ILO (SUVA) The International Labour Organisation (ILO) delivered a training on the Employment, Livelihoods and Social Protection sectors as part of its technical assistance to the government lead Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA).

The Fiji PDNA was launched by government on 29^th March 2016 and ended on 19^th April, which also is the end of the national emergency/humanitarian phase. The ILO was the lead development partner for the Employment, Livelihoods and Social Protection sector of the Fiji PDNA, supported by the World Bank and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The government lead for this sector was the Ministry of Employment, Productivity & Industrial Relations.

“This is an important training for the ILO, our constituents, partners and local civil society organisations as it will prepare us better for the next PDNA”, said Mr Satoshi Sasaki, the Office-in-Charge of the ILO Office for Pacific Island Countries. He added that this was the 2^nd ELSP assessment in the Pacific, and lessons from the Vanuatu PDNA was drawn to formulate ILO’s technical assistance.

Delivering the training was prominent global PDNA specialist Ms Asha Kambon, who was also the ILO lead consultant for the Fiji ELSP assessment. Ms Kambon was the government lead consultant for the 2012 Cyclone Evan PDNA and therefore her local experience was valuable.

A total of 25 people attended this training which included staff of development partners, government agencies and local non-government organisations, including the private sector. Majority of the participants were involved in PDNA process, however, did not get the opportunity to undergo training prior to the PDNA.

This ILO will continue to invest in training and sharing relevant lessons learned in this specialised area to ensure an adequate pool of trained human resources is available in the Pacific.