Pacific

ADB assistance included five ongoing loans and three ongoing technical assistance projects. Activities under these technical assistance projects included the release of the Federated States of Micronesia 2005 Economic Report and the development of secured-transactions legislation and implementation of a secured-transactions registry accessible via the Internet.

No loan was approved. One technical assistance project to implement the public sector capacity-building road map was approved for $600,000.

In March 2006, ADB supported a 3-day retreat for government, private sector, and civil society representatives that focused on governance and the strategic development of the Federated States of Micronesia. ADB hosted a consultative group meeting in November to examine progress and problems in implementing the country’s Strategic Development Plan 2004–2023.

Pacific Leaders LEAP Forward

Leaders in ADB’s Pacific developing member countries are finding better ways to implement development programs, thanks to the innovative Leadership Enhancement and Advancement Program (LEAP) funded by ADB.

The program has helped senior and middle-level executives from the public and private sectors in 13 of the 14 Pacific developing member countries understand and discuss common problems like poverty, slow growth, weak governance, weak regulatory frameworks, conflict of traditional systems and formal organizational processes, underdeveloped human resources, and brain drain.

The program has also helped officials from the 13 participating countries network with each other and share information and experience to tackle common issues.

Priscilla Maruariki, management accountant, Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, Cook Islands, had this to say of the workshop she attended in October 2006: “We have learned a lot about leadership, the value of having visionary leaders and having a holistic approach to issues, and the need to connect various stakeholders and to uphold the principles of integrity and fairness. Maybe in future meetings we will be sharing our success stories. It’s a long journey but I believe our journey starts today when we go back to our countries.”

The program has helped provide demand-driven training courses for selected leaders, including in-service training organized jointly with partner institutions, to meet the specific requirements of governments, the private sector, and civil society.

The program has assessed the training needs of Pacific officials, created benchmarks of leadership competencies, designed training courses, established a monitoring and evaluation framework to measure the impact of training, developed strategies to strengthen the network of learning institutions and service providers in the Pacific, and trained trainers to continue the program after ADB assistance ends.

The most recent LEAP workshop included 23 participants from seven Pacific developing member countries who met at ADB headquarters in October 2006 to gain practical insights, approaches, and tools to help implement strategic plans and programs; develop their own perspectives and models for successful implementation within their respective contexts; and design action points to improve implementation of plans and programs.

Ryke Solomon, deputy secretary, Department of Finance and Development Planning, Nauru, said of the workshop: “We learned much from the various experiences that had been shared in this workshop…hope we take them back to our respective countries and are able to implement our plans and programs effectively.”

The program has helped officials from the 13 participating countries network with each other and share information and experience to tackle common issues