Vanuatu & EU signed MOU for an assistance of € 31.3 million

by Jean-Baptiste CALO 

Vanuatu is the first Pacific ACP country to sign its 11th European Development Fund (11th EDF) National Indicative Programme (EDF NIP) of an amount of € 31.3 million with the European Union on December 9th 2014 at the Africa-Pacific-Caribbean (ACP) Secretariat in Brussels, Belgium.

 Foreign Affairs Minister Sato Kilman signing MOU with the EU Commissioner

Under this MOU, the EU under the European Development Fund, its main instrument for providing development aid to African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries and to overseas countries and territories (OCTs), has made available an envelope of € 31.3 million for specific projects concerning mainly the sector of rural development in Vanuatu for the period of 2014-2020 (under 11th EDF).

The Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Vanuatu Minister for Foreign Affairs, Honorable Sato Kilman Meltek Livtunvanu and the newly appointed Development Commissioner for the European Union, Neven Mimica.

In his official adress, Minister Kilman took the opportunity to thank the EU for the finalisation of that MOU and emphasised that it was a partnership between the EU and the Republic of Vanuatu.

"The Vanuatu Governement will do all it can do to carry out all that it is expected of us to do in order to honor this partnership with European Union. We will prove to the European Union that we can be a good partner", Mr Kilman said.

In his response, the EU Commissioner, Neven Mimica emphasised that it was an importance stage in the continuation of the partnership between the European Union and the Republic of Vanuatu.

"This programme frames the priorities and resources that will sustain our development co-operation partnership until 2020.  I am happy to confirm that an envelope of € 31.3 million will be available, which  represents an increase of over one third, or precisely 35% compared to the 10th EDF National Indicative Programme", Mr Mimica stated.

(Under the 10th EDF, Vanuatu got an assistance envelope of € 18.5 miliion)

He also said that he was reassured by the fact that Rural Development has been selected by the governement of Vanuatu as the single focal sector.

"It is fully in line with the EU Agenda for Change which seeks to concentrate resources in order to increase impact" the EU Commissioner added.

He went on saying that given the importance of the rural economy and agriculture in Vanuatu, the choice of "Rural Development" is very relevant.

Mr Mimica also stressed that he sincerly hope that 11th EDF support will be able to contribute in a tangible to improving agricultural livelihoods and jobs in rural areas and outer islands and thereby also help to fight poverty and limit urban drift in Vanuatu.

He also assured the Vanuatu Minister for foreign affairs that the intensity and the quality of the European Union's engagement with Vanuatu will be maintained despite the closure of the EU Mission in Port-Vila.

He explained that the EU is fully commited to the partnership with Vanuatu and has put in place the resources to support it.

"I'm satisfied with the very positive outcome of the recent political dialogque which took place in Port-Vila in 30 October 2014", Mimica said.\

He also congratulated Vanuatu for its commitment to fully cooperate with the European Commission on Illegal, Unauthorised and Unreported fishing  (IUU) activities and for its constructive approach.

"Vanuatu has made a lot of efforts to address the shortcomings identified by the European Union", Mr Mimica concluded.

The signing of the 11th EFS National Indicative Programme is an historical milestone for Vanuatu but also for the ACP because Vanuatu has become the first Pacific ACP country to sign its 11th EDF/NIP with the European Union.

And it is also symbolical due to the fact the the signature of the MOU coincides with the 100th ACP-EU Council of Ministers Meeting currently in session from the 9th to 12th December 2014.

The signing ceremony was attended by all the ambassadors, members of the ACP secretariat and members of the press from Africa, Caribbean and Pacific covering the 100th ACP Council of Ministers in Brussels, Belgium.
 

What is 11th EDF?

Created in 1957 by the Treaty of Rome and launched in 1959, the European Development Fund (EDF) is the EU's main instrument for providing development aid to African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries and to overseas countries and territories (OCTs).
The EDF funds cooperation activities in the fields of economic development, social and human development as well as regional cooperation and integration.
It is financed by direct contributions from EU Member States according to a contribution key and is covered by its own financial rules.
The total financial resources of the 11th EDF amount to €30.5 billion for the period 2014-2020.
In the field of the external actions of the European Union, the applicable legislation is composed in particular by the international agreement of Cotonou for the aid financed from the European Development Fund, by the basic regulations related to the different cooperation programmes adopted by the Council and the European Parliament, and by the financial regulations.

