Challenges

The Republic of Palau is a Small Island Developing State (SIDS) that sits on the frontlines of climate change. By hosting Our Ocean Conference 2020, which was rescheduled for 2021 due to COVID-19, Palau seeks to elevate the global profile of island innovations in ocean conservation and catalyze tangible global commitments and investments in emerging innovations. This seventh International Our Ocean Conference is expected to deliver progress on global commitments on oceans and provide opportunities for new commitments based on gaps and needs, highlighting commitments necessary for small island states. However, Palau lacked adequate venues and facilities to host the international conference on ocean conservation.

Toward a Solution

To enable Palau’s involvement in the conference and strengthen key areas of planning and capacity building related to its national execution of Agenda 2030, UNOPS supported the rehabilitation of existing infrastructures to make them suitable for hosting a conference of this magnitude. Through UNOPS, the India-UN Development Partnership Fund, managed by the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC), funded US$1 million to renovate the Palau Community College. The Service Agreement was signed between the Government of the Republic of Palau and UNOPS, which were the implementing partners. Project activities were identified in partnership with the Government of the Republic of Palau and UNOPS, and concurrence to the identified works was sought from the Government of India, in keeping with the spirit of the South-South partnership. From the design of the project through to completion, the Government of the Republic of Palau was consistently involved, and upon deriving consensus, the activities were implemented. The donor was informed through monthly reporting and ad hoc reporting as required.

Once the conference has ended, benefits will continue to be reaped for the students and teachers at the Palau Community College, which provides vocational education not only to Palauan society but to other Micronesian countries and the Federated States of Micronesia.

UNOPS used E-sourcing, an online system of procurement for all works, goods, and services, which is the first of its kind in Palau. This replaced the traditional practice of paper-based activities. Through a series of training sessions and workshops, with help provided by UNOPS procurement experts and through the help of local mainstream media, the E-sourcing went smoothly. All works received sizable bidders and the project concluded successfully. Through E-sourcing, the online sourcing of vendors brought forth open international tenders, thus enabling bids from any corner of the world. Local bidders were made aware that they would face international bidders and could only win the bid with quality and competitive pricing. The E-sourcing platform also made procurement fully transparent, with all information, queries, and clarifications on bids visible to all bidders. Palau is now aiming to replicate the E-sourcing system for all governmental procurement processes.

This cooperation between India, UNOPS and Palau contribute to the SAMOA Pathway priority areas of Means of implementation, including partnership; Climate change, Oceans and seas. It addressed the Samoa Pathway preamble point 5, which states: “We reaffirm that small island developing States remain a special case for sustainable development in view of their unique and particular vulnerabilities and that they remain constrained in meeting their goals in all three dimensions of sustainable development. We recognize the ownership and leadership of small island developing States in overcoming some of these challenges, but stress that in the absence of international cooperation, success will remain difficult.”

Sustainability aspects of the project are a) henceforth, local contractors can apply for the international tenders of all United Nations agencies as they are registered in the United Nations Global Market; 2) local engineers were used to designing, draw and estimate all the works, thus exposing them to United Nations standards that can be locally replicated in the future; and 3) all the works were executed through local contractors under the supervision of UNOPS experts.

Online procurement using E-sourcing can be easily replicated, as it does not require a high level of skills from the supplier side, but only basic access to the internet. Using local resources, E-sourcing can contribute to the sustainability of future initiatives.