KELLY LORENNIJ
Three young leaders have passed a rigorous four-level screening for the Pacific Leaders’ Educational Assistance for Development of State (Pacific-LEADs) program in Japan. Vladimir Gulfan, Peter Robert, and Benedict Yamamura are the latest students from the RMI to engage in the program and they will be leaving this month for their respective sites of study.
The two-year master’s program is under the care of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). During the seventh Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting (PALM7), Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe officially launched the program, which focuses on one of the PALM’s central areas of focus: sustainable development.
Pacific-LEADs fosters upcoming generations, young leaders whose roles will be key in “creating the future” of 14 Pacific island countries and strengthens ties with Japan. While government and civil society workers are targeted, the program also considers those from education and private sectors.
Gulfan and Robert are both teachers in the Public School System. They will be attending Naruto University of Education. Yamamura is with MIMRA, and he will be studying Integrated Science for Global Society at Kyushu University.
A farewell luncheon was hosted by JICA with representatives from the RMI Embassy in Japan, PSS, MIMRA, and Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Foreign Secretary Bruce Kijiner deemed the program a “union” of the two countries rather than a separation of the participants from their home.
Including the first batch’s Anjanette Davis, who is in the Environmental Studies program at Nagoya University, the RMI now has four Pacific-LEADs participants.
Read more about this in the August 10, 2018 edition of the Marshall Islands Journal.