Papua New Guinea (PNG) is a country known around the world for its beautiful coastlines, marine biodiversity, mangroves, and coral reefs. Livelihoods around the country have become reliant on these natural resources, with fishing being one of the most important sectors. Traditional fishing practices were used for centuries in the country until commercial fishing developed along with unsustainable practices to meet demands. However, with this island nation at great risk of food sources being affected by climate change, it became clearer than ever that these practices had to change to guarantee the long-term sustainability of food, and the economic viability of fishing in PNG.

In 2018, the country committed to set several sustainability, traceability, and sourcing goals to do its part in preventing unsustainable fishing practices in a precarious industry. Since then, it has met every single goal. IMA International is proud to have played a role in supporting the capacity building of The Papua New Guinea Fisheries Authority (NFA), a statutory authority established by an Act of Parliament to manage the country’s fisheries resources on behalf of the State.

Strategic Management Training with IMA 

The Papua New Guinea Fisheries Authority chose IMA International to offer support as we strive to be a leader in providing interactive and participatory training that appeals and truly supports professionals with different learning styles. We offer a chance for participants to reflect on their individual practice, talk, listen, and learn about innovative approaches in development to promote long lasting change. By our three values of `Innovative, Inclusive, Inspiring Change` we encourage all to participate and reach their potential. Our interactive and participatory training approach encourages skills which participants can confidently take back and put into practice.

IMA International travelled to Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea to conduct a 5-day training for 25 staff members of the National Fisheries Authority. By conducting an organisational assessment, we were able to design and facilitate tailored training sessions and workshops. These were integral to support capacity building specifically meeting the needs of the NFA's staff, decision makers, and partners. We explored challenges and thinking around strategic objectives and aimed to enhance individual practices and organizational capacity, further supporting the team's transition into using the skills they obtained from the training.

Drawing on our 40 years` experience our aim is to help organisations enhance their work, and to support collaboration within organisations and with external partners to work more efficiently towards their vision. Our belief is everybody’s knowledge counts, and we emphasise the importance of tacit knowledge. Giving strength and capitalising on systems and processes which are already working well in organisations. The objective of this programme was to improve the productivity, efficiency, and effectiveness in the level of strategic planning/engagements, actions and investment in performing NFA’s Core Mandate and to begin to assess behaviour change of participants following the training.

Tools/Methods

All training was based around the existing needs and requirements of the Ministry of Fisheries.  The programme we developed with NFA was based on supporting implementation of its Strategic Plan and overcoming the challenges to implementation it had identified.  Participants engaged in group work based on their specific organisational team/departments, and applied the theories and approaches explained to work on real-life tasks.  A mixed approach was used including presentations and videos as well as video conferencing with an oversees expert.  This all contributed to a stimulating and varied approach to learning, directly relevant and applicable to NFA's needs.

Conclusion

Training and capacity building work best when delivered in a stimulating manner, using mixed approaches, and when the subjects covered are directly relevant to the needs of the client, and can be applied immediately. Careful planning to ensure this is the case is essential. Once the course commences, enthusiasm and synergies develop opening pathways that allow an organisation to fully realise the benefits of the course.  In this case NFA were able to better identify opportunities and apply approaches to not only implement their strategic plan, but to accurately monitor and evaluate key objectives.