Faith‐based organisations and social policy in Melanesia

Abstract

This paper examines the contribution that faith‐based organisations (FBOs) make to social policy in Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Fiji. The paper sets contemporary relationships between church and state in these independent states of Melanesia in their individual historical contexts of missionisation, colonisation and decolonisation. Since independence these sovereign nations have relied on the networks and social capital of faith‐based communities and organisations in policy implementation in critical areas such as health and education. FBOs, for their part, have endeavoured to participate in policy and programme implementation without losing their autonomy. This pattern of selective cooperation has produced a unique policy environment, in which policy coordination continues to challenge government officials. Despite close association between FBOs and social policy in the Melanesian states, the slow progress with human development indicators and the Millennium Development Goals highlights the need to find more effective approaches to agenda‐setting, policy articulation and implementation.