Advancing youth agricultural entrepreneurship and ICT innovations to boost climate-resilient food value chains

The Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) is a joint international institution of the European Union (EU) and African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States. Its mission is to advance food and nutritional security, increase prosperity and encourage sound natural resource management in ACP countries. It provides access to information and knowledge, facilitates policy dialogue and strengthens the capacity of agricultural and rural development institutions and communities.

 Objective: The objective of this grant is to advance agricultural entrepreneurship and ICT innovations by young people. It responds to the strategic need to strengthen the involvement of youth in agriculture. It will support youth capacity building and entrepreneurship in ICT for agriculture (ICT4Ag) and promote youth employment opportunities. The call for proposals builds on various activities that CTA has been implementing in the area of agribusiness, value chain development, ICT for agriculture, and youth in agriculture (notably within the framework of the Agriculture, Rural Development and Youth in the Information Society (ARDYIS) project).

Proposals can be submitted in the following two categories:

Category 1: Proposals aimed at strengthening youth engagement and entrepreneurship in strategic food commodity value chains. They will favour the consolidation of agro-food cooperatives or companies led by young people, or the creation of innovative agro-entrepreneurial mechanisms for the benefit of youths.

Category 2: Proposals aimed at implementing the “AgriHack Talent” programme at national or regional level, with a focus on value chain development, regional trade or climate change adaptation for strategic food commodities. The objective of the AgriHack Talent programme initiated by CTA is to support ICT innovations and entrepreneurship in agriculture by youth. It encompasses a series of activities at the heart of which a hackathon or coding competition is organised, followed by capacity building, entrepreneurship support in ICT and agriculture business, as well as promotion of the products developed. Proposals may include other activities, or may not include all activities of the model.

For both categories, successful applicants will receive grants ranging from EUR 30 000 to 100 000.

Who can apply: Only youth organisations or organisations working on youth issues can submit proposals.

Language: Proposals may be submitted in either French or English

Submission method: By email to youthgrant@cta.int

Deadline: Applications must be submitted by 15 February 2015 at 23:59 hours, Netherlands time.

Click here to download detailed guidelines for submitting applications: http://bit.ly/youth-call-cta

16 MPs suspended for alleged corruption 

by Jean-Baptiste CALO

The Parliament of Vanuatu has suspended 16 MPs from the Opposition Block due to allegations of corruption on Tuesday November 25th, 2014.

The leader of Opposition, Mr. Moana Carcasses Kalosil

The motion was tabled by the Prime Minister Joe Natuman and  was put to vote by show of hands.

It resulted with 27 votes for, 22 against and 1 abstention.

While moving the motion in the Parliament, Prime Minister Joe Natuman said that the 16 MPs have allegedly received bribes from the leader of the Opposition, Moana Carcasses Kalosil in form of loans at a local bank.

The statement was immediately refuted by Mr Carcasses, who reiterated that as we are approaching the end of the year,  it is a normal practice in Vanuatu to see MPs requesting loans to cater for the requests of their electorate.

Before the motion was put to vote by the Speaker of Parliament, a lot of statements were made from both sides of the Chamber.

M. Natuman explained that the motion was lodged by the government after they discovered that the leader of Opposition has allegedly proposed substantial amount of loans through a local bank to 16 members of Parliament.

He stated that it was a clear act of bribery and that it was high time that the people involved in such corruptible practices are reprimanded.

He went on saying that the 16 members of Parliament are free to take the matter up to the Supreme Court afterwards, if they wish to question the legality of their suspension from the Parliament.

The Santo MP, Marcelino Pipite warned the government that: "the suspension of the 16 MPs would be a blatant blow to their constitutional rights. He point out that most of those MPs have been elected by an average of more than 800 voters in their respective constituencies.

The leader of Opposition and of the Green Confederation, Moana Carcasses Kalosil, the leader of the Union of Moderate Party (UMP), Serge Vohor, Tony Wright (Port-Vila MP), Pascal Iauko (MP for Tanna), Marcelino Pipite (MP for Santo) , Paul Telukluk (Malekula MP), Jean-Yves Chabod (Port-Vila MP) and 9 other MPs from the Opposition block were suspended on Tuesday 25 November for the rest of the current budget session including the first 2015 session of Parliament scheduled for March-April 2015.

