October 2010: The UN Development Programme, the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, the Asian Development Bank and the University of the South Pacific have launched the Pacific Solution Exchange (PSE), an email-based “e-Discussion” forum that will seek to connect people with common interests, enhance south-south and small island State cooperation, and broaden the dialogue around Pacific issues to inform decision-making.

During the trial period, members of the community can share their opinions, ideas and recommendations through the email network. The network is moderated by a facilitator who synthesizes each discussion thread into a synopsis of responses, together with recommendations of additional resources. The synopsis then is circulated to the online community.

Topics covered by the PSE include: approaches to enhancing development effectiveness and cooperation, in line with global and regional commitments; strategies to enhance development coherence and coordination at local, national and regional levels; sectoral topics, such as trade, environment, climate change, sustainable economic growth, education, health, justice, disaster risk reduction and population; strengthening south-south cooperation; mainstreaming gender and human rights; strategies for effectively developing sustainable national and local capacities; integrity, transparency, accountability and freedom of information; organizational effectiveness, results-based management, monitoring and evaluation; and application of knowledge management and information systems technologies. [PSE sign-up] [PSE website]