A roundtable meeting to discuss development issues in the Pacific, particularly after the conclusion of the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) programme in 2015, was held last month in the Timor-Leste capital of Dili.
Jointly hosted by the Government of Timor-Leste and the Port Vila, Vanuatu-based Pacific Institute of Public Policy, the conference aimed to set an agenda for post-2015 development initiatives.
Like most ‘global’ initiatives that are conceived in the hallowed, comfortable offices of multi disciplinary experts and academics, no matter how much ‘field input’ is solicited, collated and number crunched, the final strategy that comes out can be a little else than a one size fits all solution. In hindsight, most development observers and workers, especially in the diverse Pacific islands region, would agree that much more particularisation needed to be done, taking on board the concerns of individual countries.
Read more at Island Business
