This blog on New Caledonia is for those of you who ever wondered what life on a tiny island in the South Pacific might be like. Tired of bracing winter winds, the stress of an inner city or simply dreaming of a life change? This is a blog about what happens when, in the words of Yogi Berra, "you come to a fork in the road, [and] take it".

06 February 2007

Happy 60th Birthday to the Secretariat of the Pacific Community

Photo by Laurent Guiader, 2005.

The Secretariat of the Pacific Community, an intergovernmental organisation located in Nouméa, celebrated its 60th birthday today. An early-morning flag-raising ceremony at its headquarters (above) marked the start of celebrations.

The SPC was founded in 1947 shortly after World War II by Australia, France, New Zealand, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States to coordinate aid to the region. Today, it is a thriving, bilingual organisation with around 340 staff, a large number of whom come from the Pacific Islands. SPC's role is to provide technical advice, training and research to its island members in areas such as public health, sustainable development of land and marine resources, and social issues (women, youth and culture). A strong focus of this work is to build the skills and capability of its members in these areas.

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