bs_bs_banner Asia & the Pacific Policy Studies, vol. ••, no. ••, pp. ••–•• doi: 10.1002/app5.45 Original Article Regional Service Delivery among Pacific Island Countries: An Assessment Matthew Dornan and Tess Newton Cain* Abstract 1. Introduction Pacific Island countries face a range of devel- Regionalism has been promoted and used for opment challenges, including smallness, dis- decades as a means of addressing capacity tance from major markets and capacity constraints among Small Island Developing constraints. Regional service delivery, or States (SIDS) in the Pacific (or Pacific Island pooling, has been advocated as a means of countries).1 An important type of regionalism addressing these challenges. This article pres- involves countries pooling services that are ents the findings from the first comprehensive normally provided at the national or study of pooling initiatives in the Pacific. It subnational level. Pooling can occur in a range draws on a review of the literature pertaining of areas, including fisheries management, to 20 pooling initiatives identified in the region higher education, transportation, central and on interviews with stakeholders involved banking and procurement. It can be driven by in many of those initiatives. The study finds the private sector, or civil society, although the that experience with pooling among Pacific primary focus of this article is pooling among Island countries has not met the optimistic governments. The last 10 years has seen expectations of advocates, including develop- renewed interest in pooling among Pacific ment partners. This is the result of the chal- leaders and development partners. Of parti- lenges inherent in voluntary regionalism, cular importance was the Pacific Plan for which are exacerbated by the diversity of Regional Integration and Cooperation (the Pacific Island states and political economy Pacific Plan), which has promoted regional constraints. The article concludes that an service delivery (Pacific Islands Forum 2005). incremental approach to expansion of regional The Pacific Plan in 2005 proposed pooling in service provision in the Pacific is both likely four areas as a matter of priority: bulk procure- and appropriate given these factors. ment of fuel, aviation, shipping between Small Island States (SIS) and vocational education. It Key words: regionalism, Pacific Island coun- also identified five areas where there should be tries, Small Island Developing States (SIDS), further analysis of whether pooling would be political economy, club theory appropriate.2 1. The term SIDS, which is used around the world, should not be confused with the term Small Island States (SIS), an acronym used in the Pacific to refer to a grouping of the * Development Policy Centre, Crawford School of smallest Pacific Island countries. Public Policy, The Australian National University, 2. These included research into: bulk procurement of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 2600, Aus- pharmaceuticals, a regional audit service, a regional sports tralia; email Ͻ[email protected]Ͼ. institute, regional ombudsman and human rights mecha- © 2014 The Authors. Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies published by Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd and Crawford School of Public Policy at The Australian National University. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes. 2 Asia & the Pacific Policy Studies •• 2014 Since a 2005 Asian Development Bank • Has it delivered a service/good other than (ADB) and Commonwealth Secretariat study, capacity building? Toward a New Pacific Regionalism, commis- There is inevitably a high degree of subjec- sioned by the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat tivity in assessing distinct initiatives that were in 2005, there has been no research published established with different objectives. Assess- on pooling activities in the region. There has ment is made difficult given the lack of com- also been no analysis of whether pooling ini- parable data and performance indicators (Herr tiatives thought promising in 2005 have actu- 2006). These difficulties are compounded by ally been attempted and, if so, how they have lack of clarity regarding what constitutes a performed. This is an area of considerable ‘pooled service’ (a point also raised by the importance, given the Independent Review of 2013 Independent Review of the Pacific Plan). the Pacific Plan in 2013, reviews of a number In this article, we emphasise the importance of of regional organisations (the Pacific Islands service delivery on a regional basis to replace Forum Secretariat and Secretariat of the national (or subnational) activity. This defini- Pacific Community, both in 2012), and efforts tion excludes regional initiatives designed to to pool resources in areas identified by the build capacity for service delivery at the Pacific Plan. The 2013 Independent Review of national level. A list of pooling initiatives is the Pacific Plan also highlighted the impor- provided in Table 1, and some examples of tance of such research, pointing to: capacity-building initiatives are provided in a need to analyse the critical success factors and Table 2. likely impediments to improved implementation and sustained service delivery. In short, there is a 2. Background need to work out why some initiatives have been very successful and why others have failed, and to use these lessons to improve implementation The challenges faced by Pacific Island coun- (Morauta et al. 2013a, p. 113).3 tries are well documented. Pacific Island coun- tries are among the smallest populations in the This article presents the findings from a world, have narrow resource endowments, are study of pooling initiatives in the Pacific. It distant from major markets and are both vul- draws on a review of the literature pertaining nerable and susceptible to natural disasters to 20 pooling initiatives identified in the (Connell 2013). Remoteness and the inability Pacific and on interviews with stakeholders to take advantage of economies of scale place involved in many of those initiatives. The these countries at a distinct disadvantage in focus of the article is pooling initiatives, not global markets. This limits options for eco- the regional organisations that implement nomic growth, making many Pacific Island them (although in some cases, names are the economies heavily reliant for income on same). Regional organisations are nevertheless migration and associated remittances, and discussed, given their impact on the success of development assistance (Bertram & Watters pooling initiatives. Pooling initiatives are 1985; Gibson & Nero 2006; Winters 2005; assessed on multiple criteria, including: Winters & Martins 2004; World Bank 2011).4 • Was the pooling initiative ever implemented? Pacific Island countries suffer from capacity • Has the pooling initiative been sustained over constraints in many areas, ranging from public a period of time, or did it cease? financial management and government pro- • Has it remedied a deficit in service provision curement, to infrastructure maintenance at the national or subnational level? (Saitala et al. 2010; Haque et al. 2012; Dornan et al. 2013). Capacity constraints are the nisms, and a regional intellectual property rights product of various factors, including political organisation. 3. The Review references an earlier draft of this article 4. Papua New Guinea, although a Pacific Island country (which was provided to the review team) as the only exist- and a member of the Pacific Islands Forum, is an exception ing attempt at such an analysis. in many ways and is not the focus of this article. © 2014 The Authors. Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies published by Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd and Crawford School of Public Policy at The Australian National University published by Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd and Crawford School of Public Policy at The Australian National University Table 1 List of Pooling Initiatives Members National (Pacific Success as capacity Significant Island countries a pooled building an donor Annual budget Initiative Established and territories) Location Purpose service?† objective? funding? (AUD) University of the 1968 12 Suva USP was established in order to provide Yes An objective Yes $82 million South Pacific Campuses in 3 higher education to citizens of member (USP) countries and countries. centres/subcentres in all member countries. Dornan and Newton Cain: Pacific regionalism 3 Air Pacific 1971 1 since 1990s Nadi Air Pacific was established in order to No Not an objective No $360 million 7inthe provide air services to member states. 1970s-80s The Fiji Government and Qantas have been the dominant shareholders since the 1990s, with other Pacific Island governments selling the majority of their shares. Pacific Forum 1977 1 since 2012. Auckland PFL was established to provide shipping No Not an objective Yes $32 million Line (PFL) 12 in the past services to PICs. A principal objective was guaranteeing shipping services to SIS PFL was bought by the Samoan Government in 2012. © 2014 The Authors. Pacific Islands 1978 14 Suva Pacific Islands Trade and Invest provides Yes Not an objective Yes $3 million Trade and PT&I has offices in export facilitation and investment promotion Invest (PT&I) Beijing, Auckland, services. Trade Commissioners in each office Sydney, Tokyo report separately to the Pacific Islands Forum in Suva. Forum Fisheries 1979 15