Solomon Star Chief of Staff Ednal Palmer is among five Solomon Islanders selected for the 2015 Pacific Islands Leadership internship in East West Center in Hawaii and Taiwan.
The others are Jimmy Panasa Executive Personal Secretary (EPS) of the Ministry of Planning, Henry Kiniki Project Coordinator of Arnavon Community Marine Conservation, Bradley Lenga Director Internal Audit, Ministry of Finance and Korolyn Zutu private consultant.
On Wednesday they officially had an audience with the Taiwan Ambassador Victor Te-sun Yu who congratulated them and urging them to make their outmost best of the opportunity.
Mr Yu said, their successful selection is a wonderful opportunity for them to increase their capacity and leadership particularly on the knowledge of the mainstream world.
He said, it will also build their strength in the future interms of development and apart from that it will help them to build network with other pacific leaders.
He said, assured the recipients that there will be reach programs where they will know the values, relationship and sovereignties of countries like Taiwan.
He said, under the program the recipients will spend approximately two months engaging in experiential learning exercises at the East West Center’s campus in Hawaii, in addition to a month of field study in Taipei at the Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Institute of Diplomacy and International Affairs.
He said, the program curriculum includes such topics as applied leadership skills, future scenario planning, social entrepreneurship and risk analysis climate change and environmental stewardship, international relations and public health.
Speaking on behalf of the five successful candidates, Mr Palmer expressed appreciation to ROC/Taiwan’s ambassador and his government for their financial commitment which he said ensured their participation.
“Firstly, it is our humble gratitude to have you avail time from your busy schedule to meet us.
“On behalf of the five of us, we would secondly like to thank the government of ROC/Taiwan for the financial support which will see us partake in this prestigious program.
“Thirdly sir, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity, that we can never repeat again therefore, it falls squarely on our shoulders, to participate meaningfully with the aim to arm and equip ourselves with skills and knowledge given to us by the professional experts from the East West Centre.
“The five of us come from different organizations but we will go with the aim to return and utilise the skills and knowledge learnt in a meaningful way that will not only benefit us individually but contribute to nation building,” Mr Palmer said.
The Pacific Islands Leadership Program with Taiwan (PILP) is an initiative design to provide opportunities to enhance the leadership capacities of individuals in the Pacific Islands region and build a network of young leaders who will contribute to lasting people-to people relationship across the Pacific Asia and United States.
It is now in its third year and the objective of the PILP Fellowship is to empower up to 125 young leaders from across the Pacific Islands region to exercise leadership and promote cooperation in a variety of cultural, geographical and institutional environments.
This program seeks to attract candidates possessing outstanding intellectual promise high leadership potential and commitments to serve the development needs of their countries.
It is intended to strengthen participants knowledge and understanding of key economic, social, political, health, environment issues affecting the region and enable them to cultivate the leadership skills, approaches and networks to make meaningful contributions to the region throughout their careers.
By Charles Kadamana
