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 The Australian High Commission awards 21 Lifesaving Awards

The High Commissioner, HE Sandra Vegting hosted a reception at her residence in honour of recipients of Australian lifesaving awards in December. Recipients received their Australian lifesaving awards during the reception which marked the end of a two year ‘Water Safety & Aquatic Leadership Development Program’ which they had followed. The program was funded by the Australian Sports Commission under the Australian Sports Outreach Program. The program was carried out in Mauritius by Chisholm Institute of Melbourne, Australia in collaboration with Australian International Education (Mauritius). The first year of the program was aimed at providing participants with basic lifesaving skills and knowledge, while the second year of the program concentrated on training participants to become examiners and instructors in lifesaving.

The High Commission was pleased to be able to share Australia's knowledge in the field of lifesaving with Mauritius and hopes that this will help create the foundation for a long-term community based lifesaving movement similar to that which exists in Australia.

The Australian Sports Outreach Program (ASOP) focuses on increasing community participation in sport and physical activity. The program is also designed to offer an effective vehicle for addressing broader community issues such as health promotion, leadership and social cohesion through sport and physical activity. ASOP grants aim to provide funding assistance to targeted small-medium size community sport development projects in developing Commonwealth countries.

More information on ASOP can be found on http://www.ausport.gov.au/supporting/international/about/development_grants

High Commission funds the setting up of a Pastry Unit in the Mauritian Women’s Prison

In November 2011, the Australian High Commissioner, Sandra Vegting and the Mauritian Commissioner of Prisons, Jean Bruneau inaugurated a Pastry Unit at the Women’s Prison in Beau Bassin. The setting up of a Pastry Unit at the Women’s prison was part of the prison’s rehabilitation program and was funded through the Australian High Commission’s Direct Aid Program. The new Pastry Unit will offer the prison’s 130 detainees, the possibility of following pastry making courses. The pastry courses will be offered to detainees in collaboration with the Mauritius Institute of Training.

This is the third project that the Australian High Commission has funded in the Mauritian Prisons. In 2007, the High Commission funded a pilot project for a numeracy and literacy program in association with Mauritian NGO, APPEL and Australian NGO, R.O.P.E . In 2009, the High Commission funded the purchase of educational books for the women's prison to support English teaching and reading classes in the Women’s Prison.

Clean Up the World 2011 - Mauritius

The Australian High Commission supported the Mauritian Ministry of Environment & Sustainable Development in a number of its clean up activities which were held across the country from 18 September – 20 November 2011. The campaign 'Our Place...Our Planet....Our Responsibility' was officially launched by the Minister of Environment & Sustainable Development, the Hon. Devanand Virahsawmy and the Australian High Commissioner, Sandra Vegting on 22 September 2011. Activities organised, included the clean up of Ile d’Ambre, the collection of used newspapers/magazines in municipalities around the country, the clean up of Pont Bon Dieu caves, the clean up of Fond du Sac, the distribution of compost bins to community centres in Riviere du Rempart, the clean up of consolidated fabrics – Solitude/Triolet and the clean up of Trou-aux Biches public beach and lagoon.

The Australian High Commissioner, Sandra Vegting hosted a reception at her residence on 12 October in honour of 20 Mauritians and Seychellois who are recipients of Australian Development Scholarships and Australian Leadership Awards Scholarships for the 2012 intake.

These Masters levels scholarships are part of the Australian Awards which are offered to Africa.

The Mauritian awardees of the Australian Development Scholarships were Prithiviraj Booneeady (Mauritius Meterological Services), Soodesh Ramphul (Mauritius Prison Service), Nasim Auchoybur (Ministry of Civil Service), Dharam Koonjul (Black River District Council), Anusha Ramasamy (Mauritius Revenue Authority), Roshan Parepiah (Agricultural Research and Extension Unit), Nivedita Aujayeb (Bank of Mauritius), Rose Marie Jeanne (Ministry of Agro-Industry and Food Security).

The Seychellois awardees of the Australian Development Scholarships were Venessa Quatre (Department of Environment), Carol Low (Seychelles Bureau of Standards), Hansel Confiance (Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Bettymai Cupidon (Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports), Ziyaad Ebrahim (Ministry of Finance and Trade), Davis Laporte (Central Bank of Seychelles), Joanne Fred (Ministry of Health), Beryl Camille (Ministry of Education), Livia Lespoir (National Sports Council), Catriona Shamlaye (Department of Education).

