The Republic of Kiribati is a Central Pacific nation of 32 coral atolls and one island divided into three main groups: the Gilbert Islands, the Line Islands, and the Phoenix Islands. Kiribati is one of the least developed countries in the region with widespread hardship and an incidence of extreme poverty higher than 10 per cent.112 Deprivation is greatest among vulnerable groups in South Tarawa and the Southern Gilbert Islands. None of the eight MDGs were achieved outright and some areas show signs of regression.113 Kiribati’s small population, low level of human development, and disperse geography make the provision of quality services costly and difficult. Outer island communities have limited access to secondary education and very few opportunities for paid employment. There is a strong rural-urban drift of young I-Kiribati to the national capital, South Tarawa.
Population growth (at around 2.2 per cent per year) is among the highest in the region.114 More than half of Kiribati’s 112,423 people live in the capital, many in informal urban settlements. The rapid pace of urbanisation has placed intense pressure on
ground water supplies, sanitation, and housing and created challenges for public health, social cohesion, and environmental
sustainability.
Kiribati’s small economy is highly exposed to external shocks and debt stress. A reliance on overseas aid, and overseas remittances, its distance from markets, a low skill base, and an economy limited to natural resources all constrain opportunities for growth. In spite of its extreme economic vulnerability, Kiribati has experienced relative fiscal stability thanks to strong public sector expenditure, development partner financed infrastructure projects, and the granting of fishery licenses in the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone. Its sovereign wealth fund, the Revenue Equalisation Reserve Fund, provides supplementary revenue, but was severely impacted by the global financial crisis.
Kiribati has the lowest access to clean water and sanitation in the Pacific and water-borne disease accounts for a high proportion of infant and under-5 child deaths.115 Frequent outbreaks of water-borne disease pose long-term social and economic consequences. Climate change is predicted to exacerbate the current demand for clean water even further.
Under-5 and infant mortality in Kiribati has increased in recent years, offsetting earlier gains. Thirty-four per cent of children are stunted and 80 per cent receive violent physical or psychological discipline at home. There is a high proportion of orphaned and fostered children. Equal ratios of boys and girls enrol in primary school, although net enrolment rates have fluctuated in recent years.
In traditional Kiribati culture, women are subordinate to men and stark gender inequalities persist in almost all aspects of life. Seventy-three per cent of women report sexual and/or physical violence. Women are under-represented at all levels of decision-making and female-headed households are among the poorest and most vulnerable in the country. Although maternal health is improving, it has not yet met national targets.
HIV/AIDS prevalence is classified as a low level epidemic, but rates of STIs are very high suggesting vulnerability, particularly for young people. Non-communicable diseases are an emerging threat, particularly obesity and diabetes, as low quality, low- nutrient, imported foods replace native food products.
Kiribati is one of the world’s most susceptible nations to the myriad impacts of climate change. Seawater surges already threaten land, property, and infrastructure and contaminate fresh groundwater reserves. The acidification of oceans and catastrophic bleaching of corals jeopardize fish stocks and food security. In 2014, the Republic of Kiribati purchased land in Fiji ostensibly for food production, but with the longer-term view of resettling climate change refugees.
Treaty Ratifications: CEDAW, CRC, CRD, OP-CRCAC, OP-CRC-SC, CCPWCNH, CWII, ICADS
Resident and Non-resident Agencies: FAO, IFAD, ILO, IOM, OHCHR, UNDP, UN Environment, UNFPA, UNESCO, UNICEF, UNISDR, UNESCAP, UN Women, WHO, WMO
Coordination: Kiribati Joint Presence Office
National Strategic Development Plan: Kiribati National Development Plan 2016-2019, “Towards a better educated, healthier, more prosperous nation with a higher quality of life”
- 112CCA Meta Data Analysis, 2016.
- 113Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat 2015 MDGs Tracking Repor
- 114UNFPA Population and Development Profile: Pacific Island Countries, 2014.
- 115 UNICEF Child Poverty and Hardship in Kiribati, 2014.
| Alignment of country development priorities | ||
| UNPS Outcomes | Country Development
Strategy Priority/Pillar |
Identified Priorities 2018-2022 |
| Outcome 1:
Climate Change, Disaster Resilience, and Environmental Protection |
KPA4 – Environment
KPA5- Governance |
· Boost SDG Ownership – contextualizing and vocalizing SDGs for ownership by and involvement of the communities.
