More Fijian volunteers to serve in region

Works have been underway to send a group of Fijian teachers to Tuvalu under the Fiji Volunteer Scheme (FVS), the Fijian government announced Wednesday. Parmesh Chand, permanent secretary of Fiji's Public Service Commission (PSC), said currently there are Fijian teachers serving in Marshall Islands, Nauru and Vanuatu. The Fiji Volunteer Scheme was growing from strength to strength since its beginning in March 2012, he added. "Marshall Islands and Nauru were the first two countries of assignment for our volunteers. There were 12 teachers in Marshall Islands and they decided to recruit six more at their own cost so there are totally 18 Fijian teachers in Marshall Islands; 12 under the FVS and six under their own funding arrangement," the Ministry of Information quoted Chand as saying. "There are six teachers in Nauru. They went last year and recently 11 teachers left for Vanuatu. Currently, we are also working on about nine teachers who will be going to Tuvalu." Volunteerism is not only about retired teachers or retired personnel, Chand said. "It is also about other fields covering areas such as climate change, environment, health, sanitation and the other important areas being that of disaster management, where we have good systems and capacities...We would be happy to look at the deployment of expertise in that area should countries seek our help." With a budgetary allocation of 1 million Fiji dollars (527,600 U.S. dollars) this year, it is hoped that the scheme would be broadened to cover young professionals as well as other experienced personnel, said the Ministry of Information, adding that the Public Service Commission will also seek assistance from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to arrange for Fijian volunteers to serve in other regional countries. The Fiji Volunteer Scheme, administered by the Public Service Commission, is an initiative of Fiji to reform the management of employment creation services in the country.