Vocational training said to be future for Pacific development

Transcript

The European Union says vocational training is the future for renewable energy and climate change focused development in the Pacific.

The steering committee for the EU's Technical Vocational Education project is holding consultations with representatives from 15 Pacific Islands nations this week in Suva Fiji, the outcome of which will guide the roll out of the project over the next three years.

The EU's Acting Head of Cooperation in the Pacific, Jesus Lavina spoke with Koroi Hawkins about the 6.1 million euro initiative.

JESUS LAVINA: It is a very powerful tool when we are talking about building capacities in the countries in the Pacific region. We have seen that in previous programs we had a lot of ad hoc training that was good, useful but it lasted only while the project was ongoing and then capacities and skills were either lost or not, no longer used. Here what we are trying to do is move from this adhoc training to a more formal and harmonised education. The idea is to bring or to link the ideas and the challenges that the Pacific is facing in terms of energy and climate change adaptation. Try to transform them into opportunities for labour mobility for job opportunities. Employability. And for that you need the people to be trained to be, to have the necessary skills and education certificates to be able to go to the labour market.

KOROI HAWKINS: So how are you achieving this are you working with education systems with the governments?

JL: Yes the way we are working now, well this is in the frame of our larger program on energy and climate change. We have identified two key actors in the region. Which are the regional university, the university of the South Pacific and the Secretariat for the Pacific Community, SPC. These are the main implementers of the actions and what we have done so far is the team of experts has been visiting each of the countries in order to identify which are the needs for the project implementation. So we have been looking at the policy context. What sort of TVET providers are already existing in the different countries being it public or private. We have looked at the accreditation schemes that are available in the countries but also at a regional level. And the last point was to see, to identify the needs. Which where are the key areas where the project should focus.

KH: And going forward based on all that information that you now have, what is going to happen?       

JL: Up to now we have had more bilateral work with each of the countries and now this has been the first regional gathering where the 15 Pacific countries are present and you have people from the education sector and for the climate change sectors. Looking at the result of this assessment of needs and they are going to agree on the work plan that will be implemented in the next three years.