Lemanu admin’s economic development projects are now going forward

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The Lemanu Administration’s economic plan going forward that would also provide more jobs in the territory through telecommunications, includes both an Internet Work Academy and a Call Center Academy under the government’s Workforce Development Initiatives.

This is according to several “Economic Development Initiatives” summarized in the American Samoa Economic Development Authority’s (ASEDA) new rating presentation report, which focuses on the preliminary total of more than $41 million for the government’s proposed 2021 Bond Series, in which revenues earned are earmarked for the new Fono building and Judiciary Branch building and a study for the relocation of the adult jail and juvenile detention center. (See Samoa News edition last Friday for details.)

With the American Samoa TeleCommunications Authority expanded broadband through Hawaiki cable, the government is working on implementing initiatives to boost jobs as well as the economy, according to ASG officials in recent public comments.

One of the projects under the “Workforce Development Initiatives” is an Internet Work Academy, training a minimum of 200 individuals to learn skills necessary to secure opportunities to create revenue streams on-line.

The ASEDA report says that $60,000 has been invested in the project via CARES ACT funds under the Community Service Block Grant (CSBG), which is administered by the ASG Commerce Department.

The goal, according to the project description, is to have 50 full time positions and the program is in progress; has trained 2 cohorts of 30 students, and is now working on cohort #3.

The Call Center Academy is the second workforce development initiative — training a minimum of 200 individuals to learn skills necessary to work and succeed in a call-center environment, according to the project description.

Project funding is $60,000 via a grant from the US Interior Department’s Office of Insular Affairs. The report says that 400 jobs are expected to be created from this project — with the next group to be trained in June 2021 — by the end of 2020.

The report says that the Call Center project is being implemented in conjunction with the BPO Business Incubator project — which is listed as among the initiatives under the Broadband Development Initiatives.

“This is American Samoa’s first fully operational 25- seat call center,” the project description says, referring to the BPO business incubator project, noting that funding for the start-up was provided via the CSBG grant program.

Additional funding in the amount of $188,800 has been secured from DOI OIA to support operations. The initiated expansion of BPO Business Incubator would add 28 more seats by June 2021, and an additional 28 by November 2021.

Total investment is $250,000 and 400 BPO jobs are expected by the end of 2022, the report says.

Also listed under Workforce Development Initiatives are:

•        IT Workforce Development - Professional development capacity building opportunity for the ASG IT workforce as well as the local IT industry generally. And $50,000 is invested in this project with the implementation scheduled for June 2021.

•        Vocational Technical High School Workforce Initiative — this project was delivered in January 2021. This is a partnership between ASG-DOC and the local Education Department’s Career & Technical Education Division to support workforce development at the only vocational technical high school in American Samoa.

“This is to align business education with commerce and private sector needs, and to create a pipeline of certified students who join the workforce straight out of high school,” according to the project description.

It says that DOC purchased and delivered 25 new PCs equipped with the needed software applications. This initiative was funded with $30,000 from CSBG funding.