Educators and community members prepare site of school-based library in Tomil, Yap State, Micronesia (FSM).


Peace Corps Volunteer Laurel Taylor sent these photos and an update on the progress. Last year Habele provided special t-shirts, with a student designed logo, for community members to sell as they raise support for their ambitious library project.


Established by former Peace Corps volunteers, Habele is a US based nonprofit, advancing educational access and accomplishment in Micronesian communities. In addition to tuition scholarships and student exchange programs, Habele supports innovative student mentorship programs, hands-on STEM instruction, and youth athletic leagues.

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Reprinted from the Yap State Government News Brief,  8/22/2016

COLONIA, Yap (Media Division) — A Chinese research vessel was confiscated by authorities on the evening of August 13, 2016 for allegedly conducting illegal activities within the 12-mile zone of Yap State territorial water.

At 9:44 AM, the research/survey vessel Xiang Yang Hong 19 was sighted by the community in Maap Municipality to be drifting within approximately two to three miles outside the reef. Curious members of the community called the Division of Public Safety and inquired as to what the ship was doing in their water. After several failed attempts to make contact with the ship, the Division of Public Safety mobilized a team of Yap State Police and YFA personnel at 11:57 AM and departed from the YFA dock to investigate the vessel.


The team boarded the Xiang Yang Hong 19 and brought the ship and her crew of 58, including a doctor and 24 scientists, into the harbor. The ship pulled alongside the commercial dock at 8:03 PM on that day.

During investigation, officials found that the vessel had in its possession a “Research and Training Permit for the Exclusive Economic Zone of the Federated States of Micronesia” issued by the National Oceanic Resources Management Authority (NORMA) of the FSM National Government, which was to become effective on August 20, 2016 until October 19, 2016.

Also included with the documents onboard the vessel was a letter from the United States Department of State to Mr. Lixin Wang of the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Washington, D.C. in response to a request for a marine scientific research application regarding activities proposed for Dr. Xu Yonghang on Xiang Yang Hong 19, from June 24, 2016 to August 25, 2016.

The document stated that the marine scientific research was to be undertaken in conformity with the information specified in the research application as supplemented, and the relevant provisions of the U.S. and international laws. The applicant understands that approval of this marine scientific request does not provide the applicant with exclusive use of the marine space. At all times, the applicant is to exercise due regard with respect to other lawful uses of the sea.

A copy of the final report produced incorporating information obtained from the marine scientific research under the application is to be sent to the following foundations aside from NORMA:

1.            National Science Foundation
2.            Naval Oceanographic Office
3.            National Oceanographic Data Center

Xiang Yang Hong 19, after awaiting clearance from the FSM National Department of Justice, finally departed Yap approximately 6:00 PM on August 20 and is enroute to Shanghai. ###

Learn more about growing Chinese engagement in Yap and throughout Micronesia:

• Thinking Strategically on the Pacific, 2016
• China's Gain is US' Shame, 2013
• Micronesia's Future between China and the US, 2012

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A dozen students from across Micronesia will enroll in prestigious private schools this fall with the help of Habele tuition scholarships. Attendance at these schools radically increases the children’s’ chances of completing school and moving on to higher education.

The investment isn’t coming from a top-down government aid program or an influence peddling foreign conglomerate, it arrives care of Habele, a tiny all-volunteer charity funded entirely by individual Americans with a personal commitment to Micronesia.

The students, whose families come from isolated islands and atolls throughout Yap and Chuuk States, have been awarded tuition assistance covering 50 to 100 percent of the cost of their 2016-17 enrollment. They will be attending top ranked independent K-12 schools on the islands of Yap, Chuuk and Pohnpei. Most will live with relatives or sponsors for the length of the school year.

Picturesque and strategically located, the far-flung islands of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) struggle with isolation and limited natural resources. For decades, the crudely named “Office of Insular Affairs” at the US Department of the Interior has managed huge government-to-government payments to Micronesia, making the FSM the world’s largest per capita recipient of US foreign aid. That OIA controlled money has translated into neither broad educational access, nor measured educational accomplishment for most Micronesian students. The void represents a staggering need for privately funded efforts such as Habele's.

Since 2006, Habele has provided over $68,000 in tuition assistance, funding individual students, not districts or schools. It has also sent thousand of boxes of donated books for public school libraries and provisioned after school and extracurricular programs with specialty tools and equipment.

Established by former Peace Corps volunteers, Habele is a US based nonprofit, advancing educational access and accomplishment in Micronesian communities. In addition to tuition scholarships and student exchange programs, Habele supports innovative student mentorship programs, hands-on STEM instruction, and youth athletic leagues.



