United States Political/Economic Officer Mr. Mark Hitchcock, presented certificates of completion to 37 participants who successfully completed an Asset Management foundation course.

The course was made possible through a partnership between the USAID Climate Ready Project, the Institute of Public Works Engineering Australasia (New Zealand) and the Ministry of Works, Transport and Infrastructure to build the capacity of Pacific Islanders to better manage assets in a context of increased climate change and disaster threats.

Mr. Hitchcock congratulated the participants who represent various government entities, non-government organizations and private sector enterprises in Samoa on their achievement.

“With the increase in severity and frequency of extreme weather events in the Pacific, countries have had to adapt their infrastructure planning and management. This initiative highlights the U.S. government’s commitment to building a more climate resilient Pacific,” Mr. Hitchcock said.

Since 2017, a total of 2,130 people, including 1,099 women, have been trained in global climate change adaptation with USAID Climate Ready support. USAID Climate Ready works with 11 target countries – Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu – to achieve their climate change adaptation goals by assisting them to develop policies and legislation, access climate finance, and build capacity to manage adaptation projects