Fifteen Years of the Pacific International Training Desk: Training Impacts in the Islands

In 2016, the Pacific International Training Desk (PITD) turned fifteen years old.  In that time, over 130 participants from RA-V have completed the training program and returned to their home countries to apply their training to their work, be promoted to forecast positions, stand up their countries’ forecast offices, and assume leadership positions in their office, ministry, or government.  The PITD is administered by the Telecommunications and Social Informatics research group at the University of Hawaii (UH-TASI), supported by the NWS International Activities Office and Pacific Region Headquarters, and hosted by the NWS Honolulu and Guam Forecast Offices.  The Desk is structured differently from the NCEP international desks in terms of the education and experience of the participants, the length of training, and operational products.  The mission of the PITD, however, is similar - to build capacity in the meteorological services of Pacific Island nations.  This is accomplished through online prerequisite modules on fundamental meteorology, a four-week on-site analysis and forecast training program at the NWS Forecast Offices, and ultimately in-country workshops on advanced and specialized topics.  Significant recent milestones include a complete program review and redesign.  Administration was restructured and formalized, the curriculum was standardized and assessments were developed, and additional training components were added, notably in communications systems such as RANET, Chatty Beetle, SMS messaging, and web development.  The PITD site in Guam was launched to serve the Weather Service Offices in the Freely-Associated States in the Northwest Pacific, with fifteen participants from the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, and Palau completing the program since its opening in 2016.