The author of a controversial report suggesting Aid has failed the Pacific, says the main hurdle facing Solomon Islands is its rapid population growth and lack of work opportunities.
Professor Helen Hughes report was issued two months ago by the Centre for Independent Studies.
It called for new approaches by New Zealand and Australia in how aid is allocated.
Speaking today on National Radio in New Zealand, she says international aid agencies are not giving the aid recipient nations the right advice to ensure they create the types of industries that will provide employment.
Professor Hughes says the majority of men aged in their 30s and 40s in the Solomons have never had paid employment, and she blames this aid donors focussing on the development of industries such as forestry and gold mining.
"not the advice they need to get the majority of people into productive jobs...now that's the only way that the Pacific is going to be saved when ordinary people get ordinary jobs"