The Opposition Leader, Moana Carcasses and his deputy, veteran politician, Serge Vohor claimed in their respective statements in the Parliament Chamber that more than 4 government backbenchers have also received a loan from Mr Carcasses.

And they requested that to be fair, the government side should also sanction those MPs within their ranks who have also presumably obtained loans from the Opposition leader.

On the other hand, various leaders from the government side emphasised that there are already precedences with the suspension of the former Efate MP, Maxime Carlo Korman and the former speaker of Parliament and current Minister of Health, George Wells, few years ago.

In both cases previously mentioned, the Supreme Court of Vanuatu has clearly acknowledged the separation of powers enshrined in the Constitution between the executive, the legislative and judiciary. And it has equally recognised through its verdicts, in both cases, the fact that the National Parliament has the power to suspend an elected member of Parliament as long as the motion is voted with the backing of the majority of 52 elected members of Parliament.

The motion to suspend the 16 MPs was the only subject debated by the Parliament on Tuesday afternoon.

Vanuatu Times was informed that the Opposition lodged a constitutional application before the Supreme Court to challenge the legality of the suspension of the 16 elected members of Parliament.

Visa Waiver Program between EU and Vanuatu expected for June 2015

by Jean-Baptiste CALO

The European Union (EU) and the Vanuatu government  are negotiating a Visa Waiver Program agreement that would allow European nationals and Ni Vanuatu citizens to travel to Europe and to Vanuatu without need of a visa.

Vanuatu Ambassador to the EU,
His Excellency Roy Mickey Joy

In his recent visit to Port-Vila, the Vanuatu Ambassador to the European Union, His Excellency Roy Mickey Joy told Vanuatu times in an exclusive interview that Bilateral talks between the EU and Vanuatu through the Home Affairs Ministry in Brussels this week will pave the way forward for the first draft of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that will later on be  signed as the visa waver (or visa facilitation agreement) agreement between European Countries  and Vanuatu.

The Ambassador of Vanuatu to the European Union based in Brussels, Belgium, H.E Roy Mickey Joy told Vanuatu Times in an exclusive interview that normally if everything goes well after the bilateral talks, the Visa waver agreement  between the EU and Vanuatu should be implement sometime in june 2015.

“If all things go well and work equally, beginning from June 2015, we will be seeing Vanuatu nationals travelling to EU without need of visa,” H.E Joy confirmed.

He pointed out that the period of all Vanuatu Nationals Visa free would be 120 days and equally all EU nationals coming to Vanuatu would enjoy up to 120 days staying in Vanuatu without need of visa.

Once the bilateral talks are finalised and signed between the European Commission and the Vanuatu government, Ni-Vanuatu should be able to travel into the Schengen Area which covers the area comprising 26 European countries that have abolished passport and any other type of border control at their common borders (France & England included).

The European Union with the ACP Group of 79 countries from the Africa-Caribbean- Pacific Group have been advised that a very senior official from Vanuatu from the Ministry of Home Affairs in Vanuatu will be attending the meeting in Brussels and had been briefed  on the recent development which is very positive.

Climate Change & Agriculture Committee Launched in Eratap

by Jean-Baptiste CALO

The Shefa Province Area Development Officer, Ian Kalsuak officially launched the Eratap Climate Change and Agriculture Committee on Friday November 7th  2014 at the Eratap Presbyterian Church hall.

Shefa Provincial Area Development Officer, Ian Kalsuak (Top Far left)
launched the Eratap Agriculture & Climate Change Committee.

M. Malian Andrew the young Eratap Area Secretary and Eratap Youth leader is heading the newly formed committee.

The newly launched Eratap Climate Change & Agriculture Committee is comprised of six (6) members who are community leaders within the village.

The newly formed committee is comprised of the following members:

Malian Andrew as the Chairman, Josephine Tom as the Vice-Chairman, David Andrew is  the Secretary, Andrew Andrew is Vice Secretary, Tinapu Andrew, Leisok Kalosil, Ray Kalosil and Kalfau Kalsong are the simple members of executive committee.

