Page 15 - Islands Business October 2024 edition

Human Resources

PEOPLE AND THE SEA

TUVALU HARNESSES ITS RESOURCES

By Staff Reporters picking and meat packing in order to make an income and
provide opportunities for younger Tuvaluans. We have to
FOR a nation surrounded by the sea, employment options address the reality of climate change, limited space and lack
cannot exist solely on land. of employment.’’
Since regaining independence in 1979, Tuvalu has placed Vaitusi has researched Australia’s Pacific Labour Mobility
an emphasis on its maritime training institute at Amatuku, to Scheme from a Tuvaluan perspective.
produce skilled workers for merchant fleets in the Pacific and His research—expected to be published in early 2025—points
around the world. to the need for Pacific people to live in dignity overseas and
With a population of under 10,000, Tuvalu is one of the create sustainable opportunities for families. But Vaitusi
world’s smallest nations yet it contributes more than 400 warns that Tuvaluans and Pacific Islanders working abroad
sailors to international maritime fleets. These sailors serve on often need pastoral support and guidance.
deck, in engine rooms and as senior officers. “Our church is working with the Uniting Church in Australia
Recognising its reliance on external employment and the to see that the Tuvalu community living offshore receives the
threat of climate change to the economy, Tuvalu created a support it needs to begin a new life in a foreign land,’’ he
National Migration Policy designed to harness its resources as said.
a seafaring nation to the needs of the world. “Labour mobility is important for Pacific nations and
“As a seafaring nation, our people are familiar with people. But spirituality and internal fortitude is equally
the benefits and challenges of working abroad – deriving important when making a new life with a different culture,
remittances and new skills, but also coping with the new values and lifestyles.
challenges associated with being away from family and the “So, it’s important that the church takes a role and that this
community,’’ the Tuvalu National Labour Plan pointed out. role is supported by the government.’’
‘’With the difficulties of creating sufficient work For now, Tuvalu will press ahead with its national policy
opportunities on our small islands, labour migration is a which aims to safeguard its people and their livelihood.
central plank in the government’s employment agenda. That will mean providing an education which allows Tuvalu’s
The importance of labour migration as an option for our workforce to enter the global market.
people is likely to increase further still as climate change “The National Labour Migration Policy ties together
continues to batter at our shores and wreak havoc on rain our plans for educating our population, with a better
patterns, groundwater and oceans, impacting on subsistence understanding of what opportunities exist abroad helps to
agriculture and other livelihoods options.’’ ensure that we have a cohesive plan for how to create work
Reverend Ulafale Vaitusi sailed the seven seas before for our people,’’ Tuvalu’s guiding document states.
becoming a pastor in the Ekalesia Kelisiano Tuvalu (Tuvalu “We can also help to ensure growing and engaged diaspora
Christian Church). He studies at the Pacific Theological communities in other countries, which can participate in
College and has written on Tuvalu’s labour mobility. integrating future migrants into different countries and
“We were at one stage reliant on incomes from our contribute to development back in Tuvalu.’’
sailors,’’ Vaitusi said.
“Now, our people are moving into other areas such as fruit Sources: Tuvalu Government, Asian Development Bank, Pacific Theological
College

PROTECTING THE CHILDREN

LEFT BEHIND

By Samantha Magick mobility schemes on children in Fiji, Samoa, Solomon Islands
and Vanuatu, also notes that while the schemes enable
A report looking at the impact of labour mobility schemes workers to acquire new skills and knowledge which they
on children in four Pacific nations has found that while the can bring home to contribute to local economies, there are
remittances they generate are critical in supporting families, sometimes gaps between the expected and actual remittances
the schemes are placing physical and emotional strain on the received by families, due to the high cost of living abroad.
carers these workers leave behind.
The UNICEF report, which looks at the impact of Pacific Continued on page 17

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