Nundini Pertaub and Deeptee Korlapu Bungaree from Mauritius were awarded Australian Leadership Awards Scholarships. These scholarships were awarded to Africa for the first time this year and Mauritius won two places out of a total of 20 in all of Africa. Selection for these scholarships is highly competitive.

Eight short-term scholarships were also awarded in Diplomacy, Trade and Technical Vocational Educational Training to Mauritius, Seychelles and Comoros earlier this year under the same scholarship program.
 

Promoting Commonwealth Values – Commonwealth Delegation Hosts International Outreach Event in Port Louis

The Australian and British High Commissions hosted a Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group (EPG) Regional Outreach Event on Wednesday 24 August 2011.
Two members of the EPG, Sir Ronald Sanders KCMG from Guyana and Dr Emmanuel Akwetey from Ghana, visited Mauritius for one day on 24 August 2011, to promote the EPG’s recommendations of its report, which will be presented to Commonwealth Heads of Government for adoption at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) to be held in Perth, Australia in October 2011.

An open forum in the afternoon was held at the Residence of the British High Commissioner in Floréal, at which representatives from civil society discussed the recommendations on the future of the Commonwealth. The Acting Australian High Commissioner hosted an evening reception to mark the day’s events.

 

Opening Ceremony of Maison de la Tortue in the Union of the Comoros

In April 2011, the Australian Ambassador to the Union of the Comoros, H.E. Sandra Vegting, inaugurated the Maison de la Tortue on the island of Mohéli. The project, which was co-funded by the Australian Embassy and UNDP Comoros, was established to educate and promote awareness of environmental protection. The Australian funding also enabled renovations to be made to the existing community centre that will allow the local population the opportunity to learn about sustainable environmental management. 

A representative of the UNDP Comoros at the Opening of the Maison de la Tortue.

Australian Ambassador to the Union of the Comoros visits Barakani village

H.E. Sandra Vegting, Ambassador of Australia to the Union of the Comoros, visited the village of Barakani, on the island of Mohéli, on 8 April 2011. Ms Vegting inspected an Australian funded project aimed at introducing local fishermen to new and profitable fishing techniques. The project was co-funded by the Australian Embassy and UNDP Comoros. The Australian Embassy also funded the purchase of four motorised boats for the transportation and marketing of products to the main island of Grande Comore, as well as, three new freezers for the cold room and other modern fishing material. 
  

Visit to the Union of the Comoros by the Australian Prime Minister’s Special Envoy to Francophone Countries

The Australian Prime Minister’s Special Envoy to Francophone Countries, Mr William Fisher, visited the Union of the Comoros from 24 to 27 May 2011. He attended the investiture of the new Comorian President H.E. Ikililou Dhoinine on 26 May 2011. Mr Fisher was accompanied by the Australian Ambassador to the Union of the Comoros, H.E. Sandra Vegting.

As well, Mr Fisher had a number of meetings with representatives of the Comorian government which included appointments with President Dhoinine and the three Vice-Presidents of the Union. At these meetings, the Special Envoy reiterated the commitment of the Australian government to strengthen its ties with the Union of the Comoros.

Mr Fisher also held a joint press conference with the Comorian Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Education to award scholarships to the beneficiaries of the Australian Development Scholarships scheme. Three Comorians were selected for short term courses in Australia, commencing September 2011. Two candidates from the Ministry of External Relations and Cooperation were selected to follow a course in diplomacy. The other candidate, from the Ministry of Education, was selected to follow a course in technical and vocational education training.

 Australian Prime Minister’s Special Envoy to Francophone Countries, Mr William Fisher and the Australian Ambassador to Comoros, HE Sandra Vegting, with two of the three beneficiaries of the Australian Development Scholarships

The Australian High Commission is pleased to have been supported in its efforts by CIEL Textiles who sponsored the special Clean Up the World t-shirts that were worn by participants in this year’s clean up activities.

In addition to supporting Clean Up the World initiatives this year, the Australian High Commission has been providing its personal contribution to the preservation of the environment in Mauritius by funding the restoration and reforestation of the Grande Montagne Nature Reserve in Rodrigues through its small grants program.