History

The Foundation for the Peoples of the South Pacific (FSP) was the inspiration of Elizabeth “Betty” Bryant-Silverstein and her husband, Maurice “Red” Silverstein in the early sixties.

Betty Bryant was a prominent Australian actress, perhaps best known locally for her starring role in Australia’s first internationally successful film Forty Thousand Horsemen.

She met Red in Singapore during the early years of the Second World War, while visiting troops as Australia’s ‘Red Cross Queen’. Later, Red Silverstein became President of Metro-Goldwyn-Myer International, a division of MGM.

The idea of starting a foundation grew out of the Silverstein’s friendship with an Australian Marist priest, Stanley Hosie, who had done an extensive field study of the Pacific Islands missions in Melanesia and Polynesia in early 1963.

Their new non-government organisation developed its vision and strategy in 1967 after a consulting visit with the people of Melanesia and Polynesia. The nine-volume report generated at these meetings became the bible of a young Foundation for the Peoples of the South Pacific (FSP).

In 1968, FSP officially opened its office in Sydney, Australia to coordinate programs in the Pacific region. This initial FSP affiliate grew to become AFAP, one of the leading NGOs in Australia.

Betty, Stan and Maurice also established an FSP office in the USA, which has grown amazingly in its scope and reach and is now known as Counterpart International.

Through a series of meetings in Tonga, the Solomon Islands and Fiji between 1984 and 1990, FSP/USA brought its partner NGOs together into an international consortium of development trusts called The Foundation of the Peoples of the South Pacific International (FSPI). Today, FSPI is the most important regional NGO in the Pacific Islands nations, working closely with the governments of the South Pacific Forum and intergovernmental regional agencies of the Pacific.

In 1989, AFAP began work in Asia with program initiatives in Viet Nam, and in 1996 AFAP became the first Australian NGO to have its permanent representative office registered by the Vietnamese Government.

In December 1994, its members voted to change the name of the organisation to The Australian Foundation for the Peoples of Asia and the Pacific (AFAP). This was done to officially recognise AFAP’s new successful programs in Asia. Since then, AFAP’s projects have continued to grow in scope and location, spreading throughout 22 countries worldwide.

Photos courtesy of Counterpart International.

Early years: Sir Peter Ustinov and Sophia Loren help Betty to launch FSP in 1966 and Betty helps provide water in rural Samoan village in 1971.

Humanitarian award: Then First Lady Hilary Rodham Clinton presents humanitarian service awards to Elizabeth Silverstein and Stanley Hosie in March 2000.

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