Suva, Fiji – United States Chargé d’Affaires, Tony Greubel, and Jennifer Poole, Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation launched two U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) programs on International Women’s Day. One is a new all-female Project Management Practice course for 30 members of the Women in Maritime Association (WIMA). Established in 2016, WIMA advocates gender equity through education, training, and career opportunities for women in Fiji’s maritime sector.
In addition, CDA Greubel launched a new online training module that focuses on Gender Equity and Social Inclusion (GESI) in Project Management. The USAID-developed module is hosted on the USAID portal, Climate Links, and has a special focus on addressing Gender Equity and Social Inclusion in development and climate change adaptation initiatives. A downloadable GESI workbook is also included in this resource.
CDA Greubel said, “These initiatives highlight the U.S. government’s commitment to building a climate resilient Pacific in a manner that is gender balanced, socially inclusive and practitioner-led. Here in Fiji, we continue to experience increasingly frequent climate impacts, including destructive tropical cyclones, intense rainfall patterns, changing sea temperatures and droughts. Addressing these pressing developments requires partnerships that deliver sustainable solutions in a gender-balanced, socially inclusive manner.”
Permanent Secretary Poole presented completion certificates to 23 women who completed the USAID Project Management Course in Suva. The first all-female Project Management cohort is comprised of mid-level managers from government, and civil society.
A total of 1,738 people, including 812 women, have been trained in global climate change adaptation with USAID Ready support. 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.