**FEMA Higher Education Conference, June 2004**

**Participant Profile**

Meril Dobrin Fujiki, Project Manager, East-West Seminars

East-West Center

1601 East-West Road

Honolulu, Hawaii 96848

Tel: (808) 944-7352

Fax: (808) 944-7600

Email: <fujikim@eastwestcenter.org>

I have 30 years of experience in program development and project
management- 14 years in Hawaii and 16 years on the east coast of the
United States. Since 2001, I have worked at the East-West Center,
developing, implementing and managing professional development and
short-term training programs for participants from Asia, the Pacific
Islands, and the U.S.

One example is the Building The Foundation Program for Asia Pacific
Resource Managers, launched in the summer of 2003. This program assists
developing countries in the Asia Pacific in building effective resource
management regimes by providing training in enhanced leadership skills
and opportunities to discuss emerging issues in the region that are
impacting their natural resources. The program includes a 2-week
leadership seminar for managers that includes workshops in practical,
applied skills, tools and strategies such as occupational job-task
analysis, critical/expansive thinking and problem solving, leadership
theories and the role of culture, and experiential team building and
decision-making. The seminar also offers managers opportunities to
discuss issues with colleagues from Hawaii who are directly involved in
new research and program development/implementation efforts in the Asia
Pacific region. Managers are encouraged to dialogue with their
colleagues and peers in an informal setting designed to promote open and
free exchange of ideas.

A Leadership Seminar for Pacific Island Water Managers will be held at
the East-West Center in Honolulu July 19 -- 29, 2004. The seminar will
include the skill building workshops described above. The water managers
will then apply these skills to develop realistic disaster preparedness
and mitigation action plans for their island water utilities or
organizations. One water manager from each of 18 Pacific Islands will
participate (American Samoa, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana
Islands (Saipan), Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia (Chuuk,
Kosrae, Pohnpei, Yap), Fiji, Guam, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Niue,
Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Tuvalu).

Another leadership seminar under the Building The Foundation Program is
planned for October 18-28, 2004. This seminar will be for directors of
Disaster Management Offices (DMOs) throughout the Pacific Islands.

I am interested in learning about any education or training curriculum
that is available for disaster preparedness/mitigation for small island
water utilities, including table top simulation exercises for both
long-term disaster planning (e.g. drought) and rapid onset events (e.g.
hurricane). In particular, I am looking for training materials that do
not rely heavily on high technology and would be appropriate to
developing country needs and available resources.

The East-West Center is an internationally recognized education and
research organization established by the U.S. Congress in 1960 to
strengthen understanding and relations between the United States and
countries of the Asia-Pacific region. The East-West Seminars and Media
Program facilitates dialogue among policymakers, professionals, and
scholars in Asia, the Pacific, and the United States through short-term
seminars or field study on a wide range of critical issues affecting the
region. The programs also provide professional development opportunities
and specialized training for a wide range of sectors in the region.