Suva, Fiji – On December 3, USAID Pacific Islands Acting Senior Development Advisor Patrick Bowers presented completion certificates to 22 women who successfully completed a five-month Project Management course sponsored by the USAID Climate Ready Project.
The course is part of the USAID Climate Ready Project’s partnership with the University of the South Pacific/Pacific TAFE to build local management capacity of climate change adaptation projects in the Pacific. The participants are members of the Women in Maritime Association and the third all-women cohort to complete the course.
Mr. Bowers congratulated the women on not only completing the project management course but also on their collective achievement of attaining a 100 percent graduation pass rate. He highlighted that a key focus of the United States Government through USAID has been to support aspirations for a more-gender-balanced and socially inclusive region that respects and responds to the needs of women in the Pacific.
“As we celebrate USAID’s 60th anniversary this year, we remain an enduring and committed partner in advancing a more gender-balanced and socially inclusive region that respects and responds to the needs of women in the Pacific,” Mr. Bowers 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.