The director general of the Pacific Community says the Pacific must be able to do a better job with the aid it gets.
Dr Colin Tukuitonga is advocating a new approach to how aid is managed to bring efficiencies and improve the delivery of services.
He says per capita the Pacific has for many years received the most development dollars, yet many Pacific people continue to live in unacceptable conditions.
He says many of the agencies in the Pacific region operate in relative isolation and he believes service would improve if the Secretariat of the Pacific Community became a facilitator and the others provided technical expertise.
"As opposed to everyone trying to influence and contribute to the country from their own perspective, because I can imagine for small islands it is very difficult to be able to co-ordinate all of this input from various places. You know there are lots of players but no conductor."
Dr Colin Tukuitonga of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community
