|
Pacific Small Island Developing States face accelerating climate risk, economic shocks, and coordination gaps. This project strengthens anticipatory governance in Samoa, Kiribati and Solomon Islands by institutionalizing strategic foresight and systems thinking in government so planning, budgeting, and disaster preparedness become risk-informed and coherent across sectors. The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Division for Public Institutions and Digital Government, leads implementation with United Nations Resident Coordinator Offices and partners including the United Nations Institute for Training and Research, the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, and regional bodies such as the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, the Pacific Community, the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme, and the University of the South Pacific. The approach combines capability development, institutionalization, and regional peer learning. Each country will receive tailored training with a training-of-trainers stream, (fostering an innovation and foresight mindset among public officials), establish an inter-ministerial foresight working group, and work towards creating a small foresight unit with mandate, staff, and workplan or standard operating procedures (promoting a collaborative, innovative, data-driven, and forward-looking culture at the organizational level). A Country Delivery Group reviews and endorses working-group outputs before submission to the competent authority, ensuring policy coherence. Applied exercises in priority sectors generate scenarios, systems maps, stress tests, and early-action options that inform decision notes, budget guidance, and disaster risk reduction processes. A Pacific SIDS Foresight and Peer-Learning Platform will run recurring horizon-scanning cycles, moving from country signals to scenario snapshots and then to regional briefs; it will also issue policy briefs, host a light repository and toolkit, and track engagement through a simple usage and adoption dashboard. A light regulatory and standards watch complements national disaster management warning systems. The project prioritizes national institutionalization and capacity building, with hosting of the peer-Learning Platform pursued through regional partners. By 2028 the project targets one full national foresight unit in Samoa and operational foresight cells in Kiribati and Solomon Islands, functional working groups in all three countries, at least 90 trained officials (with a minimum of 40 percent women), integration of foresight in national plans and cross-sector frameworks, and active platform participation by at least six Pacific SIDS. The work advances SDG 13, SDG 16, and SDG 17 and aligns with the Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for Small Island Developing States, the Pact for the Future, and United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework programming. |