In his launching remarks, Mr Kalsuak congratulated the newly established community for their initiative and he also took the opportunity to challenge the Eratap Community to arise and to be proactive in working closely with the department of agriculture and the climate change authorities in the country to arrange for more awareness and demonstration plots where they could practically trial hybride root crops conceived by the Vanuatu Agriculture Research & Technical Centre (VARTC).

“People of Eratap, wake up, other villages located at the surrounding areas of Port-Vila such as the villages of Pango and Erakor have also recently launched their similar committees because they are aware of the urgency of to cater for food security in the future. And they are exposed to worse cases of population pressure (compared to Eratap) with the urban drift phenomena in the Capital city. Erakor and Pango are moving. They are acquiring more knowledge in forestry and new farming techniques resilient to climate change ....You have to wake up, move and organise yourself before you’ll be left out far behind”, Mr Kalsuak said.

He encouraged the newly established Agriculture and Climate Change Committee to be proactive and to work closely with the relevant government departments in order to train the Eratap farmers and families with the new farming techniques and new hybride root crops that will be trialled on the demonstration plot.

During that meeting, the Principal Agriculture Officer, Antoine Ravo and GIZ Climate Change Programme officer, Isso Nihmei did a presentation on the role of the Department of Agriculture of its extension services and the impacts of Climate Change on Agriculture and the Environment.

Mr. Kalsuak praised Malian Andrew for his willingness and good heart to offer a piece of land for the demonstration plot.

Mr Ravo and Mr Nihmei congratulated the new established committee and invited them to work closely with the Department of Agriculture and GIZ Climate Change Programme for the trials on the demonstration plot.

Mr Ravo emphasised that government departments can only work on commented based project through such established committees.

This launching is a result of a project conducted by Native Productions, a small local TV production who carried out a survey study on the impacts of climate change and none climatic issues on the community of Eratap located at 15 minutes drive from Vanuatu’s capital, Port-Vila.

Eratap Area Secretary and Chairman of the newly established committee, Malian Andrew thanked Native Productions for the “Stori Blong Aelan” project on Eratap.

The Member of the Eratap Chief Council, Kalfao Kalsong said : “Through this project we had various workshops and group discussions on the Impact of Climate Change and urban drift. We had the opportunity to increase our knowledge and learn about the existence of new farming techniques resilient to Climate Change. And today, we are launching the Eratap Climate Change  & Agriculture Committee. All those things are happening through the project initiated by Native Productions. We hope that you will always be available in the future to assist us with your counsels”.

The “Stori Blong Aelan” project carried out by Native Productions is funded by Pacific Media Assistance Scheme (PACMAS).

The project was comprised of a survey carried out during a one year period through various group discussions and meeting with the Eratap villagers who attended the workshops organised by Native Productions with the assistance from a facilitator from the Vanuatu National Climate Change Office. A short video documentary, “Stori blong Aelan” was also produced as part of that project. It is available on the PACMAS website and on Youtube on the following internet links:

http://www.pacmas.org/profile/documentary-stori-blong-aelan/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XrKznfdfCM

Exclusive Interview With Vanuatu Ambassador at the EU on the Kava Dossier

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH HIS EXCELLENCY ROY MICKEY JOY ON THE KAVA DOSSIER 

by Jean-Baptiste CALO

Vanuatu Times: Your Excellency,you’ve been pushing the kava dossier for the last decade or so. And the Vanuatu government also through the ministry of trade and the ministry of foreign affairs has been repeatedly raising the kava issue during international meetings.

After the positive results of the Independent European Research team on kava, the German Federal Court has finally handed out its judgment in favour of the lift of the kava ban in Europe. And today Kava is recognised as an official product of the ACP group. Can you elaborate on that.

 Vanuatu Ambassador to the EU, H.E. Roy Mickey Joy

His Excellency Roy Mickey Joy: Two things have happened since our ministerial meeting held in March 2012.  We went back to Brussels we worked with the ACP Secretariat. 

We worked really hard with the EU to convince them to recognise the issue of Kava as an emergent commodity for Pacific Islands Kava producing countries.

On the one hand we have now secured through the ACP-EU technical balance to Trade BMU, a global some of 400 0000 Euros for the second study on Kava dynamics which is going to be launched in Brussels in the next few weeks.