· Implement processes to improve sanitation and health. · Water security – focus on South Tarawa; involve communities in the site selection process. · Improve access to UN Funds by the communities, CSOs and NGOs. · Upgrade villages and help with sustainable town planning and appropriate capacity building. · Empower communities to be self-reliant. · Support safe waste management, especially in urban areas. · Build on established partnerships with NGOs, e.g. the beneficial UNICEF partnership with the Kiribati Local Governance Association (KiLGA). |
| · Water and Sanitation – Support drought preparation through provision of water tanks, training on resilience and adaptation to drought. | ||
| Outcome 2:
Gender Equality |
KPA5- Governance | · Gender equality
o Continue support to UN Joint Programme on Eliminating Sexual and Gender Based Violence (ESGBV). o Resource implementation of the ESGBV policy and other stakeholder programmes. o Increase support to finalize and implement Gender Equality and Women’s Development Policy. o Strengthen support to access to justice. o Continue gender sensitisation in water and sanitation programmes. o Support behaviour change programmes. · Strategies against gender based violence, marital conflicts, child abuse, child support programmes o Finance Young Couples Initiative Programme, including Pre- Marriage and Post-Marriage Programme. o Strengthen Registration Database. o Provide capacity building for Council on gender programmes. o Support government on the enforcement and M&E on VAWG (Women’s) Policy, community engagements and legal literacy, SAFENET project. o Empower women and girls in both urban and rural areas through revenue generation schemes and access to finance. |
| Outcome 3:
Sustainable and Inclusive Economic Empowerment |
KPA2 – Economic Growth
and Poverty Reduction |
· Provide technical support for the development of national statistics at the National Statistics Office, and strengthen capacity to measure the progress
of the Kiribati National Development Plan (KDP). · Implement the Labour Migration Policy in areas including Recognised Seasonal Employment (RSE) in New Zealand, Australia, and others. · Empower Women and Youth through employment generation and use of simple technology for production of local produce. · Promote inclusive market development – financing, processing, partnership, and entrepreneurship. · Support value chain development and compliance on marine and agro- based development, including on coconut development. · Identify key potential and effective partners for economic development. · Assist with access to finance – financial resources for development, including the Green Fund. · Fund equipment and technology that is relevant for projects and entrepreneurship. · Provide technical assistance to support tourism development. · Support air space management through financial and technical resources. · Help develop the Policy Regulatory Framework and required capacity building for the Deep Sea Mineral industry. · Support infrastructure to facilitate domestic trade as well as capacity building for local produce and product diversification. |
| Outcome 4:
Equitable Basic Services |
KPA1 – Human Resource
Development KPA3 – Health |
· Improve road safety and provide reliable and proper transport for children, such as school buses.
· Provide quality achievable and sustained education. · Provide safe and adequate water supplies with effective and sustainable systems. · Provide adequate and secure toilet facilities for girls in schools. · Provide safer and bigger classrooms to cater for increasing student populations. · Review the curriculum to include Family Health Education. · Provide financial and technical support for curriculum review and development. · Upgrade Curriculum Development Unit with safer equipment and chemicals and improve safety in the workplace. · Provide TVET pathways, programmes, and appropriate resources. · Develop the Early Childhood Care and Education curriculum and educational materials, including provision of technical assistance. |
| · Provide assistance to Education Quality Assurance and the establishment of the National Accreditation and Qualification Agency.
· Undertake a study on student achievements to provide reasons for the domination by girls in all levels of education. · Align the UN Pacific Strategy to the KDP and MHMS and other ministries’ strategic plans. · Continue assistance to sustain current priorities related to health issues including NCDs and maternal and child health. · Deliver technical support to provide evidence and best practices for population challenges. · Consider other health determinants such as water and environment. · Include health in sector policies. · Build capacity and technical assistance (e.g. training for staff at local and national levels). · Forge local and internal partnerships or assist to mobilize resources, including during natural disasters. |
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| Outcome 5:
Governance and Community Engagement |
KPA5 – Governance | · Access to Justice at all levels
o Deliver capacity development, such as training for magistrates. o Engage communities, including men and boys, in ending VAWG, and promoting juvenile access to justice. o Supporting consumer rights protection. · Partnerships o Continue joint support and partnership with UN to the gender based violence Shared Implementation Plan (SHIP). o Support Parliament’s established “Select Committees” on Climate Change and Anti-corruption, Public Accounts through capacity building and funding. o Help to strengthen sustainable partnerships and capacities for partners to engage (through mentoring, etc.) and strengthen partnerships with outer island Councils and women/youth, church, communities, and NGOs. o Promote partnerships that allow cyclical, downstream, and upstream cooperation through greater awareness of KDP and SDGs. o Support national planning consultations with Outer Islands. o Assist with capacity building to island Councils, women’s groups, youth, community/NGOs, church on GE, SDGs. o Support statistical analysis of census and data to monitor progress, sex disaggregated data. o South-South Programme116 – Social Welfare Division, MWYSA o Provide ongoing child protection and civil registration vital statistics support. o Support for access to essential services for victims of domestic violence and other social services. o Support for implementation and reporting of human rights conventions (CRC, CEDAW, CRPD, and UPR). o Assist locally elected leaders training to improve Council leaders’ governance capacity. o Coordinate efforts by all stakeholders – NGOs, church based organizations, communities, civil society, Government, and UN bodies to make positive changes. |
| Outcome 6:
Human Rights |
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