Early in October, President Obama announced his intent to nominate Peter A. Prahar to be the US Ambassador to the Federated States of Micronesia.

The United States Senate unanimously confirmed the appointment on November 20th.

The Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) is an island nation in the central Pacific with close historical and economic ties to the United States. The FSM was established in 1979 after five decades of direct US-control through a region-wide United Nation overseen Trust Territory.

Prior to the confirmation, Prahar was serving as the transnational crime officer at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, Russia. Before that assignment, he served in the Office of Asian, African and European Programs in the Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement. Other previous assignments included tours in China, Japan, Albania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali and Rwanda.

In 1983, the US and FSM governments entered into a status of Free Association. The ongoing agreement provides Micronesia with significant financial assistance in exchange for US defense rights in the region. It also allows for open and reciprocal travel rights for both countries' citizens, as well as access for Micronesian nationals to US social services and entitlements.

Despite its close relationship with the United State, Micronesia is challenged by high rates of poverty and low levels of K12 and secondary educational attainment.

Addressing the Foreign Relations Committee, Peter Prahar explained:

"Under the Compact, the United States provides more than $90 million in annual assistance to the FSM through Fiscal Year 2023. Last year, total U.S. assistance to the country, including all federal services, programs, and grants, exceeded $130 million…This assistance is intended to be an economic springboard as the FSM improves its business climate, fiscal policies, and capacity to govern, while reducing its dependence on recurrent, public sector expenditures supported by foreign assistance.

"If we are to meet these development goals by 2023 – which, in development terms, is very soon – we must ensure that programs in which we invest have clearly stated goals and objectives, agreed-upon benchmarks and performance indicators, and formal monitoring and evaluation plans that provide feedback on what is working and what is not, and how deficient areas can be improved.

"At the same time, while insisting on reasonable safeguards for U.S. taxpayer money, we must be careful to avoid the impression that the most powerful country in the world is dictating to one of the smallest. We need to reaffirm that we seek the same results from the Compact’s investments to the FSM: a good educational system, improved public health, effective governmental services, an open business climate, and protection of the FSM’s unique and lovely environment.

Read Prahar's full statement to the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations here.

Habele is an all-volunteer non-profit organization that promotes educational access and accomplishments in the remote Outer Islands of Micronesia.

A mere 10 percent of Micronesians who enroll in the nation's community college system actually graduate.

The figure was released in the "IPEDS Data Feedback Report," complied by the College of Micronesia (COM) for the United States based National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). It measures the number of full-time, first-time, degree seeking undergraduates who obtain a degree within 150% of the time normally required. It also accounts for students who transferred out to other schools, usually in Guam and Hawaii, in order to continue their studies elsewhere.

More troubling, additional figures from NCES indicate a massive disparity in graduation rates along gender lines. Female students (comprising 53% of the COM student body) have a 15 percent graduate rate while their male peers (47% of students) graduate at a rate of just 4 percent.

The College of Micronesia has a national campus on the island of Pohnpei and state campuses in Kosrae, Chuuk, and Yap. It offers 2-year degrees as well as 4-year certificates and has an open admissions policy.

In 2008, there were 2,457 students enrolled in the COM system. Just over 2,000 of those students (or 83%) received tuition assistance from the United States government in the form of Pell Grants, totaling $4,050,092 in US aid.

The Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) is an island nation in the central Pacific with close historical and economic ties to the United States. The FSM was established in 1979 after five decades of direct US-control through a region-wide United Nation overseen Trust Territory.

In 1983, the US and FSM governments entered into a status of Free Association. The ongoing agreement provides Micronesia with significant financial assistance in exchange for US defense rights in the region. It also allows for open and reciprocal travel rights for both countries' citizens, as well as access for Micronesian nationals to US social services and entitlements.

The majority of FSM K-12 and Higher Educational funding is provided by the United States through this Compact.

Read more about the COM college system here and the public K-12 school system here.

Habele is an all-volunteer nonprofit working to expand educational access and accomplishment in Micronesia's remote Outer Islands. Habele awards K-12 scholarships to low-income students attending prestigious private schools in order to improve their chances of entering into, and succeeding at, higher education.

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Amelia Weiss sits with boxes of donated books headed for the Outer Islands of Micronesia.

Amelia, now a freshman at Cal Berkeley, began to gather materials for under-resourced schools in the Central Pacific after a visit to the Islands of Palau and Yap. She teamed up with other students at Chaminade Prep High School to collect text and reference books for Micronesian students attending Outer Island High School (OIHS) on the atoll of Ulithi, 100 miles east of Yap.

These boxes are just the latest shipment in the massive donation from the high school robotics team at Chaminade College Prep in West Hills, California. The team is participating in the annual Habele book drive, which began in the fall. Donations have also been sent to the Atoll of Woleai.

Across Micronesia, an isolated former US dependency, families struggle with poverty and students lack access to quality classroom instruction.

The problems are particularly acute in the picturesque Outer Islands, located far from the more developed, more densely populated, state capitals. Despite development elsewhere in Oceania, most of the Outer Islands remain subsistence based economies.

Special thanks are also due to Deborah L. Weiss, Amelia's mother, who help to coordinate the collections and delivered the many boxes to the post office.

To learn more about the Outer Islands of Micronesia, and how you can help expand educational access and accomplishment in this remote region, visit www.habele.org.

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