This year the Centre released a publication dedicated to all CETC graduates and, specifically to Taromi Solomona of Cook islands, who graduated in 2008 and died on duty as Island Councillor for Manihiki in March 2011.  

This publication is part of the CETC’s strategy to document and analyse the impact of its training programmes. The strategy is designed to continually enhance the structure, relevance and focus of the training and capacity building provided by the Centre.  

Focusing on graduates of CETC from 2004 to 2010, this publication charts their work placement on their return to their home countries and their perception of the CETC training they received. This publication discusses their lives and work as a living testimony to the benefits they gained from studying at CETC. 

A total of 219 women attended the community development course during this period. Of these, 66 (30%) were funded by the Commonwealth Secretariat Governance and Institutional Development Division programme; 144 (65.8%) by the contribution of the governments of New Zealand and Australia to SPC; and 10 (4.6%) by private sponsors, such as the Society of the Missionary Sisters of Mary, Country Women of Australia and the Kiribati Reitan Aine ni Kamatu Protestant Church. 

 The profiles in this publication include 62 (95.4%) of the ComSec-funded students; 112 (78%) of the AusAID/NZAID-funded students; and 8 (80%) of the privately funded students. An additional six graduates from the CETC Business Development Advisory Programme, which was also ComSec-SASD funded, are profiled. In total, 198 women are profiled, of whom 182 graduated from CETC’s Community Development Programme between 2004 and 2010. This represents 83% of all students who attended CETC in this period.  

Of the total graduates profiled here, 85% are in full employment and 3% self employed; 7% have emigrated; 2% are seeking full-time employment and the rest are doing further studies. Of the 85% in full employment, the majority (45.6%) work in civil society agencies whilst 39.6% are employed by national governments. Tracer/impact surveys, including an employer survey, are used to assess the impact that CETC students make when they return home, and the priority areas for training and technical support that countries identify.

Since 2009, a tracer survey, now conducted in twelve Pacific countries (American Samoa, Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, and Wallis and Futuna), has included an impact component.  CETC publishes its graduate profiles every three years. This is the second publication and it will be used as a marketing and information tool for student recruitment and to inform development partners of the impact of their contributions.  In the last two decades, some CETC graduates have risen in the ranks to take up provincial and national leadership roles.

They have become directors of Cook Island government departments (the Department of Gender and Development and the Department of Human Resources Development), the Tuvalu Department of Women and the Marshall Islands Department of Community Development.  Two have reached mayor and councillor positions, with one being the first female mayor in the Marshall Islands and another one a Councillor in Manihiki, Cook Islands. In Fiji, Kiribati, Samoa, Tonga, American Samoa, Tokelau, Cook Islands, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia, Wallis and Futuna, French Polynesia, and the Federated States of Micronesia, CETC graduates influence local government and community development as women development officers and extension or provincial officers.