TheBuzz
TheBuzz
Federal funds flow
to UH’s Pacific centerA $215,000 federal grant is heading for the University of Hawaii Pacific Business Center Program from the U.S. Commerce Department's Economic Development Administration.
Funding from the administration has supported the program for nearly 20 years, according to director Failautusi Avegalio.
The center links scientific, technology and research resources within the University of Hawaii system with economic development needs and institutions of higher learning in the Pacific Basin. UH graduate students and professors work in conjunction with students from Pacific island communities.
The grant essentially pays for staff while the center also seeks other grants as well as contracts to provide services, he said.
"We are trying to promote the University of Hawaii as a major player in technical assistance to the region," said Avegalio. "We feel that we should be exporting expertise in meaningful ways. We feel we should be experts on island development."
At the same time, the center works to avoid the stigmatized practice of sweeping into a community from on-high to show the locals how it's done.
"Capacity-building is our emphasis, so we don't just blow in, blow off and blow out, we aim for long-term sustainability," he said. "You don't install self-sufficiency, you grow it."
Among other projects, the center is working to resettle residents on Rongelap Atoll, devastated by nuclear testing on nearby Bikini Atoll some 50 years ago.
The University's schools of architecture, ethnobotany and business are working on architectural designs, environmental restoration and determining the types of economic activity that will be viable for atoll residents.
The community colleges' building trades programs have been tapped to provide certification programs to ensure that the residents "can continue to be the primary source of construction, rather that imported labor," Avegalio said.
The project came to the Pacific Business Center Program via Rongelap Mayor James Matayoshi, whose mother was contaminated by the nuclear testing, Avegalio said. "So going home is a very powerful story of a resilient people. He's like a modern-day Joshua leading his people back home."
Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin.
Call 529-4302, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle,
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