The travel mentality takes over in the islands
Majuro — In the development world of Pacific governments, NGOs, and donor agencies, overseas travel is little discussed but frequently undertaken. The list of conferences, workshops, program reviews, and trainings seems to multiply each year such that mid-level managers and politicians are able to spend close to half the year on the road — and frequently do.
The question, simply, is what benefit does the public from all the trips taken by government personnel? The benefits to the islanders who get on the travel circuit are numerous, but does it result in anything happening back home? Indeed, in some countries, such as the Marshall Islands, government workers are allowed to keep the frequent flyer mileage they accumulate, often in the hundreds of thousands of miles per year — which offers additional free travel. As Palau’s special prosecutor demonstrated a few years ago, political leaders often piggybacked personal travel on official travel, with government footing the bill for both the additional airfare and per diem.
Often we find out about this travel on Facebook, as people post news of their travel to exotic locations: we see government people in Dubai, Tokyo, New York, Rome, London. Photos of people hoisting cocktails, standing in front of scenic attractions or feet up on the seats in business class seem to be the Facebook norm.
Because there is increased sensitivity among the public about the high cost of international travel, government officials when issuing media releases about the travel often highlight the fact that the trip was paid for by a donor. But this misses an important point: when government workers are away for weeks on end, it means they are not at home to implement programs and deliver services for the public. A not atypical conversation with someone in government these days goes like this:
Caller: Can we get together in the next few days to talk about this upcoming project?
Government official: I’m leaving on a trip in three days can we do it when I get back?
Caller: When do you return?
Government official: In about two weeks.
So the caller waits the two weeks, then adds a couple more days, since quite often government officials do not return to work the day of their arrival or even the next day. Because the government worker has been away, he or she is difficult to reach because postponed meetings have multiplied and numerous people are competing for time. When the caller finally gets through, it turns out the government worker is about to depart on another trip and so another couple of weeks goes by before they can get together. In the government reality of the 21st century, it can take months to meet with a government worker.
Oddly enough, while most people — at least in the under-40 generation — are oriented to Facebook, posting frequent updates as they travel, it is often difficult to get them to respond to emails. On their return home, they reply to inquiries by apologizing for having been away. Yet in the digital world of email, where we are is of little consequence to maintaining communication. Yet travel seems to be an excuse for disengaging on the part of some government officials.
In recent years, fisheries officials have been required to travel almost as much as those in foreign affairs. Fisheries treaty negotiations with the United States and the European Union, technical and annual meetings with the Secretariat of the Pacific Community, Forum Fisheries Agency, Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission, and the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) itself occupy many weeks in every year. But in the eight PNA member nations at least, we have seen the benefit being brought home from these meetings: revenue to PNA members has quadrupled over the past four years as a consequence of PNA fisheries management actions.
But the benefits of government trips related to health and social services are less obvious, particularly as these government departments are on the front line of providing services to the public. When high officials or program staff in these areas is gone for three-to-four months a year, their programs suffer at home. Other staff will often apologize to their customers that they cannot make a decision or take action on a request until their supervisor returns from a trip.
The fact is that at least some of the one-week type trainings offered — ‘production of information, education and communication (IEC) materials’, ‘using the media effectively’, etc. — are of little value to government officials who are more focused on enjoying their trip than working. Photos abound of U-shaped meeting tables with dozens of officials sitting around, many with laptops on the table. How many of those computers are tuned into Facebook (or some other program) unrelated to the content of the meeting? Far too many, is my observation from attending some workshops. So if some at these workshops are engaged in social media while the training is proceeding, it’s pretty obvious that they won’t be able to bring much home from the workshop.
Finally, audits in the Marshall Islands have from time to time noted that government does not always enforce the requirement that an employee submit an acceptable trip report before being eligible to receive the 15 percent balance due for their trip per diem. And even if an employee did produce a cursory report, did recommendations and information from the overseas travel get disseminated to other staff in their office or to other agencies that might benefit from the information? It appears that in many government offices, this doesn’t happen.
The trip becomes the goal instead of being viewed as a stepping-stone to something else (access to grants or technical assistance, for example).
It is obvious that without government leadership that understands it needs its employees at home to deliver services, the overseas trip engine will continue on its present track. Certainly, attendance at some overseas activities is necessary and even important. But rethinking the number of overseas trips and the number of people who travel, sapping the strength of limited personnel in small islands, merits attention of governments in the region.
