DIGITAL FSM PROJECT: STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT PLAN

ABSTRACTThis Stakeholder Engagement Plan (SEP) has been developed inaccordance with the World Bank (WB) requirements.The objective of
the SEP is to assist the FSM TelecommunicationsCable Corporation(FSMTCC) / Open Access Entity (OAE), Department ofTransportation, Communication & Infrastructure (DTC&I),
Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (TRA), Department of
Health and Human Services and Department of Finance andAdministration (DoFA) to effectively engage with all stakeholders who
have an interest in, or will be affected by, the project components.

DIGITAL FSM
Stakeholder Engagement Plan

Page i

Author: Sonya Sampson

DIGITAL FSM PROJECT: STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT PLAN

For further information please contact:
DOFA CIU Safeguards Team: Steve Lindsay, Steve@iasaustralia.com, Wilmer Kilmete
wkilmete@yahoo.com;
DTCI: (website)

Document History
Version

Effective Date

Description of RevisionPrepared by:

Reviewed by:

1

30-Sep-2019

Full Draft

Sonya Sampson

Steve Lindsay, CIU

Page iiDIGITAL FSM PROJECT: STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT PLAN

Acronyms and Abbreviations
4G LTE

4th Generation Long Term Evolution (wireless communication standard)

CBO

Community Based Organisation

DoFA

Department of Finance and Administration

DoTCI

Department of Transportation, Communication and Infrastructure

ESCP

Environmental and Social Commitment Plan

ESF

Environmental and Social Framework (World Bank)

ESS

Environmental and Social Standards (World Bank)

ESMF

Environmental and Social Management Framework

ESMP

Environmental and Social Management Plan

FSM

Federated States of Micronesia

FSMTC

Federated States of Micronesia Telecommunication Corporation

FSMTCC

Federated States of Micronesia Telecommunications Cable Corporation (also known as OAE)HIESHousehold Income and Expenditure Survey

NGO

Non-Governmental Organization

OAE

Open Access Entity (also known as FSM Telecommunications Cable Corporation)

PPA

Project Preparation Advance

SEP

Stakeholder Engagement Plan

TOR

Terms of Reference

TRA

Telecommunications Regulatory Authority

USD

United States Dollars

WB

World Bank

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Contents
Contents ................................................................................................................................................... iv
1

Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 1

1.1
1.2
1.3
1.4

Background and Context ...................................................................................................................................... 1
Project Overview ................................................................................................................................................ 1
Project Components ........................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Summary of Expected Impacts .............................................................................................................................. 3

2

Previous Stakeholder Engagement Activities ......................................................................... 7

3

Stakeholder Identification and Analysis .................................................................................. 8

3.1
3.2
3.3
3.4
3.5

Project Partners ............................................................................................................................................ 8
Project Affected Peoples ............................................................................................................................... 9
Other Interested Parties .............................................................................................................................. 11
Disadvantaged / Vulnerable Individuals or Groups ..................................................................................... 12
Summary of project stakeholder needs ...................................................................................................... 13

4

Stakeholder Engagement Program......................................................................................... 14

4.1
4.2
4.3
4.4
4.5
4.6
4.7

Purpose and timing of stakeholder engagement program .......................................................................... 14
Proposed strategy for information disclosure.............................................................................................. 14
Proposed strategy for consultation ............................................................................................................. 15
Proposed strategy to incorporate the view of vulnerable groups ................................................................ 22
Timelines ..................................................................................................................................................... 22
Review of Comments .................................................................................................................................. 22
Future Phases of Project............................................................................................................................. 22

5Resources and Responsibilities for implementing stakeholder engagement
activities .................................................................................................................................... 22

5.1
5.2

Resources ................................................................................................................................................... 22
Management Functions and Responsibilities ............................................................................................. 23

6

Grievance Mechanism ............................................................................................................. 23

7

Monitoring and Reporting........................................................................................................ 23

7.1
7.2

Involvement of stakeholders in monitoring activities ................................................................................... 23
Reporting back to stakeholder groups ........................................................................................................ 23

Annex 1 – Summary of Stakeholder Consultations ........................................................................................... 24
Annex 2 – Organisations / Agencies Consulted ................................................................................................ 28
Annex 3 – List of Stakeholders Consulted ....................................................................................................... 30
Annex 4 – Records of Stakeholder Consultations ............................................................................................. 41

