Project Discription@FY2001
1. Exchange projects that respect the values and cultural identity of each island society
Exchange Media Personnel among the Pacific Island Region and Japan
| Organizers: |
The Sasakawa Peace Foundation |
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Pacific Islands News Association (PINA) |
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| Project period: |
The second year of an ongoing five-year project |
| For FY2001: |
¥3,813,360 |
Ties between Pacific island nations and Japan are growing deeper year by year as JapanÕs private sector continues to invest in these countries and more official development assistance is extended to them. From fiscal 1991 through fiscal 1999, the Fund implemented the project Inviting Media Personnel from the Pacific Island Region to Japan. More than 60 media personnel from Pacific island nations visited Japan through that project, which sought to promote understanding of Japan within the region. Thanks to the project's success, it was decided to follow up with the present five-year project.
This year it was planned to send three reporters from Japan's Okinawa Prefecture to Papua New Guinea, but because of the high risk of contracting malaria, the destination was changed to Fiji. The reporters covered ecotourism and ruins and wrote feature stories on those topics. In addition, the editor in chief of a newspaper and a senior journalist for a radio network in Papua New Guinea, as well as the publisher of a newspaper in Fiji, were invited to Japan. They covered the planned inauguration of direct flights between Japan and Papua New Guinea in April 2002 and the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Station, as well as the remote island community of Miyakojima, Okinawa Prefecture. Their reports were published in a Papua New Guinea national newspaper and transmitted throughout the Pacific region through various media.
Coconut College
| Organizers: |
The Sasakawa Peace Foundation |
| Project period: |
The second year of an ongoing five-year project |
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| For FY2001: |
¥5,074,555 |
From fiscal 1994 through fiscal 1996, the Fund hosted the Shima o Kataru Kai (Island Forum in Japan), which enabled people from Pacific island nations and Japan to engage in freewheeling dialogue on mutual understanding and cooperation. This led to the establishment in fiscal 1997 of Coconuts College of the Pacific, aimed at increasing understanding of Pacific island nations within Japan.
This year, the second year of the second phase of this project, the composer and writer Ikuma Dan was to have delivered a public seminar, but this was preempted by his death in May 2001. In early June, eight people from the Yaeyama islands, Okinawa Prefecture, were sent to the meeting of the Pacific Society at the University of Guam. One of the delegates, Nagateru Ohama, mayor of Ishigaki City, Okinawa Prefecture, presented a paper on malaria and malaria eradication in the Yaeyama islands. The delegates also met with Madeleine Z. Bordallo, lieutenant governor of Guam, and visited maritime facilities in Palau and met with Palau President Tommy Esang Remengesau Jr. In addition, the Coconuts College of the Pacific virtual classroom (www.yashinomi.to), launched in 1997, was redesigned and conducted an interactive seminar on relations between Pacific island nations and Okinawa in which 19 people took part.
Regional History Project of the Council of Presidents of Pacific History and Social Studies Teachers Association
History and social studies in Pacific island nations have been taught within the parameters of the educational systems bequeathed by the former suzerain powers, and the textbooks in use have not been written by islanders themselves. In fiscal 1995, the Fund launched a five-year project that supported the development of teaching materials by history and social studies teachers in the region and the establishment of an association of teachers in each country. The Council of Presidents of the Pacific History and Social Studies Teachers Association, a regional organization headquartered at the National University of Samoa, was formed in 1999. This paved the way for projects developed on the initiative of islanders.
Political upheaval in Fiji and the Solomon Islands in fiscal 2000, when the present project was launched, hampered activities that year. This year, however, two workshops were held: a Melanesian-region workshop in Vanuatu in October and a Polynesian-region workshop in Tonga in December. The use of museums in history education was discussed at the Vanuatu workshop, leading to compilation of Pacific History, Museums and Cultural Centres: A Guide for History Teachers.
