Twenty-three people were awarded Samoa Qualifications Authority accredited certificate for completing a five-day professional programme for aspiring directors (P.P.A.D.) on Friday.

Held at Central Bank of Samoa’s conference room and facilitated by Samoa Institute of Directors (S.I.O.D.), the programme focused on increasing current and prospective women and men director’s awareness on the requirements to successfully engage in becoming a director in a public board or a board member.

One of the participants, Maria Lamositele from Falealupo, Savaii, said the opportunity that was given to her to attend the training came as a surprise.

“In the beginning of the week, the interest in me to become a Board member or even a director was very limited.”

“The training has opened up my eyes on how this is very crucial in regards to the work that I do as a business woman as well as a board member of the Business Association of Savaii. 

“It has provided me with an understanding of the qualities and values that a board member should display and uphold in order to make fair decisions as a board member or a director,” she said.

She said at the moment there is only a minimum of one woman per board.

“As I have stated before, I had no real interest in the beginning, but to be able to attend such training opportunities and be exposed to new information, it gives me the motivation that I need to be trained and to spark interest to apply and join other Boards that I am interested in,” she said.

UN Residence Coordinator Dr. Simona Marinescu said empowering women to become successful entrepreneurs or leaders within their villages and communities are small steps that we are taking to reach a bigger goal.

“I urge the participants of this training to go forward and become the voice to ensure that other less fortunate and vulnerable women and girls in Samoa are provided the opportunities to access education, decent work, health care and most importantly to have a voice of their own.”

The participants included 20 females and three males.  The 23 graduates will contribute to a total of 88 women and three men who have had the opportunity for leadership capacity development through the P.P.A.D.

The programme was funded by the Women in Leadership in Samoa (W.I.L.S.) project, which is a three-year project implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (U.N.D.P.), United Nations Women with funding from the Australian Government in partnership with the Government of Samoa.