Interior gives FSM $830.85K

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Department of the Interior has awarded the Federated States of Micronesia a total of $830,848 in fiscal year 2019 Technical Assistance Program grant support.

Doug Domenech, Interior Assistant Secretary, Insular and International Affairs, said the money would be used to support both public auditor training as well as the expansion of robotics training to Kosrae in the Federated States of Micronesia.

“Oversight and accountability are essential for any government to be fiscally sound, and we are glad to see the FSM continue its focus on these important responsibilities,” said Domenech. “In addition, we welcome the growing interest in STEM areas by students in the FSM focused on robotics training.”

The grant funding provided for the Federated States of Micronesia will be used as follows:

-FSM National Public Auditor’s Office, Pohnpei State Public Auditor’s Office, and Yap State Office of the Public Auditor: $546,354 will be provided to enhance capacity building and professional development training initiatives for the various offices. Funding supports professional development and certification through training programs with the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Office of the Inspector General and the annual Association of Certified Fraud Examiner Conference, among others. Funding this year will be used to purchase TEAM Mate audit software with a goal of connecting the four state audit offices to the FSM national office. Finally, funding will support participation in the upcoming 30th Annual Conference of the Association of the Pacific Island Public Auditors, which will be from Aug. 26-30 on Guam. For more on the APIPA 2019 conference visit their website at www.apipa2019.org. The APIPA program is another program supported by the Department of the Interior’s Office of Insular Affairs.

-Habele-Robo League: $240,492 will be used to support student robotics teams at 23 public and private high schools across the Federated States of Micronesia where at least 450 students are participating in weekly in designing, building, and navigating robots. The FY 2019 funding will expand the program to include isolated schools on outer atolls in the FSM and Kosrae State.

“I am especially pleased to see that opportunities to participate in robotics provided by the Yap Robo League have now been extended to students in Kosrae State, covering the entire FSM,” said Domenech. “When I last visited the FSM in June 2018, I had the honor of meeting with FSM Vice President Yosiwo George where we celebrated the expansion of the program to Pohnpei and Chuuk. We believe that this program has and will continue to impact students’ lives for good.”

Technical assistance program funding is made available each year by the U.S. Congress to benefit the U.S. territories and Freely Associated States. (PR)