Halo evriwan. Gud moning long yufala.
Distinguished representatives of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Management, the Department of Local Authorities, the Public Service Commission, and the Office of the Auditor-General; our colleagues from Parliament; Development partners, UNDP, and PIANGO; leaders of our civil society and faith communities; members of the private sector; chiefs, friends and colleagues — gud moning, and welcome.
It is my privilege, in my capacity as the Chair of Vanuatu Association of Non-Governmental Organisations — VANGO and Vice Chair of the Pacific Islands Association of Non Governmental Organisations (PIANGO) to open the Vaka Pasifika Public Finance Management Policy Dialogue.
We meet under a deliberate title: “Financing National Priorities in a Changing World.” Each word carries weight.
The world is changing — faster, in some respects, than our institutions are designed to absorb. Climate pressures are intensifying. The post-2030 development agenda is being shaped now. Fiscal space for small island states is tightening. And our 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent is asking us all — governments, citizens, partners — to move from vision to delivery.
While Vanuatu demonstrated leadership in Pacific initiatives at the global arena on Climate Change such as the successful work on the International Court of Justice directives, Just Transitions, Ocean Governance to name a few. Inside that changing world, at home, Vanuatu must make careful choices about our Public Financs and Resources. Which priorities go first. When to borrow and from where, and for what. Which partnerships strengthen our systems, and which risk pulling us in too many directions. These are not technical questions only. They are questions about what kind of future we are building for the next generation of ni-Vanuatu.
That is why we are here. To bring all of us that are making decisions to answer those critical questions to see if there rooms for collaboration to move us forward in making sure that our Public policies and Public Finances are delivering basic services to our people that are mostly in needs of those services.
The Vaka Pasifika Public Finance Management Project funded by the European Union and jointly implemented by UNDP Pacific and PIANGO had supported Integrity and Governance Institutions and media as well as Civil Society through VANGO over the past years. We are at a critical juncture where we are intentional in our Partnership. This Policy Dialogue is not a one-off event. It is a platform — a deliberate space where actors who too often work in parallel come together in the same room: ministries, line agencies, the Office of the Auditor-General, Parliament, the private sector, civil society, our communities, and our development partners. We are here to look honestly, together, at how policy decisions become budget decisions, and how budget decisions become realities — or fail to become realities — in the lives of our people.
Civil Society role in this conversation has shifted – rather than our usual position, we are development actors in our own rights so we are here as a Partner in Development with a lot of goodwill to find collective solutions.
Civil society in Vanuatu, we are bringing today experiences from being passive audience, being consulted, and reacted to situations affected our communities for many years. The organisations VANGO works with are present, every day, where policies either work or do not work — in remote communities, in disability networks, in women’s groups, in youth movements, in faith-based services. We see, before most others do, where the system delivers and where it falls short. That knowledge is a national asset, and it is offered in the spirit of partnership.
We are honest about our informal fragmented structures because we compete for limited funding. We are stretched on technical capacity. We do not always speak with one voice when one voice would be more useful because no one is investing in building solidarity of our communities and our people. VANGO and our partners — through PIANGO, through Vaka Pasifika — are investing in the coordination this country deserves. So this dialogue is not only an opportunity to engage with government. It is also an opportunity to engage more honestly with one another.
Over the next two days, we will walk through the fiscal cycle. We will look at how Vanuatu’s national priorities connect to the budget. We will hear what is working. We will create a “shopping list” of practical entry points for stronger engagement. And we will validate the Open Budget Portal — a tool that can change how citizens, parliamentarians, and CSOs engage with public finance, but only if we use it.
I want to ask three things of all of us, as we begin.
First — let us be honest. The dialogues that have helped most in our region are the ones where people have spoken plainly. Polite silence has never produced reform.
Second — let us listen across the table, not only across the room. None of us has the full picture. The point of this dialogue is to assemble that picture together.
Third — let us leave with commitments, not only conclusions. What we need now is a small number of clear, practical actions — owned by named institutions, with realistic timelines — that we can return to and measure ourselves against.
I thank our partners — UNDP through the Vaka Pasifika Programme, the European Union, PIANGO, and our regional sister National Liaison Units — for standing alongside Vanuatu’s civil society in this work; the Government of Vanuatu for the openness with which our institutions have engaged; and each of you, for taking two days out of busy schedules to invest in this conversation.
Friends — accountability is not just a system. It is a relationship.
Over the next two days, let us strengthen the relationships that hold our system together.
Tankyu tumas.
With that, I have the honour of declaring the Vaka Pasifika Policy Dialogue in Vanuatu officially open.
Mr Willie Tokon
Chairman, Vanuatu Association of Non-Governmental Organisations (VANGO)
Vaka Pasifika Policy Dialogue | Port Vila | 6 May 2026
