The U.S. Peace Corps and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) worked in partnership to increase the capacity of Pacific island countries to effectively manage their coastal resources. (project ended September 2003) With more than 300 volunteers serving in the Pacific Region, the Peace Corps was uniquely positioned to provide support at the community level as these countries develop an integrated approach to coastal management.
CRC, the University of the South Pacific, and the South Pacific Regional Environment Programme contributed important training skills and valuable local/national experience to the effort. The partners worked to promote an integrated approach to coastal management and to increase the management capacity within each host country. The partnership focused activities in the six Pacific island countries that host Peace Corps programs. Those countries were the Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, Kiribati, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu. Within these Peace Corps country programs, this project objectives were to:
1) Develop strategic implementation plans for Peace Corps in each of the six countries;
2) Train Peace Corps volunteers and their host-country counterparts based on the implementation plans;
3) Strengthen the University of the South Pacific as a center of excellence in integrated coastal management (ICM) training for the Pacific Region;
4) Share with Pacific island countries the ICM skills and techniques necessary to address the issues identified by local communities and governments