About 75 participants from the Pacific are attending a week-long (24-28 October) training course on Budget Support and the EU's "Blending" aid modality.
The course is organised jointly by the Delegation of the European Union for the Pacific and the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS) in Fiji.
The training is being delivered by specialist trainers from Europe: Fabrice Ferrandes, Guillaume Barraut, and Nathalie Brajard.
The objective of the training is to enable participants to design and implement effectively Budget support programmes financed by the EU. Budget support is a means of delivering aid that promotes beneficial reforms in key sectors (such as energy, water, and agriculture) while at the same time strengthening public financial management. Rather than being spent on technical assistance or equipment (as in more traditional development projects) funds are disbursed directly to partner governments when reforms set down in agreed sector policy documents, based on Government strategy, have been carried out.
The participants are from Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, the Federated States of Micronesia, Papua New Guinea, the Republic of Marshall Islands, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Timor Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu, Wallis and Futuna, and Pitcairn, as well as from EU Delegations from across the Pacific Region, other donors and two Regional Organisations