Cook Islands Public Service Commissioner Carl Hunter joined 18 other Pacific Island countries attending the Pacific Fono 2023 for Pacific Public Service Commissioners (PPSC) held in Wellington, New Zealand, earlier this month.

The event was hosted by the Pacific Fale of the New Zealand Public Service Commission (NZPSC).

Hunter was accompanied by Myra Patai, CEO of the Office of the Public Service Commissioner (OPSC) and OPSC Human Resources Advisor, Regina Tairi for the week-long conference. The last Conference was held exactly four years ago in 2019 and before the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a statement, OPSC said the conference reflected three key values according to Peter Hughes, the New Zealand Public Services Commissioner who warmly welcomed the PPSC:

• reciprocity – where Pacific Island countries can learn from the Pacific Fale of the NZPS and vice versa, the NZPS from the PICs themselves through humility and commitment to make this happen;
• relationships and respect – which are key values to the functioning of the Public Service (PS) across the region, where the role as the PS, is to serve our people with humility, and
• responsiveness – where the Pacific Fale responds to what the PPSC request and require.

The PPSC themselves, drive the agenda of engagement with the Pacific Fale. At the last 2019 Fono, delegates supported the establishment of the Pacific Fale, which successfully took place in January 2020 as a Pacific-led Public Service centre of excellence. The Pacific Fale supports the Pacific Public Service Commissioners to achieve their goals and deliver quality public services in the Pacific.

The Fale also offers practical advice and facilitates relationship building and knowledge exchange between Pacific countries and territories to strengthen leadership and governance for the benefit of Pacific citizens. It is governed by a Board comprising two member PPSC from each sub-region (Melanesia, Micronesia, Polynesia) and one representing small island states.

The seven-member Board is chaired by Luamanuvao Dame Winnie Laban. Since its establishment, the Pacific Fale has responded to 479 requests from the PPSC, which included the provision of webinars, mentoring programmes and policy and advisory support, the statement said.

Commissioner Hunter observed that, the timing of this Fono was ideal given the recent conclusion of the 52^nd session of the Pacific Islands Forum Leader Meeting held in the Cook Islands.

The Leaders Communiqué Leaders recognised the diversity of the region, further reaffirming the importance of alignment to the 2050 Strategy across all sectors and partnerships to ensure effective regional cooperation.

Commissioner Hunter stated that “one of the common issues raised by the PPSC is labour retention and was thrilled that PSCs had the opportunity to discuss solutions amongst us to enable support for our capacity issues”.

“Governments have to invest in their people and enable them to upskill and develop themselves to deliver public services to the people. We need to identify what are the priority areas for Government to focus its limited resources on”. The Cook Islands delegation was funded by the Pacific Fale.

Tairi stayed on in Wellington for an extra week to undertake an attachment with the Pacific Fale in Wellington. The Pacific Fono 2023 closed on November 15.