Honiara In the 1960s, Pijin became its principal language, and the mother tongue of a generation of young urban adults and children. Through Honiara the language spread and has since become the main language spoken in the islands. Rhys Richards, a New Zealand historian and former New Zealand High Commissioner of Solomon Islands, spent many years in Honiara. In 1979 Honiara was still a relatively small town in terms of population, especially for a capital city, with 18,346 people, of which 10,870 were men, and 7,476 were women. In July 1978, Honiara became the new capital of the independent Solomon Islands.
Town Ground, Honiara focus in addressing some of the fundamental issues affecting women's lives. These include environmental matters, providing accommodation for young girls, and establishing a kindergarten. The Association recently undertook a new micro-credit scheme for disadvantaged women in Honiara as a government pilot project funded by the United Nations Development Program but the project has collapsed as a result of the political crisis. YWCA SI runs a young women’s hostel in Honiara and kindergartens in both Honiara and Munda. Recently, the YWCA SI has also started to run training and programs for young women in leadership, human rights, gender and sexual and