The Pacific Way

Where do Pacific and western MEL approaches naturally align, and where do they clash?  

Margaret Eastgate, Seraseini Vulavou and ‘Aulola ‘Ake discuss how MEL practice may honour Pacific ideas and ways of knowing in how we design, implement, and evaluate programs – including the concepts of tā (time) and vā (relational space).  

This podcast was made possible through SPC’s Funding with Intent initiative, funded by the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.    

Please provide us feedback here: https://forms.office.com/r/yHK0eDhrex     

Guests:  

Margaret Eastgate, consultant - Pacific 

Magaret has worked in the development space for over 30 years. She is a Pacific MEL Influencer who has: co-authored the Pacific MEL Capacity Strengthening Rebbilib “For the Pacific, By the Pacific, With the Pacific” which situates MEL; co-curated & co-convened the Inaugural Pacific MEL Convening; and was a Member of the MEL Technical Experts Group that endorsed the Pacific MEL Diploma programme.  

Seraseini Vulavou, Performance Quality and Learning (MERLA) Manager for Balance of Power - Fiji 

Seraseini works in the space of legitimizing the leadership of women – politically, culturally and socially – at a regional level, particularly across Vanuatu, Fiji and Tonga.  She has been a MEL practitioner for more than 10 years having worked in 9 Pacific island countries in the health sector (International Planned Parenthood Federation), as well as UN entities (UN Women, World Food Program and UNICEF) and Oxfam. 

‘Aulola ‘Ake, Programme Officer at SPC – Tonga  

‘Aulola is part of a team that supports Pacific Women Lead at SPC's portfolio of grants, providing technical advice, assistance and capacity building, planning, monitoring and reporting at country and regional level. Prior to SPC, she worked for the Australian High Commission Nuku'alofa as Senior Program Manager managing Australia's bilateral investments in governance, gender equality and infrastructure. Her background is international affairs and development holding both a BA and MA in International Relations from Victoria University of Wellington, NZ, and Monash University, Australia. 

Links: 

Pacific MEL Rebbilib: https://www.spc.int/updates/blog/2020/08/pacific-mel-rebbilib-report-on-mel-capacity-available-for-download  

Pacific MEL Diploma: https://www.spc.int/DigitalLibrary/SPC/Collection/Pacific_MEL  

Reflections on tā and vā  by Ōkusitino Māhina: https://i-m-m.org/onewebmedia/IMM_PDFs/2021_imm_archiv/_archiv_sprache/210406_Ta_VA_Moana_by_Mahina_01.pdf  

https://www.vamoana.org/news/talanoa-hufanga-he-ako-moe-lotu-dr-okusitino-mahina  

Tongan sociospatial relations by Tevita Ka’ili: https://kealakai.byuh.edu/tevita-kaili-presents-new-book-on-tongan-sociospatial-relations  

Decolonisation & Locally Led Development (including practical ideas for action): https://acfid.asn.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/ACFID-Decolonisation-and-Locally-Led-Development-Discussion-Paper.pdf  

How can aid be decolonized and localized in the Pacific? by Theresa Meki and Jope Tarai: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/dpr.12732  

Kakala Research Framework: 

• (PDF) Kakala Research Framework  

• Kakala_Research.pdf  

• Kakala Research Framework | SpringerLink  

Isabelle Petri, Jevilene Leleisiuao-Fruean and Palatasa Havea share candid reflections on the successes, lessons, and challenges of practicing MEL in real-life Pacific contexts. From building trust with communities, leaders and colleagues to juggling donor expectations, and from rural settings to urban centres to Board rooms, this episode takes us into the heart of where the work happens. 

This podcast was made possible through SPC’s Funding with Intent initiative, funded by the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.    

Please provide us feedback here: https://forms.office.com/r/yHK0eDhrex     

Guests:  

• Isabelle Petri – Economic Reintegration Coordinator for Pacific Labour Mobility 
  Support Program 

A development professional with extensive experience across Vanuatu and the Pacific, Isabelle has led programs in gender equality, education, economic empowerment, WASH, agriculture, disaster risk reduction, and civic rights. 

• Jevilene Leleisiuao-Fruean – MEL Officer (Climate Finance Unit), SPC  

A Pacific MEL practitioner who is passionate about contributing to strengthening the resilience of Pacific countries. In her current role, she supports governments, communities, and partners by providing her MEL expertise that help unlock climate finance and ensure projects are delivering meaningful outcomes for our Pacific people.  

• Palatasa Havea – M&E Officer, Talitha Project (Tonga) 

A passionate advocate for youths and gender equality, he strives to equip the youth of Tonga to discovering the purpose resilience in an era where the young are leading Just movements and calling for change across the world.  Tasa currently serves as a M&E officer at the Talitha Project in the Kingdom of Tonga.  

Episode 3: It’s Not All in the Toolkit – Centring Indigenous Knowledge in MEL 

Dr. Apisalome Movono, Alessandra Mel and Ascenaca Blake dive deep into what it really means to centre Indigenous Pacific knowledge in monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) beyond checkboxes and toolkits. With Eroni Wavu, they unpack what happens when we don’t take Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) seriously as well as how IKS can shape more ethical, authentic, and context-grounded MEL. 

