Practical Knowledge for Free Downloads By Professor Wadan Narsey Professor Narsey has worked at USP for some four decades and has also been a Fiji Member of Parliament. He had taught thousands of Pacific students at USP and done numerous consultancies for World Bank, DFAT/AusAID, Forum Secretariat, ADB, South Pacific Community and other international organisations. As he is now retiring from academic work, Professor Narsey is making most of his life’s work freely available to the Pacific public and researchers through free downloads from his website NarseyOnFiji (https://narseyonfiji.wordpress.com/). While most of these works are focused on Fiji, there are many also focused on other Pacific countries which are presented here for free downloads, with brief explanations of their content. Note that many Fiji examples, such as his gender analysis of severe inequalities in income and employment in Fiji, are applicable to the other Melanesian countries and the rest of the Pacific. These writings are on fundamental development issues faced by Fiji and all Pacific countries over the last four decades. Those given here for free downloads, cover poverty analysis, trade issues, populations growth problems, and problems of education at all levels- early childhood, primary, secondary, and tertiary (e.g. USP). These writings are valuable for several reasons: they are in easy to understand simple English, without academic jargon: are often based on solid statistics provided by our own bureaus of statistics and government departments in Fiji and the Pacific; often explain how our measurement problems are sometimes worsened by respectable international organisations with their own agenda; often point to many problems still needing tackling while suggesting practical solutions; demonstrate what methodologies and solid data sources students and researchers can use today to obtain solid evidence-based policy recommendations. Professor Narsey has a BSc from the University of Otago (NZ), MSc Econ from (UWI) Jamaica, and D Phil from Sussex University, UK. This study examines the likely impact of PICTA (Pacific Island Countries Trade Agreement) on the alcohol (beer and spirits) and tobacco industries in the Forum Island Countries (Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu, and Solomon Islands). Examined are the actual local employment, value added and government revenues. These may all be at risk under Rules of Origin and reductions of protective tariffs requirements under the full operations of PICTA with the inefficient small industries not likely to survive. The study warns that while many larger FIC firms may prosper under PICTA, they would also in turn be at risk of closing down if FICs were to join a full PACER. The study advises how governments may protect their revenues from the free trade agreements. The two industries examined here may be generalised to other industries in the Pacific. Population and Development in the Pacific Islands: Accelerating the ICPD Plan of Action @ 15, UNFPA and USP. (editor and contributor) Proceedings of the Regional Symposium at USP, November 2009. (Edited by Wadan Narsey, Annette Sachs Robertson, Biman Prasad, Eduard Jongstra, and Kesaia Seniloli). 2010. The following two articles may be freely downloaded. “Changing age structures in PICs: how put family planning back on the agenda”. 2009. Plenary 2, RSPD by Wadan Narsey. This study documents how rapid population growth in the Pacific is leading to massive problems for the education sector as well as for employment. These problems are even more severe in Melanesian countries today in 2025 than they were sixteen years ago when the article was written. “PICTA, PACER Plus and labour mobility and PIC development”. 2009. Plenary 11 RSPD by Wadan Narsey. This study recommends that Pacific countries focus on freer access for Pacific Island labour to Australian and NZ labour markets, as a key component of PACER trade negotiations given that free trade with Australia and NZ must inevitably lead to factory closures in the Pacific and loss of employment. Australia and NZ today well understand the benefits of this policy not just to Pacific countries but their own geostrategic interests. The Financing of Education in the Solomon Islands. 2022. Report for SPC. Based on comprehensive data provided by the Solomon Islands MEHRD, this Report provides a solid analysis of the future needs for financing education in the Solomon Islands at all levels.It examines population growth, actual enrolments at various levels the result of examinations filters, drop-out rates, progression rates, teacher qualifications at all levels and financing trends at all levels. Major inequities are revealed by level of education, provinces, pass/failure rates, declining enrolment ratios and gender differences, all with the potential of creating political instability.There is analysis of public and private funding of education at all levels, capital and recurrent and future problems indicated if universal access is to be achieved at all levels commensurate with minimum academic standards. It is suggested that over-generous funding of the national university was constricting funding for the rest of the education sector.There are strong recommendations on the importance of fostering economic growth without which the education objectives and targets are unlikely to be achieved. The Financing of Education in Vanuatu. 1993, For World Bank and Vanuatu Government. This is an extraordinary early but comprehensive study of the Anglophone and Francophone education system in Vanuatu, rich with statistics on enrolment, progression and repetition rates, examinations and pass/failure rates, teacher qualifications and experience, government and private funding, and virtually every aspect of the education system still requiring attention today.Unfortunately I have lost the original digital copy of the Report and all I have is a photocopy of the original report with comments and corrections all on it. This study would be of enormous benefit to any researcher today who can empirically compare and contrast conditions today with that thirty years ago, and measure the progress or lack of it. Issues in the Financing of the University of the South Pacific. For International Development Programme Australia. 1993. This publication explains the complicated funding mechanism behind the University of the South Pacific and the sharing of the financial burdens between Member Governments, donors and private students. These problems have not gone away, especially with Fiji using its contributions as a political lever during the Bainimarama Government years. “Poverty analysis in Vanuatu: a critical review and alternative formulation”. Wadan Narsey. South Pacific Studies. 2012. This study critiques a 2009 analysis of poverty in Vanuatu, led by ADB and UNDP, with its strange result that urban poverty was three times higher than rural poverty. This paper critiques the methodology used in the VNSO construction of the Food Poverty Line and the Non-Food Poverty Line which artificially inflated urban values out of proportion to actual household expenditures.The VNSO Methodology is shown to contradict World Bank recommendations. This paper suggests alternative formulation of the Food Poverty Line and NFPL to be arrived at by consensus among local stakeholders.The study presents tabular data to allow local stakeholders to estimate their own incidence of poverty using their own chosen BNPL. Also pointed out is the likelihood of significant under-reporting of incomes and expenditures by Chinese and European ethnic minorities, rendering income distribution statistics highly unreliable.The paper strongly recommends that international organizations like World Bank strengthen domestic analytical capacity in order to ensure continuity and comparability of results over time. “The incidence of poverty in the Solomon Islands: importance of methodology”. Journal of Pacific Studies. 2011. This paper explains some of the weaknesses in the 2005–2006 HIES in Solomon Islands and implications for the use of income distribution statistics, such as Gini Coefficients. It examines the UNDP (2008) analysis of the incidence of poverty in Solomon Islands, and indicates some inconsistencies in the methodology, analysis and results.This paper presents alternative methodologies for the construction of the Food and Non-Food Poverty Line baskets and resulting Basic Needs Poverty Lines, and an alternative statistic of well-being for the household—the maximum of household income and expenditure.It also presents data in a convenient form, so that stakeholders can easily estimate the incidence of poverty in rural and urban Solomon Islands, using their own choice of values for the Food Poverty Line (FPL) and Basic Needs Poverty Line (BNPL).The paper strongly recommends that international organizations like World Bank strengthen domestic analytical capacity in order to ensure continuity and comparability of results over time.