PROJECT Governance is a five-year, US $20 million partnership between USAID and the Blue Pacific Alliance focused on strengthening democratic institutions and promoting sound, just, and responsive governance in the Pacific Islands region. East-West Center (EWC) has partnered with The Pacific Community (SPC), CARE and the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) in the Blue Pacific Alliance to:

• Enhance the integrity of government transactions (sound governance)
• Promote the fair and equal application of laws and the integrity of electoral and political processes that represent the will and interests of the people (just governance)
• Strengthen institutions, policies and services to ensure that they are accessible, accountable, and responsive to all segments of the population (responsive governance).

Improving governance in the Pacific is inherently linked with the promotion and protection of human rights and the need to empower a fully engaged, inclusive and well-informed civil society. A core part of the PROJECT Governance strategy will focus on a people-centered approach, which places people and their environment at the center of planning, implementation, decision-making, discussions, and reporting.

Regional Collaboration on Pacific Priorities

PROJECT Governance will be implemented in collaboration with 12 Pacific Island countries: the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Palau, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Sāmoa, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Nauru, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu. Program staff will work alongside local communities to foster consensus and inclusion, inspire ownership, and draw on best practices of traditional knowledge and local understanding of governance.

The initiative will also provide small grants to civil society organizations in various Pacific Island countries to support local initiatives. Ultimately, sound, just, and responsive governance will result in an enhanced quality of life for Pacific citizens and increase the resilience, prosperity, and sovereignty of Pacific nations.

EWC Project Summary

EWC has been awarded US $5 million of the project funding to lead four mutually reinforcing programs of activities focused on supporting financial-governance officials across the region over the next five years:

• Financial Governance Training: A region-wide training program to enhance Pacific governments’ sovereign authority and law-enforcement capabilities to identify, investigate, and prosecute financial crimes, by strengthening national financial governance agencies and connecting them regionally through a Pacific Islands Financial Intelligence Network.
• Financial Media Training: Reporting tours and training programs in government investment and financial policies for Pacific investigative journalists and media professionals, expanding the independent media’s ability to inform the public on financial issues and hold governments and enforcement agencies accountable.
• PROJECT Governance Graduate Fellows: Equipping a core group of exceptional Pacific governance leaders through graduate degree fellowships for advanced degrees in management and finance.
• Blue Pacific Governance Gateway: An online platform to support, synergize, and sustain the full array of PROJECT Governance initiatives. The Gateway will serve as a digital meeting place and resource for networking, communications, and capacity development, and as the portal for sharing the digital tools and data developed across the project.

Launch Event Video

Read more about this project and the launch event.

PROJECT Governance is a five-year, US $20 million partnership between USAID and the Blue Pacific Alliance focused on strengthening democratic institutions and promoting sound, just, and responsive governance in the Pacific Islands region. East-West Center (EWC) has partnered with The Pacific Community (SPC), CARE and the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) in the Blue Pacific Alliance to:

• Enhance the integrity of government transactions (sound governance)
• Promote the fair and equal application of laws and the integrity of electoral and political processes that represent the will and interests of the people (just governance)
• Strengthen institutions, policies and services to ensure that they are accessible, accountable, and responsive to all segments of the population (responsive governance).

Improving governance in the Pacific is inherently linked with the promotion and protection of human rights and the need to empower a fully engaged, inclusive and well-informed civil society. A core part of the PROJECT Governance strategy will focus on a people-centered approach, which places people and their environment at the center of planning, implementation, decision-making, discussions, and reporting.

Regional Collaboration on Pacific Priorities

PROJECT Governance will be implemented in collaboration with 12 Pacific Island countries: the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Palau, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Sāmoa, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Nauru, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu. Program staff will work alongside local communities to foster consensus and inclusion, inspire ownership, and draw on best practices of traditional knowledge and local understanding of governance.

The initiative will also provide small grants to civil society organizations in various Pacific Island countries to support local initiatives. Ultimately, sound, just, and responsive governance will result in an enhanced quality of life for Pacific citizens and increase the resilience, prosperity, and sovereignty of Pacific nations.

EWC Project Summary

EWC has been awarded US $5 million of the project funding to lead four mutually reinforcing programs of activities focused on supporting financial-governance officials across the region over the next five years:

• Financial Governance Training: A region-wide training program to enhance Pacific governments’ sovereign authority and law-enforcement capabilities to identify, investigate, and prosecute financial crimes, by strengthening national financial governance agencies and connecting them regionally through a Pacific Islands Financial Intelligence Network.
• Financial Media Training: Reporting tours and training programs in government investment and financial policies for Pacific investigative journalists and media professionals, expanding the independent media’s ability to inform the public on financial issues and hold governments and enforcement agencies accountable.
• PROJECT Governance Graduate Fellows: Equipping a core group of exceptional Pacific governance leaders through graduate degree fellowships for advanced degrees in management and finance.
• Blue Pacific Governance Gateway: An online platform to support, synergize, and sustain the full array of PROJECT Governance initiatives. The Gateway will serve as a digital meeting place and resource for networking, communications, and capacity development, and as the portal for sharing the digital tools and data developed across the project.

Launch Event Video

Read more about this project and the launch event.