planning acdeptance and practice needs to be stimulated. In this regard appropriate programmes to change male attitudes have to be developed. In the programmes ! aimed at men, it is desirable to include some sensitization to the problems of women. special needs of pregnant women in terms of nutrition and lightened workload could from part of the programme content.

One important potential target group which has remained underdeveloped inthe programme is the labour market. There is a great need for the orientation of workers' and employers' organisations and other entities in the labour sector to a wider appreci ation of the links between family size/family circumstances and labour welfare, including productivity. This would help promote a gradual integration of population and family welfare aspects into activities which are traditionally accepted as labour welf are.

Another target group among who the programme needs promotion, comprises vocational and technical trainees. They come to this training as they embark upon adult life, ready to make decisions about their future. A social eduction input, comprising fam ily welfare aspects, into the vocational training programmes would help making the skill training broad-based and comprehensive.

The promotion of employment-based family welfare/family planning programmes is another neglected area. The emergence of new economic ventures, such as garment factories, means that new target groups like young women workers have to be addressed and d ifferent network structures tapped. It would be of distinct advantage to instil in the young women workers, a clear appreciation of the linkages between family welfare and family size to plan their families from the outset of marriage.

(iv) Gender Equality and Equity

Efforts to enhance the roles and status of women in the Pacific have been rudimentary. This is attributed to deeply ingrained prejudices and assumptions about women's roles in most countries. women are often seen as 'under-achieving, under-privilege d and under-represented' in most spheres of life.

Women have been significant elements in UNFPA activities in the Pacific. their concerns are explicitly or implicitly addressed in projects and activities at the country level. The activities have been designed to raise the status of women as benefic iaries, providers and decision-makers at the various levels of project/programme implementation. Gender specific strategies would address the priority concerns of Pacific women. Among the priority areas of concern are strengthening and advancement of in stitutional arrangements for the integration of women in the mainstream of development, and promotion of safe motherhood with a strategy thrust identified as reproductive health. An important requirement is to encourage more enlightened socio-cultural at titudes concerning the status of women and their human resource potential. Major policy interventions are essential to bring women's social status and economic opportunities on par with men. Population IEC has an important r! ole to play in all of these areas through promoting greater understanding of gender issues. The family as an institution has a profound effect on the lives of women, on how they view themsleves and on how society views them. The family could be an impor tant level through which women can be equipped to function as agents of change.

Generating sustained political will and Government commitment to promote equality between men and women, influencing formation of attitudes that develop gender equity and promoting measures to ensure women's role in decision-making in the household, e conomy and society are clearly major thrusts of IEC strategy. Developing the human resource potential of women, mobilizing them at the grassroots level, strengthening women's organisations and bureaux, providing women management skills training, promotin g female entrepreneurship and women's employment, supporting the setting up of micro-enterprises for women especially inthe informal sector are measures through which programmes could build gender equality and equity in the Pacific.

(v) Communication Channels and Systems

A wide range of channels and systems are used in communication on population issues and their implications. However, with the strong oral traditions in the pacific, interpersonal or face-to-face communication is recognised to be the most effective in motivational activities. It has the effect of a chain reaction, once started in an effective way, it continues spontaneously. In the words of E.M. Rogers, it "epitomizes the communication ideals of participation and interaction". Continued use of fact to face communication with emphasis on the 'peer groups to reach peer groups' appraoch would enhance the effectiveness of the programmes.

Few countries is the region have their own live television service and where it exists, only city dwellers have access to it. In such a situation, community-based outreach networks with emphasis on localised approaches and radio form useful media of communication. Print media such as newspapers and IEC materials in the form of leaflets, posters, flip charts and flash cards are important. Visual aids capture attention, arouse interest and trigger discussion. Irrespective of the media being used, th e IEC materials have to be made more target audience-specific, with appropriate, relevant and acceptable messages.

Experience demonstrates that a multi-media approach linking interpersonal communication and mass media is more effective than a single channel. Assessment of the availability and the effectiveness of communication channels in a given situation would be vital for designing and implementing appropriate strategies. Since radio and video ta;es aare found to be persuasive and effective in disseminating messages, the potential of 'radio forums', 'video forums' and 'audiotape forums' could be explored and developed. Efforts need to be made for training of national personnel for producing high quality videos. Radio's capacity for mobilizing community support needs to be developed more fully.

