The National University of Samoa had the pleasure of welcoming the Hon. Saurabh Kumar,
Secretary (East), Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India and his delegation on campus.
The purpose of the visit was to sight the equipment procured under the Indian UN Development
Partnership Fund at NUS for the Samoa Knowledge Society Initiative (SKSI).
The delegation was greeted by Professor Tuifuisa’a Patila Amosa, Vice-Chancellor & President of
NUS, and the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Afioga Peseta Dr. Desmond Mene Lee Hang. During the
visit, Hon. Kumar was accompanied by some of the NUS Management team, including Mr.
Avalogo Tunupopo, University Librarian, and Mrs. Leota Sarai Faleupolu-Tevita, Director of ICT, on
a brief tour of the digital scanner room at the library as well as the SKSI Server Room on campus.
Professor Muagututi’a Ioana Chan Mow, Team Leader of the SKSI project at NUS, provided a
brief introduction to SKSI along with an overview of current and future SKSI work. Mr. Vensel Chan
(SKSI Team) offered a virtual tour of the SKSI platforms with a focus on the Digital Herbarium, an
ongoing project as part of the Samoa Digital Library (SADIL).
The Samoa Knowledge Society Initiative, funded by the Indian-UN Development Partnership
Fund, is a joint programme of UNDP, UNESCO, UNRC, and FAO, launched on January 17, 2022, to
promote knowledge-based sustainable development in Samoa. It has three components: SADIL,
the Open Access Research repository, and the lifelong learning platform.
Hon. Kumar delivered his remarks and stated that, “It is really heartening to see the work being
done and its benefits to help make the information available to each and every individual and I
really appreciate and compliment the university and others who have been associated with this
to bring the project to where it is now but as Professor Muagututi’a mentioned that we have
phase two and phase three to go and sustainability is something which is usually important and I

would like to wish the National University of Samoa all the success in taking this project further
ahead.”
SKSI is a multi-stakeholder project and the following are the NUS contributions to the SKSI project,
made possible by funding from the Indian UN Development Partnership Fund. These include the
SKSI infrastructure assessment and installation (hardware, software, connectivity), development
of a multilingual SKSI website and the 3 platforms, digitization and populating of the digital library
(~3600 digitised resources), DSpace & digitization training, the conduct of national water quality
research, the development of open access policies, digitisation and editorial guidelines, as well
as the continued maintenance of the 3 platforms.
Overall, Professor Tuifuisa’a Patila Malua Amosa, our NUS Vice-Chancellor & President, extended
her appreciation to Hon. Saurabh Kumar and his delegation’s visit and the Government of the
Republic of India for generously funding the NUS SKSI Project.