Meeting the challenges of a changing region

Special Report

By Patrick Pccloitre

Lourdes Pangelinan was elected last December as director general of the Pacific Community, the first woman to ever hold this position.

She is currently in Suva, Fiji islands, her first official trip outside SPC’s

headquarters in Noumea, New Caledonia, since she took office early in January.

She explains the reasons behind this trip, the challenges of her new position, and her visions for the Pacific Community’s future: Q : “What is the main purpose of this visit here in Suva, your first visit outside since you took up your position as Director General of

Spc?

A : I thought it was appropriate for my first official duty travel outside of Noumea to come to a very important office, Suva operations, here.

This week I’m here to present myself of course as director general to our staff, to sit down and work with my colleague Dr Jimmie Rodgers on the

future directions for the organisation, to meet some of the new staff of SPC-Suva whom I have not met before, but I’m also here to touch base with the Fiji government and the various partners that we have working here in Suva : the various development agencies, organisations, UN agencies, and of course with the representatives of the missions of our member countries and territories of

the Pacific Community based here in Suva.

Q : For the past four years, you worked under the direction of Dr Bob Dun, SPC’s former Director General.

How do you intend to carry on the work he initiated since 1995 and that you have already helped implement?

A : It’s been quite a privilege having worked with Bob Dun, as a team with

Jimmie Rodgers and the rest of the professionals at SPC. We were all elected to our positions four years ago. We came into SPC finding an organisation that was struggling in terms of its direction, had some difficulties with respect to gaining the continuing support of membership.

One of our founding members, the United Kingdom, was at the time exiting from the organisation. SPC was also having

difficulties in being able to retain the continued confidence of our donor partners. And as you know, most of the work we do in SPC is as a result of the

project funds provided by our donor

partners. So it was really an organisation which was in need of change. Under Bob’s leadership and working with Jimmie and everyone in SPC, the

organisation has completely turned around. 1 think today we have a modern, a very efficient organisation that has regained the confidence of our development partners.

Very happily, the United Kingdom has come back as a member of the organisation, we currently have, I think, a vision that also had been laid out by Bob, a vision we all share, a vision of an organisation that is even stronger in being able to deliver quality services to its member countries and territories, and an organisation that will continue to be in the forefront of meeting and addressing the changes of this region.

Q : How do you consider the relationship between the Noumea head quartersand the Suva operations?

A ; At present, we have a

total staff of 235 in the organisation, 103 of those are based in Suva, either directly or indirectly through agriculture programmes based out of Suva. Very clearly, the Suva operations is and has always been very important to the

organisation.

Q : How are these two locations going to evolve in future?

A : I think, overall, many of our Continued next page

The Pacific Community's new director general, Lourdes Pangelinan (right) and her deputy. Dr Jimmie Rodgers

Continued from previous page programmes are in fact undergoing expansion, in Noumea our fisheries programme is taking on some new projects as well as our community health programme with the social division.

Likewise in agriculture ; there is a continuing interest on the part of our donor partners, particularly Australia and France, in further expansion of the agriculture programme. So very clearly, the programmes and activities that we have operating out of Suva are quite important.

Q : There is a project that is supposed to link Noumea and Suva very soon.

What is it about?

A : I’m actually very excited, we have this wonderful project, a satellite project that would in fact bridge this communication gap that has existed within SPC for quite a number of years. This

satellite project was made possible by

AusAID and France, we call it the COMET project. Essentially, it would enable SPC Suva and SPC Noumea to be linked through satellite and therefore enable the organisation to come closer together.

Information flow would be much smoother, we’d be able to share much more among our programmes that do have common clients throughout the Pacific, quite a bit of programme information that would enable us to become more efficient.

Q : Since you were elected last December as director general of the SPC, you have been seen, at least in the eyes of the media and the general public, as the first woman to hold this office.

Do you like this gender-based

categorisation?

A : Certainly, being the head of such an

organisation s the Pacific Community is a challenge anyway, for any individual. I have to admit being a woman as well presents perhaps additional elements of the challenges.

However, I’d just like to say this is a challenge that I take on enthusiastically, it’s one where I feel a great deal of support from my male and female colleagues. This is, going to be a very important challenge anyway. I think working together with the support of my colleagues and the member countries and territories who have given me this opportunity and bestowed this honour upon me, we can only succeed. Of course, I

think the implications for women in the future, as a result of my experience, are going to be very important.

Q : What would you like the Pacific Community to become under your leadership?

A : This sixth of February, the organisation has been in existence for a total of 53 years. It’s been very important to the region, it has had and still has a role to play in the next fifty years to come. SPC, for it to survive and be able to do well, however, has to always look at the changes that are occurring in the region, and has to stay in front of those changes.

The efficiency of the organisation is one that also needs to be maintained.

I think in the past four years, there’s been quite a number of changes that have occurred and have resulted in SPC administrative systems, programme development systems, to be put in place.

The foundation has been laid.

I think the challenge ahead is just to maintain, to continue on the good work and maintain the efficiency of the organisation, to continue to lead in its desire to change, and meet the challenges of the changing region.”

The Pacific Community is based in Noumea