Entertainment is a significant channel for conveying social messages to wider audiences. The Entertainment Education approach called the 'Enter-Education approach' could be very potent in the Pacific Island countries to provide role models for attitu dinal and behavioural change. Indigenous communication systems, consisting of traditional or folk modes of communication - songs, dramas, dance, puppet shows and traditional story-telling - with roots in local cultures, which have been important communic ation channels, hold the potential for effective communication.

An integrated approach is generally accepted to be more effective than a 'one-shot' family life/welfare education programme. However, there can be not be no general ground rules. Flexibility coupled with adaptation to local conditions and situations is essntial. Integration implies a multi-benefit programme where family welfare education is combined with other services or benefits for the community. The grafting of family welfare/family planning on to income generation activities or the combinatio n of child spacing counselling to home management are examples of such programmes. The approach to family welfare necessitates multi-disciplinary planning.

Development of an integrated communication system by developing an integrated infrastructure for population IEC, strengthening the communication capacity of the existing systems and building national population information networks (POPIN) are urgent needs. Such networks can be linked with the Pacific regional network POPIN at the University of the South Pacific.

Other substantive approaches, which encompass revitalizing current approaches and adopting new ones, include the following:

(vi) Regional Collaboration

Population education and population IEC programmes in the countries vary in their levels of achievement and effectiveness. At present, there is no mechanism for sharing of materials and experiences in these sectors in the Pacific region. Sharing of experiences, ideas, materials and resources is not only useful for devlopmental purposes but also serves as a stimulus to maintain commitment and momentum in the implementation of programmes. It also opens up avnues of communication between individuals w ho otherwise may not have met or communicated though they have common interests. Regional coordination would serve as a catalyst for countries to document their own programmes and would help create an environment which fosters innovation and an increased appreciation of the role of IEC in improving the quality of life of the people. The usefulness of inter-regional collaborationand cooperation in programme development needs no emphasis. Effective and innovative IEC interven! tion s in regions could be shared through such collaboration. The documentation centre/library inthe UNFPA CST office of the South Pacific, which is still in embryonic stage could eventuate into a resource centre and a clearing house for the Pacific.

The Programme Review and Strategy Development (PRSD) mission of 1991 noted a wide range of population IEC activities and programmes in the South Pacific region and observed that they have been carried out in a "rather fragmented fashion." The mission saw a clear need to develop a more comprehensive system at the national level. "Given the diversity among the countries as well as within each country, specific plans for such a system should be developed and implemented in the proper national context", the report states.

It is being increasingly recognised that instead of sectoral approaches, a programme-oriented approach would be desirable. The programme approach being holistic would prevent overlapping of activities and dissipation of resources. Under This approac h, population-related activities would be linked within the framework of an overall national population programme. The programme approach would promote sustainability of the programme at the national level and has necessarily to be country-driven. The c omplexity of population-related isues suggests the importance of adopting an integrated and multi-disciplinaary approach in population programmes as an essential part of national strategies to achieve sustained economic growth and sustainable developement .

¹Epeli Hau'ofa (1993) Our Sea and Islands. The Contemporary Pacific.
²K. Gannicott (1993) Population, Development and Growth - Pacific 2010, (National Centre for Development Studies, Australian National University, Canberra), p.35
³UNDP 91994) Pacific Human Development Report, provisional edition, p.8
⁴UNDP (1994) Pacific Human Development Report, p.12
⁵D. Howlett (1982) Economic aspects of population change and development inthe small islands and countries of ESCAP/SPC region, Asian Population Studies Series No.52, p.80 (Bangkok:ESCAP)
⁶Margaret Winn and David Lucas (1993) "Language, Videos and Family Planning in the South Pacific", Asia Pacific Population Journal (Vol.8 No.4) pp.27-28
⁷ESCAP (1987) 'IEC in Population Policy Formulation and Programme Implementation' - Population Research Leads.
⁸Margaret Winn, et al (1989) Report on the Evaluation of the South Pacific Reproductive Health Videos. The Family Planning Federation of Australia, Inc. p.44