Pacific Association of Technical &
Vocational Education and Training

It has been four years since my husband and I packed up and left chilly Melbourne for humid Suva, to work with the network known as PATVET. In the 18 months that we spent in the Pacific, we met many wonderful people and learn a lot about the critical importance of TVET.

What I discovered on arrival was that PATVET – indeed, the Pacific TVET sector – existed through sheer force of will. People had spent their lives enabling others to support their families by earning a trade; and were determined to promote the sector.

The challenges I experienced at the PATVET secretariat were not unique in the Pacific – distance and acronyms were the hardest things!! I had never known so many acronyms as those that seem to make the Pacific TVET world go around – every organisation, funding agency and project has one – I needed a two page list on my desk (and daily conversations with Lia Maka) just to understand what I was talking about.

The highlights were many, but all related to the people I met. The charismatic leaders of SPC – at that time, Jimmie Rogers and the late Falani Aukuso – were passionate in their support of the initiative, and used every opportunity to raise the profile of TVET in the region. The generosity and good-humor of my ‘expert’ TVET guides, when visiting the Cook Islands and Tonga (thank you Frances and Oto!), was also a highlight.

I left PATVET with a real feeling of optimism for the future of TVET in the Pacific, and the transformational role that it can play for people, families and communities. Steady progress was being made towards national qualifications standards and registers in many countries in the region, and therefore towards wage and skills parity, greater mobility and prosperity for Pacific Islanders.

PATVET was one of the first Pacific voices to promote these goals, and for that it must be commended. I may now be working in another sector (climate change policy), but I since leaving Suva I rely on the PATVET network to keep me informed on the progress of a sector that is now close to my heart.

Warm regards and vinaka vakalevu

Jacqueline Boreham