U.S. Government-supported training to boost Tonga’s resilience against climate change and natural disasters

A USAID supported training to boost Tonga’s resilience against climate change and natural disasters was launched in Nuku’alofa Monday.

The CEO of Ministry of Meteorology, Energy, Information, Disaster Management, Climate Change and Communications (MEIDECC), Paula Ma’u launched the training programme that will strengthen the skills of local government and NGO managers to better monitor and evaluate activities associated with the second Joint National Action Plan for Climate Change and Disaster Management (JNAP2).

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), through its Ready project, is supporting the Government of Tonga to develop the JNAP2 Monitoring and Evaluation system via the Climate Resilience Monitoring and Evaluation course delivered in partnership with the University of the South Pacific.

The course was designed and piloted in 2018 by the University of the South Pacific’s School of Geography, Earth Sciences and Environment to strengthen climate resilience monitoring and evaluation in the Pacific islands.

“This the Climate Resilience Monitoring and Evaluation course is a landmark achievement not just for Tonga, but also the Pacific region, as it is a litmus test that will simultaneously build the capacity of the participants and also deliver course work that directly contributes  towards the development of a national M&E framework for Tonga’s overarching climate resilience instrument- the JNAP 2”, Mr. Ma’u stressed.

USAID’s five-year Ready project builds the capacity of governments and institutions to develop and implement effective environmental and disaster mitigation policies, strategies and projects.

Ready works in 11 Pacific island countries: Fiji, Kiribati, Tonga, Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.

 

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