[Source: Fiji Met/ Facebook]

The Fiji Meteorological Services is collaborating with Australia and New Zealand to offer training to its staff in order to minimize the impact of labour migration.

This was highlighted by Acting Manager of Forecast, Amit Singh, explaining that they have experienced a significant loss of employees in recent years, which poses a risk to their services.

Singh further explains they are actively involving stakeholders in organizing workshops that will enhance the skills and knowledge of their staff.

“Yes, multi-skilling and capacity building. So, every opportunity we get to train more staff in a similar field, we do that. That’s the main thing we are doing. So, if a staff leaves, we have other staff to do that job.”

Singh adds that discussions are underway with counterparts based in Australia and New Zealand on the development of new products.

Hazard Meteorologist and Disaster Risk Specialist Dr. Rochcelle Campbell stresses the importance of conducting workshops that will help forecasters move away from traditional forecasting methods.

She adds that with the new initiative, Fiji will be able to move towards an impact-based forecast.

She adds that investing in upskilling not only helps retain staff but will also enhance the overall effectiveness and resilience of the Meteorological Service.