The Regional Perspectives Research Project is about listening to, and learning from, Pacific people on a range of topics that reflect Pacific priorities, including relationships with other countries.

The project aims to help Defence to better understand Vanuatu and Solomon Islands, develop more sustainable and culturally sensitive engagement strategies, and play its part in creating a safer, fairer, more stable and prosperous Pacific Islands region. To do this, researchers used traditional local storytelling methods to gather data – ‘storian’ in Vanuatu and ‘tok stori’ in Solomon Islands. These approaches gathered in-depth and diverse views directly from the people living in these islands. 

The information collected is crucial for ensuring policies are fair and well-informed, culturally sensitive, and beneficial. This report presents a summary of the key findings from phase I of the project. Full reports have been prepared for internal analysis by Defence. This report begins with a summary of the project’s key findings and then moves on to the two country reports.