Group photo
By Andrianah Kole
A seven-day Training of Trainers workshop, which started yesterday on Climate and Disaster Risk Management, is underway in Tulagi, bringing together provincial officers, planners, climate officers, and technical specialists from all nine provinces.
The workshop is organized by the Ministry of Provincial Government as part of efforts to strengthen climate resilience and disaster risk management at the provincial and community levels.
Officially opening the workshop, the Minister of Provincial Government, Hon. Lazarus Rina, said the training reflects the government’s shared commitment to strengthening resilience, improving planning systems, and protecting the lives and livelihoods of Solomon Islanders in the face of increasing climate and disaster risks.
“Solomon Islands is among the most climate-vulnerable countries in the world. Rising sea levels, extreme weather events, coastal erosion, flooding, and changing environmental conditions continue to threaten our communities, infrastructure, food security, and development gains,” Minister Rina said.
“These risks are not abstract; they are lived realities for our people in villages, wards, and provinces across the country.”
He said strengthening the capacity of provincial institutions, ward committees, and local leaders to understand climate risks and integrate climate change adaptation and disaster risk management into planning processes is essential.
“This is not optional but a national priority,” he said.
The workshop is a key activity under Component 2B of the Integrated Economic and Community Resilience (IECDR) Project, supported by the World Bank. It also contributes to the key objectives of the Local Climate Adaptive Living Facility (LoCAL) programme of the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), which focuses on building institutional and community capacity for climate-resilient planning and decision-making.
Minister Rina said participants will undergo intensive training throughout the week to equip them with the knowledge, skills, and practical tools needed to support climate-resilient development planning at the provincial, ward, and community levels.
The training is expected to create a pool of qualified facilitators who will support community awareness, engagement, and risk-informed planning across all provinces.
The workshop aims to:
Minister Rina encouraged participants to make the most of the opportunity, noting that workshops of this scale are costly and require significant planning and resources.
“Organizing a workshop of this scale is expensive, time-consuming, and logistically demanding. Opportunities like this do not come often, given the many competing priorities the ministry must address,” he said.
“I therefore urge every participant to remain focused, actively participate, engage deeply, and learn as much as possible. The ministry expects every participant to leave this workshop with a strong understanding of the training materials and the confidence to deliver training at the community level.”
He added that participants would be certified as trainers upon successful completion of the programme and encouraged them to uphold their responsibilities with professionalism and dedication.
Minister Rina also said the workshop provides an important platform for participants to share experiences, discuss challenges, and exchange practical solutions with colleagues from other provinces, further strengthening collaboration in building climate-resilient communities across Solomon Islands.
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