GIFF JOHNSON
The END proposals submitted to the US government two weeks ago could bring a windfall of nearly $20 million to 11 local governments this October when the new fiscal year starts.
But US officials have already begun seeking clarifications and further details for some of the proposals submitted by the RMI government on behalf of the local government jurisdictions, according to Journal sources.
Whether all proposals will gain approval from the US Trust Fund Committee remains unknown.
But if they do, it would mean that $19,998,134 — the total package submitted to the US for the Extraordinary Needs Distribution — will be injected into 11 local governments for various projects.
Foreign Minister Kalani Kaneko said it will be a “big boom” for the local economy come October 1 if the funding for the 11 local governments is supported by the United States.
He said the package submitted to the US includes 44 proposals from 11 atolls/island jurisdictions.
Some of the “programs” for these local governments include funding for purchasing food and nutrition support. Others involve funding for housing repairs, transportation, and health programs.
“We spent over a year talking about it, with back and forth with the US,” Kaneko said. The biggest challenge is the monitoring and reporting required, he said.
The funding will be run through the Ministry of Finance and will require increased staff capacity for managing this new funding stream from the Compact, he said. “We need to beef up our implementation system,” he said. “There are not enough people.”
The request for $19,998,134 for the upcoming fiscal year 2026 is aimed at using the available $20 million under the END program for FY2026. “Next year, it increases to $30 million,” Kaneko said.
The process for putting together the dozens of project proposals from the 11 local governments was a challenge because it was the first time for the RMI government to do this. “The Trust Fund Agreement doesn’t identify how to submit or implement” END projects, he said. “This is new for us and it was hard to standardize it (the local government proposals).”
Kaneko said that according to Article 18 of the Trust Fund Agreement, the RMI government defines the meaning of the word “program” for END spending. However, he said, when the RMI pitched some programs proposed by local governments to the US, US government attorneys countered that some did not meet the definition of a “program.”
“We didn’t see eye to eye for a year,” he said.
Now, he said, the two governments have agreed to the END package they worked together to submit just prior to the July 15 deadline. But it still has to go to the Trust Fund Committee for further review and approval.