This podcast was made possible through SPC’s Funding with Intent initiative, funded by the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.   

Please provide us feedback here: https://forms.office.com/r/yHK0eDhrex    

Guests: 

• Dr. Apisalome Movono – Associate Professor of Tourism, University of the South Pacific 

Fijian academic and tourism expert from Buca, Natewa in Cakaudrove, with maternal roots in Naimalavau, Nakelo, Tailevu. He is an Associate Professor of Tourism at the University of the South Pacific (USP), bringing decades of expertise to the Pacific development space. 

• Alessandra Mel – Integrated Programming and Innovation Officer, SPC 

A proud Pacific Islander and an experienced accredited partnership broker, futures facilitator, and MEL practitioner. With over a decade of experience working in PNG and now across the Pacific region, she has supported diverse teams and organisations to navigate complexity, build trust-based collaborations, and make sense of change.  She brings a unique mix of systems thinking, creativity, and care to her work and is deeply passionate about inclusive, locally led approaches to development, and her work reflects a strong commitment to reflection, equity, and imagination. 

• Asenaca Blake – Senior MEL Manager, Pacific at Conservation International 

With 18 years of Pacific development experience, she facilitates learning cycles, strengthens partner capacity, and translates evidence into program and policy decisions. practice centers on Pacific-led development, Indigenous knowledge, and measurable outcomes for climate resilience, biodiversity, and community wellbeing.  

Links: 

People-Centred Approach (SPC): https://www.spc.int/updates/blog/dynamic-story/2024/08/ensuring-a-people-centred-approach-is-at-the-heart-of-spc-work  

People-Centred Development: https://forumsec.org/people-centered-development  

Kakala Research Framework:  

• https://www.researchgate.net/publication/366784502_Kakala_Research_Framework  

• https://repository.usp.ac.fj/id/eprint/8197/1/Kakala_Research.pdf  

• https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-04394-9_44  

Valery Wichman, Sioeli Tonga and Joy Waffi discuss honouring culture, working with cultural power dynamics in MEL and ensuring the hard to reach in the Pacific can be reachable within MEL practices. They also unpack data sovereignty and how MEL can work for donors as well as communities. 

This podcast was made possible through SPC’s Funding with Intent initiative, funded by the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.  

Please provide us feedback here: https://forms.office.com/r/yHK0eDhrex   

Guests:  

• Sioeli Tonga – Head of Digital and ICT, Pacific Data Hub  

Sioeli works at the intersection of technology, development and policy, turning complexity into clarity and data into action. A stauch advocate for ethical data use, all while leading development and innovation for digital public goods that serve the Pacific community, such as the Pacific Data Hub. 

• Valery Wichman – Lead of Strategy and Innovation, SPC  

Valery is a lawyer by trade but has worked in the public policy space for the last 12 years - with her previous role as Director of Central Policy and Planning Office, Cook Islands Office of the Prime Minister, and the most recent project being the development of the Te Ara Akapapa’anga Nui 2020+ (the Cook Islands National Sustainable development Agenda  2020+) which gives a 100 year vision towards Turanga Memeitaki (wellbeing) and puts values at the forefront and people at its core. 

• Joy Marie Waffi – Development Practitioner and Consultant   

Joy is an experienced Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) specialist with over 16 years of experience in research, evaluation, and inclusive governance across Papua New Guinea and, more recently, Vanuatu. She is passionate about ethical, locally led development and MEL practice that centres the voices and lived experiences of people, particularly women, youth, and marginalised groups. 

Links: 

Te Ara Akapapa’anga Nui (National Sustainable Development Agenda (NSDA) 2020+) 2021–2121: https://www.pmoffice.gov.ck/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Turanga-Meitaki-100-mataiti-Digital.pdf  

Māori Data Governance Model: https://www.waikato.ac.nz/assets/Uploads/Research/Research-institutes-centres-and-groups/Institutes/Te-Ngira-Institute-for-Population-Research/Maori_Data_Governance_Model.pdf   

Pacific Data Hub: https://pacificdata.org/  

What does it mean to do MEL our way? Host EroniWavu is joined by Pacific MEL leaders Frances C. Koya Vaka'uta, Ruth Matela, Charlene Mersai, and Christina Hazelman for a powerful talanoa on what makes Pacific MELdistinct, and why it matters.

They unpack how MEL rooted in Pacific identity, culture, andrelationships offers not just a method, but a movement. They explore the evolution of MEL in the region and what it teaches us about accountability, care, contradictions, and courage.

This episode discusses “Navigating tensions between imposed frameworks and inherited values”, “The role of silence and relationships in how we learn”, “What’s gained when we don’t ignore context and culture”.

This podcast was made possible through SPC’s Funding withIntent initiative, funded by MFAT.

Please provide us feedback here: https://forms.office.com/r/yHK0eDhrex

Guests:

• Charlene Mersai, Ministry of Finance, Palau

Charlene serves as the Secretariat of the NationalEnvironmental Protection Council (NEPC), Palau’s lead coordinator for the 2030 Agenda for SDGs and one of Palau’s Focal Points for GCF Previously, Ms. Mersai served as the Micronesia Challenge Regional Coordinator, Palau’s GEFOperational Focal Point and was among the first Board Members for the Palau Protected Areas Network Fund. Today she serves on the board of Palau Public Utilities Corporation. 

