Apia –   U.S. Embassy Charge d’Affaires Jon Yoo today presented completion certificates to participants who successfully completed the Project Management Practice course supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

The course is part of the USAID Ready Project’s partnership with the University of the South Pacific/Pacific TAFE to help Pacific Island countries become more resilient to environmental changes.  The five-month course strengthened management skills to design and implement disaster resilience projects. Twenty-two participants, including mid-level managers of government departments, non-governmental organizations and representatives from the private sector, completed the course.  This most recent course was conducted fully online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mr. Yoo commended the commitment of course participants in completing the course, saying “The U.S. government is pleased to work with Pacific governments, the private sector, and civil society to address your most pressing development needs.”

This is the first project management course supported by the USAID Ready project in Samoa.  The project is rolling out the course across 10 other Pacific Island countries. USAID 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.