Progress report for
Pacific Environment Community Fund
Achievement at a glance
"Approximately USD 4M was allocated for each of the 14 FICs. All the countries have successfully completed their projects and various communities have already started to reap the benefits from the PEC Funded equipment. PIFS has facilitated the disbursement of 98% (USD54.7m) of the committed funds (USD 56M) to the countries by end-April 2018. A further USD 4.3M was allocated from the available surplus of funds for the Sustainability of the PEC funded equipment. A total of 11 countries showed interest to access the fund but only 9 countries made a formal submission. The Joint Committee approved submissions by 8 countries at a total of $4,283,750. These funds were released in April 2018.<br>"
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Challenges faced in implementation
A major issue was high staff turnover in most of the countries with knowledge about the systems not being passed on to the new sucessors. Regular refresher trainings is highly recommended. Another major issue was adverse weather conditions and natural disasters. For example two Super Typhoons in FSM in 2015 and the active Volcano in the island of Ambae in Vanuatu. The equipment has to be safeguarded against damages due to nautral disasters.<br>
Beneficiaries
PSIDS
Actions
The inclusion of capacity building activities into each proposal ensures the sustainability of the project through knowledge retention and country ownership. Training is undertaken at various levels, at the community level for operation and maintenance of solar or sea water desalination systems, training of technicians on the job, training undertaken abroad at the factory sites.<br>elected personnel are trained on operation and maintenance and also the ongoing management of the technology.