Conservation International (CI) strongly emphasize in all its field program in countries where it
has a country office the important need to raise awareness on the impact of sexual
exploitation, abuse, and harassment (PSEAH) as well as child protection safeguard. The need to
ensure that project partners and implementers in any country are aware of these CI policies
and that people involved in CI projects are informed of actions they need to take if they feel
uncomfortable by any inappropriate actions of anyone involved in CI projects.
Today CI international trainers on PSEAH and Child Protection are conducting a one-day training
for all its partners in Samoa from government ministries (MNRE, MESC and MAF) as well as
local NGOs (SUNGO, Samoa Conservation Society and Samoa Voyaging Society), academia
(National University of Samoa) and UNESCO on awareness raising and understanding of the
need to ensure the importance of social and environmental safeguard in any CI project. This
workshop is inline with our donor partner requirement for CI Samoa Manaaki Project and
because we will be working with school children between Year 6 and 7, it is imperative that
anyone involved in the Manaaki project should understand the PSEAH and Child Protection
policy of CI.
CI received a grant from New Zealand-Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (NZ-MFAT) Manaaki
Program to support a project titled “Securing a Polynesian Promise for Climate and Community
resilience”. The Manaaki Project aims to enhance the ability of Samoan and Tokelauan local
communities to sustainably use and manage marine resources and improve their resilience to
climate change, using education based on scientific evidence, traditional, and contemporary
knowledge. The Project will work with at least 25 communities in Samoa and across the three
atolls in Tokelau to implement environmental education programs, fostering generation of
ocean stewardship and climate champions to drive sustainable management of marine
resources in their communities. Educators will be trained to deliver an experiential-learning
program that fosters ocean stewardship and climate action among youth, increasing
understanding of critical marine ecosystems, climate change threats and mitigation activities.
The goal of the training is to ensure CI Samoa project partners and CI Samoa staff are aware of
CI safeguards and policy requirements for Child Protection and Prevention of Sexual
Exploitation, Abuse and Harassment (PSEAH).