• Christina Hazelman, SPC 

Christina is the Knowledge Integration and Learning Officerat SPC and has been part of the Pacific MEL journey since its inception in 2019.With over a decade of experience working in the Pacific development regional space, Christina is an enthusiastic champion of Pacific MEL and will share her observations on the evolution of MEL within the Pacific.

• Frances C. Koya Vaka’uta, SPC 

Associate Professor Frances C. Koya Vaka‘uta is Team LeaderCulture for Development at SPC in Suva, Fiji. Before joining SPC, she was Director of the Oceania Centre for Arts, Culture and Pacific Studies, USP. Frances spent the last two decades teaching and researching in the areas of teacher education, curriculum studies, Pacific approaches to research, Pacificmethodologies, Pacific studies and Pacific arts and culture. She is passionate about Pacific arts and artists, the cultural and creative industries and is an advocate for contextual education, development and research.

• Ruth Maetala, Pacific Feminist Fund

Ruth is an indigenous Solomon Islander and currently Co-Lead Programmes and Innovation at the Pacific Feminist Fund. She gained her professional training in Economic Reform from the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University and later gained a Diploma in Christian Education from Texas Bible College. Ruth has over 20 years of experience in social research, MEL and accountability. Ruth has several published works on women and matrilineal land,gender and natural resource ownership, women’s economic empowerment and women’s participation in peacemaking in Solomon Islands.

Links

·       Pacific MEL (PacMEL) https://spc.int/updates/blog/2022/03/continuously-improving-monitoring-evaluation-and-learning-systems-key-for

·       Pacific MEL Diploma https://www.spc.int/DigitalLibrary/SPC/Collection/Pacific_MEL 

·       Kakala Research Framework

·       (PDF) Kakala Research Framework 

·       Kakala_Research.pdf 

·       Kakala Research Framework | SpringerLink 

·       The Pacific Pause/Silence 

·       Babasiga: A study on silence 

·       silence | Southern Perspectives 

·       (PDF) RESEARCHING THE PACIFIC INDIGE Issues and PerspectivesThp ' Okusitmo amna Researching Pacific and Indigenous Peoples: Issues andPerspectives 

·       Pacific Frameworks and Relationality Koya, C.F.(2017). Rethinking Research as Relational Space in the Pacific Pedagogy andPraxis 

·       Palau Voluntary National Review https://hlpf.un.org/sites/default/files/statement/2021/palau-2.pdf  

·      Cultural etiquette handbook https://www.spc.int/digitallibrary/get/sz6zkSPC 

The climate crisis is no longer a distant threat but an urgent reality. Pacific Island communities feel the worst effects, even though they produce less than 0.03% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions.

This unfair situation brings attention to the "loss and damage" concept, highlighting the need to address the economic and non-economic losses these vulnerable regions face that are caused as a result of increased or more frequent disaster, a changing climate and the existential threat that climate change poses on communities, cultures and livelihoods.

To gain insight into the critical issue of 'loss and damage,' we spoke with leaders, activists, and experts from across the Pacific who experience these impacts first-hand and advocate for support.

The solidarity amongst the pacific islands delegation to conserve our region and protect it from the ongoing impacts of climate change was evident at the United Nations Climate Change conference or COP27.

Climate Change Experts from the Pacific Community and other CROP Agencies were present in Sharm-El-Sheikh, Egypt to support and lend a voice to the pleas of the pacific people for the developed world to take action in reducing green house gas emissions with the target ‘1.5 to stay alive’.

For half a century the Pacific Community has been working in collaboration with pacific islands countries and territories to preserve, protect and promote the regions unique traditions as custodians of the Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture or FestPac.

In July 2022, SPC celebrated the 50th anniversary of FestPac and the launch of the Pacific Regional Culture Strategy 2022-2032. The event coincided with the Pacific Island Leaders Forum and a week long exhibition was held to mark the occasion and setting the stage for the 13th FestPac to be hosted by Hawaii in 2024.

In early September 2022, the fourth cycle report of the Pacific Islands Literacy and Numeracy Assessment (PILNA) was launched in Suva Fiji.

Administered through the Pacific Community’s Educational Quality and Assessment Programme (EQAP), over 40,000 students sat for PILNA in 15 pacific island countries and territories.

Through PILNA, the region has set a global benchmark to ensure that children in the pacific get high quality education.

To ensure the region has the capacity and the technical know- how to advance agriculture and aquaculture in the region, a new cadre of experts are being trained through the Australian Center for International Agriculture Research (ACIAR).

The Pacific Community (SPC) is a key partner for ACIAR and SPC and ACIAR have worked in partnership for more than 30 years. SPC helps deliver Australia’s wider strategies to benefit the region’s fisheries, agriculture, forestry and biosecurity sectors.

ACIAR’s scholarship and mentoring programs is increasing regional capacity for long term food security.