The experts would be based in Vanuatu and they would cover Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, Federate States of Micronesia, Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands, the friends of Kava. 

These are comprehensive studies. 

On one hand , the study will be going to look at the current ban, the signs, the analysis done by the laboratory that is going to be recognised and authenticated.

 And secondly, looking at the trade policy area, where to move the kava dossier from where we are in this point in time.

The expert who has spent more than 20 years in kava research. Dr Vincent Lebot will be part of consultancy team who will help the Pacific island countries to carry out that kava scientific study for a 7 months duration.

After the completion of the scientific research, a ministerial meeting will be convened here in Port-Vila Vanuatu. A meeting in which the global players and actors, the private sector, the exporters and the farmers will come together and decide on the new roadmap of the kava production and development in the Pacific. 

We are going to work with national and regional organisations to agree on new mechanism for the pricing of kava as a commodity.

And thirdly, Vanuatu will have to use the base of the study to redefine the legislation of how kava should be consumed, used and utilised commercially in Vanuatu. So that we give back the level of ownership to our farmers,  but largely we protect kava as a product of the people of this country.

Naturally and economically yes,  we will see a relatively increase in Kava price locally and internationally.

The farmers will be paid the price due to them, exporters will be able to generate enough commercial benefits of kava. But lastly and importantly, the Vanuatu people through the government and through Parliament and through the farmers will be ale to administer, regulate and look at the scope of kava as a commodity that will take this country in the next 20 years.

There has never been so much work done over kava in the last 34 years until we came into the scene.

And this is one of the direct work of the embassy of Vanuatu in Brussels to take the Kava dossier to the global scene as it has never been seen before.

At the beginning of this year we made a submission to the ACP Secretariat in Brussels. The ACP Secretariat is at the moment reviewing and redefining the scope of its work on commodity programs.

For the last 30 years,  ACP and EU have given so much attention to sugar through the sugar protocole, the cotton producing countries in Africa and bananas.  Now I wish to confirm at this stage, kava from the Pacific region has now been accepted now has the fourth items in the whole ACP commodity program beginning in 2015-2020. 

V.T.: What does that mean?

His Excellency R.M.J.: It means that while ACP and EU are trying to sort out their own fundings and program activities for the next few years, they will also be able to treat kava equally as they treat and give financial support to sugar and bananas in the Caribbean and cotton from 5 producing countries in West Africa.

So never before we’ve seen kava come to this stage.

The only challenge now is for our local industry in Vanuatu. The Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Trade and the Chamber of Commerce , they need to come together to start organising themselves on the challenges that are going to come about as the result of these studies.

They need to play their part and be part of the entire process otherwise, we can have legislations and the work done, be if the industry is not prepared, we’ll not be able to fulfil the aspirations that are expected from this important work we’re doing outside.

My advise to the kava farmers is to plant more noble varieties of kava recommended by the Ministry of Agriculture, Trade and Chamber of Commerce. They should plant more because because when the increase of the kava prices comes, we’ll have an influx in the market.

I want to encourage the farmers to continue to plant even more kava, because the future is looking bright for them with how things are evolving now in regard to this commodity.

They should plant more to prepare for the openings that the EU and the world market outside will take into  kava.

Kava is has special properties,  it should not be abused. Kava is the future of this country. This country depends on kava.

I think it is high time that we, policy makers assist in preparing the enabling environment to facilitate trade and business in the kava trade.

I think the general economic trend would see a quiet large increase of the pricing of kava locally between the islands into the urban centres in Port-Vila and Luganville and also in the export market. The farmers will be able to make enough money out of their kava products for the first time. And we could also expect an increase of the kava price in the Nakamals (kava bars) in Port-Vila and Luganville.

Agriculture Dept to Emphasise on ICT to Enhance the Primary Sector in Vanuatu

"The Ministry of Agriculture to Push on ICT to Be More Effective": DG Aru

by Jean-Baptiste CALO

The Director General for the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Howard Aru emphasised that the ministry has no other option but to make sure that human resource of all the departments under the ministry and especially the field workers will be be trained in using ICT tools to enhance the work done by the sectors of agriculture, forestry, fisheries and bio-security in Vanuatu.