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PacNet #60 - Thinking strategically on the Pacific Islands
Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS)
July 27, 2016

The Pacific Islands are given little attention and rarely make the news unless there has been a natural disaster of some sort.

This is a mistake since these islands are of critical importance to any US strategy to counter Chinese adventurism in the Pacific and maintain the peace. Not only are the US affiliated islands an important source of basing for logistic infrastructure (should there be a military conflict with China), but they are also important to US Pacific Command for training, contingency and forward basing, the deployment of potential strike weapons, and deterrence.

Any “island strategy” must not be solely a military strategy but include interlacing development, diplomatic, economic, and culture strategies. At a minimum, islands in the Compact of Free Association States (Micronesia, Marshall Islands, Palau), US Territories Guam, American Samoa, and the Marianas (CNMI) should be the target of key investment initiatives in health education, nontraditional security (for example, maritime security and energy security), and economic development in order to strengthen island societies as a whole and as part of a wider, foundational, and sustained US strategic approach.
   
From Hawaii to the first island chain, compact states and US territories form a natural and strategic pathway for US forces that must be strengthened, maintained, and integrated within any Asia rebalance initiative. But sadly, within the US government’s Asia rebalance initiative, the Pacific Islands are not viewed through the same strategic lens as, for example, the countries of Southeast Asia. The islands were given more resources in the first Obama administration in various US government programs, spread across many agencies, including defense security assistance. However, given the vast challenges faced across the Asia Pacific, there is little renewed attention from Washington on the island communities and virtually no focus on preparing for a strategic future.
   
The US has a special obligation and shared cultural ties to the islands stemming from the end of World War II and throughout the Cold War. This cultural legacy should be fully recognized, reaffirmed, and maintained. Any perceived lack of US interest in island development/welfare becomes an opportunity for China. Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Fiji in November 2014 and hosted a meeting with regional leaders where he announced that ties would be upgraded to a ‘strategic partnership.’ China has invested $1.4 billion in island development since 2006.
   
During a 2015 conference at the National University of Samoa, “China and the Pacific: The View from Oceania,” Chinese participants specifically countered misperceptions among attendees about China’s aid and development program and role in the region. Professor Liu Hongzhong of the Centre for Oceanian Studies at Peking University, a presenter at the event, stated: “China has a big population and people will have doubts about the motives and whether they’re going to take the lead or change the rules, or whatever. So why don’t we just take China as another traditional member of the donors?” she asked.
   
The island nations/communities have a Pacific regional architecture with standing bodies and are to be commended for their work in addressing common development and social problems. There is the Pacific Island Conference of Leaders (PICL), Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), and the oldest regional organization, the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), of which the US was a Founding Member and provides 17 percent of the core budget. Rounding out this group is the Council on Regional Organizations of the Pacific (CROP) with 10 member organizations. A new regional body – the Pacific Islands Development Forum (PIDF) – was inaugurated at an international conference organized and hosted by the Fijian government in 2013. “Leadership, Innovation and Partnership for Green/Blue Pacific Economies” hammered home the aims to advance the vision of a “United, Distinctive and Sustainable Pacific Society.”
   
What is missing in public reports and declarations by these organizations is recognition that economic and social development must have a foundation of security, both traditional and nontraditional. Without security, problems like disaster preparedness and recovery, illicit trade (international criminal activity in general), IUU fishing, public health, and  climate change, among others, will disrupt and destabilize development, education, and good governance goals, divert valuable resources, and contribute to the “brain drain.” Aiding islanders in addressing security is the lynchpin of a comprehensive strategy requiring the strength and attention of US leadership.
   
A comprehensive Pacific Island strategy must include allies, friends, and “donors,” especially Japan, Australia, and New Zealand, as well as the Republic of Korea, Taiwan, the European Union, and other international organizations.  Australia, the single largest aid donor to island nations, and New Zealand have a regional “island strategy” of their own working closely with island nations in the South Pacific.  Like-minded donors must also include the private sector.
   
To take a leadership role in a more productive and proactive view of the islands, Washington should consider creating a standing Pacific Island Strategic Council, or similar type of organization, permanently focused on engaging island states in developing a strategy for the interwoven and crucial issues of defense, nontraditional security challenges, diplomatic engagement, development, emergency preparedness and resilience, and governance. A strategy, part comprehensive blueprint, part plan, and part ongoing dialogue, will be a future-oriented solution that reflects a long-term commitment to those often overlooked states.

David W. Hamon is an independent international security analyst and a non-resident fellow at Pacific Forum CSIS. The online version of this PacNet article is available here.

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