In celebration of the annual Tafea Provincial Day, the Australia Pacific Training Coalition (APTC) is pleased to feature an alumni member who is advocating for vocational training and skills on his home island of Tanna.

Jimmy Lume, 50, is owner and founder of Namas Lume Vocational Community Company, a rural training centre, on Tanna island. Jimmy is an APTC alumnus having obtained a Certificate IV in Community Development (CHC42115) and Certificate IV Training and Assessment (TAE40116).

Motivated by a longstanding passion to upskill his fellow Tafea citizens, Jimmy set up a training centre at his home village in Central Tanna.

In the early 2000s, Jimmy conducted a community survey in central Tanna and neighboring communities and found that while the industry demand for skilled workers was high, most community members lacked essential skills in building construction and tourism. This alarming result propelled him to establish his own training centre in 2002.

After nine years of managing the training centre and providing training programs in his community, Jimmy enrolled in APTC’s Certificate IV in Community Development.

“The community and its people are the foundations of development on Tanna island and across Tafea province. The course helped me to conduct proper community profiling for my village in central Tanna to inform future plans I have for my people and the training centre,” Jimmy said.

When Jimmy returned to Tanna after his training at APTC, he tailored his training programs to equip more than 600 students from Tanna and neighbouring islands in Tafea province with necessary skills to meet the industry market demand. With his training team, they delivered training in the fields of building construction, agriculture, community education, climate change and renewable energy.

Soon after, Jimmy and his team were required to update processes to comply with standards set by the Vanuatu Qualifications Authority (VQA). Since this was a new area for him, he encountered some difficulties in registering his courses at VQA. This led him to enroll in APTC’s Certificate IV in Training and Assessment to learn more about course accreditation and delivery.

“I am glad I did the Training and Assessment course which not only helped us to register our courses but to also develop units of competency, mapping tools for assessment, student performance criteria and more,” Jimmy said.

After the registration process, Namas Lume Vocational Community Company was given approval to deliver training for the Certificate II in Building Construction. However, Jimmy wants to do more to build a self-reliant Tafea province.

“I want to see Tafea province prosper and be equipped with more rural training centers which are delivering higher levels of vocational and training programs from Certificate I to Certificate IV and eventually Diploma courses,” Jimmy said.

Namas Lume Vocational Community Company with leadership from Jimmy, is working closely with the Vanuatu Institute of Technology (VIT), VQA and the Ministry of Education and Training, to promote the value of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in Tafea Province. The training centre currently employs six staff and is delivering the Certificate II in Building Construction to 14 students.