The meeting on stakeholder endorsement of Waste-to-Energy (WtE) qualifications concluded with the endorsement of two regional qualifications, responding to the increasing demand for skilled professionals in the Pacific’s renewable energy sector. The endorsed qualifications include a Certificate in Sustainable Energy (Level 4) and a Diploma in Sustainable Energy (Level 6).
The Pacific Community’s (SPC) Pacific Adoption of Waste-to-Energy Solutions (PAWES) facilitated the endorsement of the qualifications in Nadi, Fiji, in November 2024. The PAWES project is funded by the European Union and implemented in partnership between SPC and the Secretariat of the Regional Environment Programme (SPREP).
Christine Deo Reddy, PAWES Project Officer, explained, “These qualifications are in response to the increasing demand for skilled professionals in renewable energy, energy efficiency, and waste management”.
The project emphasises the importance of understanding the status of WtE in the region through data collection, providing informed advice on technology preferences and ensuring the availability of policy frameworks. PAWES also fosters stakeholder engagement by integrating education curriculum and research to create more opportunities for job equity and intellectual contributions in the sustainable energy field.
SPC’s Educational Quality and Assessment Programme (EQAP) and PAWES project convened members of the Industrial Advisory Committee (IAC) and industry stakeholders, who are representatives of training providers and staff of energy service providers from around the region to endorse the Regional Qualifications after a series of Qualification Development workshops.
Dr Peseta Desmond M. Lee-Hang, Deputy Vice Chancellor of the National University of Samoa, stated that the value of having a stakeholder endorsement meeting was to have inputs from various stakeholders.
“We, the tertiary providers can have the feedback in the development and approval process so that the qualifications can be offered at our national institutions of learning,” he said.
Rajendra Prasad, EQAP’s Team Leader Qualifications highlighted that the four-day endorsement meeting was part of the series of robust development processes which involved scrutiny and feedback of the qualification from the Pacific’s energy specialists and tertiary providers.
Valentino Kimber, Republic of Marshall Island’s National Energy Officer, stated that the benefit of having the new qualifications as part of the country’s tertiary institutions, “It was a great challenge, but in the long run, this would create new opportunities for my people.”
EQAP’s Qualifications Unit will continue working with the PAWES project team on the accreditation of these qualifications.
