A review of the policy and economic environment in the South Pacific and implications for the adoption of ACIAR project outcomes: a scoping study

Policy settings in the South Pacific Countries (SPCs) will influence the returns from ACIAR's technical programs and the effectiveness of extension programs. Around 10 per cent of ACIAR's bilateral research and development budget in 2005-06 (around $2.5 million) was allocated to projects in these SPCs.

The primary objective of this scoping study was to identify/characterise the policy and institutional environment in the SPCs that could adversely impact on gaining returns from ACIAR's investment in agriculture, forestry and fishery projects.

The main deliverables from the study are:
a detailed report on the study's findings
one or more small research proposals for policy linkage studies for the selected industries, if they are found to be desirable.

The study report will provide an assessment of general and industry-specific policy and institutional factors affecting development of these industries and of their potential impact on the choice, conduct and uptake of technical R&D activities. It will also present information on activities that are currently under way, and what key donors and development partners (especially AusAID, EU, ADB and World Bank) are planning to do to address issues in future programs. It will identify potential research collaborators for any policy linkage work and also appropriate decision makers who can advise on whether and how policies might be changed.