2. Micronesia-focused projects aimed at promoting regional harmony
Educational Support for Better Understanding on Japan in the Micronesian Region
Despite the need for Japanese-language teaching and for education to introduce Japanese culture to Pacific island nations, there is still no adequate regionwide support system for this. In some parts of the region it is possible to gain aid from the Japanese Overseas Cooperation Volunteers as part of JapanÕs official development assistance (ODA), but in U.S. territories like Guam and Saipan, which are not eligible for ODA, no appropriate framework has been set up despite the fact that they gain a great deal of their foreign currency income from Japanese tourists and have a commensurate need for Japanese-language education. In addition, large numbers of people from nearby Micronesian countries migrate to Guam and Saipan to work.
This project studied and developed an appropriate system for teaching Japanese and Japanese culture, focusing on the Marianas, where the need was especially high. An experienced teacher from Japan, Sachiko Adachi, worked in partnership with local educational institutions. During school holidays she also traveled to Samoa and American Samoa in Polynesia, as well as Hawaii, and to the Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, the Marshall Islands, and Palau in Micronesia to study the condition of Japanese-language education in each locale and establishment of an aid model for other Pacific island nations.
In 1999, at the request of the public school system of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Ms. Adachi helped develop Japanese-language education on the Internet, which links all schools in the Marianas. She also took an active part in private-sector exchange initiatives between Japan and the Marianas and in community activities to further understanding of Japanese culture, contributing greatly not only to Japanese-language education but also to overall understanding of Japan on Saipan.
This year, the third and final year of the project, nine students from the Nagoya University of Foreign Studies led by Professor Hiroko Chinen Quackenbush were sent to Saipan for practice teaching of Japanese. The Nagoya University of Foreign Studies will continue this kind of practice teaching.
Educators in the Marianas, where the need for Japanese-language education is high but trained teachers are few and far between, have highly praised Ms. AdachiÕs leadership. At the request of the public school system of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, she is to continue to provide Japanese-language education as well as development of a distance-education version of Japanese-language courses via video conferences and the Internet after the project's conclusion.
Archaeological Training Programs in Emerging Micronesian Island Nations
| Organizers: |
University of Guam |
| Project period: |
The second year of an ongoing three-year project |
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| For FY2001: |
¥3,780,297 |
From fiscal 1996 to fiscal 1998, the Fund provided a grant to the Bishop Museum in Honolulu and achieved successful results through the Pilot Archaeological Training Program in the Pacific Islands initiative, a pilot project for training local archaeologists throughout the Pacific island region.
Building on that experience, the present project is organizing lectures and conducting on-site training in connection with the excavation and maintenance of ruins in Micronesia. The aim is to reconfirm cultural identity through the excavation of ruins and the restoration of ruins damaged during the long colonial period and to achieve sound economic development and independence.
In the first year outbreaks of dengue in Palau and cholera on the island of Pohnpei in the Federated States of Micronesia curtailed on-site training, but this year lectures and on-site training were conducted for nine trainees in Palau (September 7-28, 2001) and six trainees on Pohnpei (January 8-February 1, 2002). The trainees also underwent training in preparing computerized databases using photographs and video.
PATS Staff Trainee Program
The Ponape Agriculture and Trade School (PATS), the only vocational school in the Micronesian region, has graduated close to 1,000 students in its 36 years, shaping them into human resources who contribute to the regionÕs economic development. Since the end of the cold war, U.S. financial aid to the region has been cut considerably, which has had a negative impact on the operation of PATS. But the school has an important role to play in the region, and it faces the need to develop human resources while rebuilding its financial base.
This project provides two years of training for selected PATS graduates in order to improve the quality and increase the number of indigenous teachers. This year eight trainees underwent training from April to July 2001 (five first-year trainees and three second-year trainees), while 10 trainees underwent training in the new training year beginning in August 2001 (five chosen from among new PATS graduates and five continuing from the previous training year). Efforts were also made to raise the qualifications of trainees by enabling them to earn credits for a variety of courses at the College of Micronesia. Two PATS graduates are scheduled to join the school as junior staff in June, 2002.
3. Projects that support education and training through the medium of distance education
Transcending Borders with Education Online
| Organizers: |
Micronesia Seminar |
| Project period: |
The third year of a three-year project |
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| For FY2001: |
¥3,257,842 |
Since achieving independence the Federated States of Micronesian countries have received massive financial aid from the United States and has been pursuing rapid modernization. Social distortions caused by modernization, however, such as the worldÕs highest rate of youth suicide, have emerged as major problems. At the same time, traditional social structures remain deeply rooted, and media and other forms of information disclosure and forums for public consultation remain underdeveloped. Micronesians still lack opportunities for public discussion of the social problems they face. Meanwhile, the more than 25,000 Micronesians who have gone to the United States to work or study have had difficulty readjusting upon their return home.
