The Japanese Embassy Counsellor & Deputy Head of Mission Mr. HADA Tsuguyoshi

The Acting CEO for the Australia Pacific Training Coalition Helen Leeson

Stakeholders – SPTO and FHTA

Development partners, friends and colleagues

Ladies and gentlemen

Bula vinaka and a good afternoon to you all.

With the global spread of the novel coronavirus to every corner of the world and its unprecedented impact towards Fiji’s economy and specifically towards our tourism industry, UNDP and the Australia Pacific Training Coalition (APTC) have been in collaboration, thanks to the support and funding from the Japanese Embassy, to provide online courses to primarily tourism workers that have been affected by the increased numbers of job losses and reduced hours.

As a result, in July 2020 this initiative rolled out its first two Micro Credential (MC) courses;

• Digital Literacy Essentials – a course that provides an introduction to modern digital technologies, software and popular social media platforms; and
• Communication Technologies for Business Success - a course that explores digital communication technologies and software used by industry today and how it can improve productivity and collaboration in the workplace;

These are aimed at providing relevant training opportunities, new skillsets and serves as a refresher course so participants are well positioned to regain employment and reopen businesses as the economy recovers.

With the area of focus on the tourism industry, UNDP and APTC, partnered up with the Pacific Tourism Organization (SPTO) and the Fiji Hotel and Tourism Association (FHTA) who were able to reach out to affected islanders within Fiji, Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Nauru, Tuvalu, Tonga and Vanuatu for their participation.

Despite the short time frame and initial challenges, we are glad to say that APTC received around 1,442 applications from participating countries and the numbers are expected to increase in the upcoming months. This is all thanks to the great teamwork and effort from APTC, SPTO and FHTA.  

Furthermore, APTC has additional micro-credential courses in the pipeline that focus on COVID safety and financial literacy. Specific information regarding these micro credentials will be presented by Gareth McGrath of APTC.

The main aim of this partnership is to support our people during these difficult times with the essential knowledge, skills and confidence in making responsible decisions when borders open and our economies go into recovery.

With that being said and with such promising results, I would like to close by welcoming you all to this event and invite to the front the APTC Training Delivery Innovation Manager, Mr. Gareth McGrath for his presentation.

Vinaka vakalevu.