Kiribati Ministerial Delegation To Visit EIT’s National RSE Training Programme

A ministerial delegation from Kiribati will visit EIT this week to learn about the institute’s national training programme for workers in New Zealand’s Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme.

The delegation, led by Kiribati’s Minister for Employment and Human Resources Hon Auria Kitina, will meet with EIT staff involved in the programme during a visit to the institute’s Hawke’s Bay campus on Friday.

The visit is being coordinated by New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, and focuses on labour mobility and opportunities for Kiribati workers participating in the RSE scheme.

It will be the first time a Kiribati ministerial delegation has visited EIT. Since the programme, known as NOA - Village of Learning, was launched in June last year, a ministerial delegation from Papua New Guinea has visited, along with liaison officers from other Pacific countries.

EIT holds the national contract to deliver training to RSE workers across New Zealand, providing practical courses designed to build skills workers can take back to their home countries.

EIT RSE National Operations Manager Meriama Taufale said it will be a privilege to host the delegation and share how the programme supports both New Zealand’s horticulture & viticulture industries and Pacific communities.

“It is a privilege and an honour to host a ministerial delegation from one of our Pacific partners and for them to see first-hand the opportunities available through the NOA programme,” she said.

“The RSE scheme is hugely important to New Zealand’s horticulture & viticulture industries, and it also creates real economic benefits for Pacific countries through the opportunities workers have while they are here, and the skills they take home with them,” she said.

A cohort of Kiribati RSE workers has recently arrived in the country ahead of the summer harvest season, and Meriama said they will have the opportunity to take part in the programme while they are here.

Since June last year, nearly 1,500 RSE workers have taken part in EIT training programmes delivered across key horticulture regions, from Central Otago to Northland.

Meriama said the programme is designed to ensure workers gain practical skills that can support them long after their time in New Zealand.

“It’s about setting workers up for long-term success when they return home,” she said.

“We are conscious of keeping it simple but doing it well. The biggest thing is being able to deliver the training within a country context, meaning it is delivered in the language workers can understand and use to contextualise the learning.”

Courses include practical skills such as concreting, small engine maintenance, financial literacy and small business training.

Meriama said feedback from both workers and employers had been very positive as the programme expanded across the country.

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