The Micronesian Seminar, located on Phonpei, has organized the only systematic archive in Micronesia. Using video, newsletters, and other media, it has also actively provided the community with a forum for discussion of social problems. This project, conducted in collaboration with the Micronesian Seminar, is an experiment in providing online education regarding the social problems facing Micronesia.
Under the auspices of the project, a website (www.micsem.org) has been set up, and the catalog of the 16,000 titles in the Micronesian Seminar library as well as its photographic materials have been digitalized. In addition, videos on social problems have been produced, problems have been publicized on the website and in newsletters, and an online forum has been established. During the three years of the project the online forum has addressed 10 topics having to do with social problems in contemporary Micronesia, including education, employment, immigration, and bureaucratic dysfunction.
Hits on the website have increased steadily. In the first year the monthly average was 5,000 hits, a figure that rose to 12,000 in the second year and 25,000 in the third year.
As a result of ongoing consultations between the Micronesian Seminar and the junior colleges of three Micronesian countries aimed at making distance education possible through online forums, this year the College of Micronesia set up a forum for its students moderated by a lecturer in the collegeÕs Social Science Division, with students registering more than 250 comments. It is hoped that further information will be gathered and disseminated via online education in Micronesia.
Internet Course Development by School of Law of USP
Pacific island nations are using the legal systems of their former suzerain powers in conjunction with traditional customs as they engage in nation building. Putting in place their own legal systems and educating the public about them are important to the peace and stability of these relatively new states.
Through this project the University of the South Pacific (USP), which has been offering distance education to Pacific islanders, aims to provide high-quality educational materials and interactive classes for students in outlying areas who are enrolled in the School of Law. This year the USP School of Law (website: www.vanuatu.usp.ac.fj) developed 16 new online subjects, adapting the materials used so far, and provided links to the website Pacific Islands Legal Information Institute, a collection of cases, and other databases. A project manager and two technicians were employed to develop Internet courses, and the website was progressively updated. In fiscal 2002, a system for online discussion is to be set up.
Forming a Distance Education Alliance for Progress in the Western Pacific
Western Pacific island societies, which have had no framework for regional cooperation, have experimented with one-off distance education programs but have so far lacked any cohesive system of distance education. Last year, the one-year project Charting the Future Course of Distance Education in the Western Pacific held a Regional Policy Forum for relevant parties at which it was agreed to establish the Alliance for Distance Education in the Western Pacific.
This project is confirming the needs and problems of distance education in the Western Pacific and providing coordination for the parties involved in setting up the alliance. This year surveys led by educational experts were conducted to evaluate the current state of distance education and telecommunications in Micronesia. Workshops were held on the islands of Chuuk (formerly Truk), Kosrae, Majuro, Palau, Pohnpei, and Yap. A total of 140 people, including distance education and telemedicine policymakers, politicians, representatives of aid donors, jurists, and business people, took part. Each locale drew up a Ņdistance education initiative,Ó an action plan for establishing a distance education and medical education network oriented to local needs.
Distance Education in the South-West Pacific Cultural Heritage Training
Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu have been undergoing tremendous cultural and social change as they are swept by the currents of modernization. In both countries the cultural heritage has not been appropriately safeguarded and is endangered. Moreover, because research on these countriesÕ cultural heritage has been carried out by Western scholars and experts, there are few local human resources. History education having lagged since independence, there is a need to both retrieve history and inform educators of it.
This year field studies were conducted on the islands of New Ireland, off the east coast of Papua New Guinea, and Malakula in Vanuatu, with the permission of both the central government and the local community. Almost 50 local people involved with cultural heritage took part on each island. The field studies were publicized through special radio programs and newspaper features, and lecture meetings were held in local schools and communities. In Vanuatu, cartoon booklets on the cultural heritage are being produced in three languages (English, French, and the pidgin known as Bislama). The website at the Australian National University, the grant recipient, was also enhanced.