Director General For Agriculture, Fisheries, Livestock, Forestry
and Bio-security

DG Aru made this remark on Friday October 17th 2014 in his closing speech of the 5 days training workshop on web 2.0 and online social media that was attended by 20 participants mostly from government the agriculture department, and other government line agencies including NGO representatives.

Mr Aru said that him and the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry were made aware of the crucial importance of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in the development of Agriculture and the overall primary sector today in the world.

"Me and the Minister David Tosul just arrived from the Caribbean Week of Agriculture recently organised in Paramaribo, Suriname in South America. The main point that was raised during that international agriculture event was the importance and necessity of the use of ICT and Social Media in the development of Agriculture, Forestry and Forestry. The Caribbean and African are well off in terms of the use of ICT in the primary sector, and they all testified about the goodness and necessity of the use of ICT tools in terms of enhancing the productivity and networking from the authorities to the farmers below and also in terms of the marketing of the products", Mr Aru said.

He went on saying that "Vanuatu has no other options but to seriously embark into this ICT revolution. The Ministry has taken a firm stand to make sure that all the staffs from the ministry down to the field workers will all be trained in using ICT tools. We will run a series of web 2.0 training with the staff of all the departments under our control, namely the departments of Agriculture, forestry, fisheries, livestock and bio-security".

Vanuatu Web 2.0 participants create their own blogs

20 Ni Vans Attend a Training on the Use of Web Online Applications

by Jean-Baptiste Calo

Twenty Ni- Vanuatu from various government line agencies and NGOs have attended a 5 days training on the use of web online applications in order to encourage information sharing.

20 Ni-Vanuatu participants attended a 5 days workshop on web 2.0
  and the use of web online applications.

The workshop consisted of training the participants to use web2.0 online applications such us Google and all its features (Google +, Google Drice, Google Map, Google Docs, Google Video Hangouts and Videocalls..),  including the does and dont's when you're using social media such as Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter and Youtube…

The participants were also taught how to download and use Skype application. They also lear how to create, design and use a blog.

Over 200 million people in the world are using web 2.0 or social media tools in the exercise of their profession and also for their private use.

With the fast development of Information Communication Technology throughout the world, social media has become so overwhelmingly used by all the generations even in Vanuatu urban centers such as Port-Vila and Luganville and their outskirt areas since the opening of the telecommunication market in 2008.

In her opening remarks on Monday October 13th , the first Political Advisor for the Ministry of Forestry and Agriculture , Emily Tumukon stated that: “Vanuatu is a young state as far as information and communication technology (ICT) is concerned and the development of ICT is very important for the socio-economic growth of the country’. 

Mrs Tumukon delivered the opening speech on behalf of the Honourable David Tosul, the Vanuatu Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Forestry, Fisheries and Biosecurity (MALFFB). 

She stated that Areas of improvement are to have the Ministry officials trained properly in using and managing the current ICT facilities and also training farmers to use the technology that can be beneficial to them. 

Mr Hanington Tate, Director of Forestry, believes that new ICT tools such as web 2.0 can promote agricultural and forestry information to rural and remote communities of Vanuatu. He further added that participants at the workshop will benefit from the web 2.0 training and could as trainers in the next web 2.0 workshop is scheduled for this year and early next year. 

He added that this type of workshop also offers a platform where participants from the government line agencies and those representing  different stakeholders can come together to share their experience and eventually to find out how they can collaborate by making use of each others’ network in order to better reach and serve the people of the country.

The Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) in collaboration with the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) promotes the training on web 2.0 and social media to increase awareness among development actors on appropriate, low cost and simple web applications.

The training workshop focuses on web online tools in the context of development work and is addressed to stakeholders actively engaged in agriculture and rural development / natural resource management in the domains of Information Communication Technology (ICT) for development, policies and markets, publishing, communication and media.

Sponsored by the ACP-EU Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Co-operation (CTA), the event, titled “Web 2.0 for Development and Social Media Learning Opportunity”, is undertaken by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Forestry, Fisheries and Biosecurity (MALFFB) in collaboration with the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), and the Office of the Government’s Chief Information Officer.

The training workshop funded by the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation under ACP-EU (CTA), is facilitated by Anju Mangal and Miriama Kunawave Brown took place at the conference room of the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO) in Port-Vila.