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TablesTable 1 – Proposed Stakeholder Engagement Activities ...................................................................... 16

FiguresFigure 1 - Map of FSM ................................................................................................................................... 1
Figure 2 - FSM Population .............................................................................................................................. 1

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1

Introduction

1.1

Background and Context

The Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) is made up of four (4) semi-autonomous states (Chuuk, Kosrae, Pohnpei, Yap)
located between Palau and the Philippines to the west and the Marshall Islands to the east. Although its land area covers
just 700 km2, FSM consists of more than 600 islands scattered over an area of about 2.6 million km2. Each State has a main,‘high’ island (volcanic in origin) where the majority of the State’s population are located, except Kosrae which is the onlyisland in the State. The overall population of FSM is estimated to be 105,544 (2017), of which approximately 45 percent livein Chuuk, 37 percent in Pohnpei, 11 percent in Yap, and 7 percent in Kosrae.
There is internal migration to Pohnpei, which hosts FSM’s capital Palikir, as individuals are particularly drawn to employment
with the National Government. Access to basic services is also generally higher in Pohnpei. Each State is diverse in terms oflanguage, cultural norms and land tenure laws.

FSM Population
Distribution (2017)
Yap
11%

Kosrae
7%

Chuuk
45%

Pohnpei
37%
Figure 2 - FSM Population

Figure 1 - Map of FSM

The project preparation requires a consultative process with stakeholders and an assessment of environmental and social
issues and impacts and the preparation of instruments in compliance with World Bank’s Environmental and Social
Framework and the relevant FSM National and State laws and regulations.
This Stakeholder Engagement Plan (SEP) has been developed in accordance with the World Bank (WB) requirements.The
objective of the SEP is to assist the FSM TelecommunicationsCable Corporation (FSMTCC) / Open Access Entity (OAE),
Department of Transportation, Communication & Infrastructure (DTC&I), Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (TRA) and
Department of Finance and Administration (DoFA) to effectively engage with all stakeholders who have an interest in, or will
be affected by, the project components.
This SEP describes the planned stakeholder consultation and engagement process for the project. It outlines a systematic
approach to stakeholder engagement that will assist the implementing agencies to develop and maintain constructive
relationships with the various stakeholders throughout the project lifecycle. The document also summarizes a Grievance
Redress Mechanism (GRM) for stakeholders to raise their concerns about the project with the implementing agencies andthe World Bank.
This report provides records of stakeholder consultations conducted in August 2019 during project preparation.

1.2

Project Overview

The Government of FSM is seeking funding from the World Bank for the Digital FSM Project (the Project) to support
investments in digital infrastructure in all four States as a catalyst to mobilize private sector investment and increase accessto higher quality, lower cost digital services. The Government has received a Project Preparation Advance (PPA) from theWorld Bank (WB) to assist in the preparation of the Digital FSM Project.
The Project’s objective is to to expand access to the internet, promote private sector investment in digital services andestablish the critical foundations for digital government services and the digital economy. The Project will support theGovernment of FSM’s efforts to move towards an integrated Digital Government Platform that will help to provide greater
efficiency and resource-sharing within Government, facilitate better communication with citizens and residents, and introduce
a more service-oriented approach to serving individuals and business users. Technical assistance will also be provided on
legal, regulatory and policy related issues, including core telecommunications sector regulation, and to build trust around theuse of digital services.

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Undersea fibre optic cable was installed under a previous project (Palau-FSM Connectivity Project) to the main island ineach State. Domestic terrestrial fibre will be installed in the urban and rural areas of the main islands. Mobile 4G basestations and satellite connectivity will be installed on outer islands (volcanic and atoll) with populations >100 people (42islands). A significant proportion of the population will benefit from access to improved mobile and broadband services.
The FSM Digital Project has four (4) components as per the disclosed Project Information Documents (PID). The generalactivities under each component are outlined below:
Component One: National Digital Connectivity InfrastructureaImproving national data connectivity though the installation of high-speed domestic (terrestrial) fiber network
around the main island in each of the four states to approximately 80% of homes with FiberTo The Home (FTTH)
technology. The infrastructure will predominantly use existing poles to provide the infrastructure for above groundfiber services and where necessary, there will be micro-trenching to install the fiber cable below ground where
above ground is not feasible. Any FTTH connection will be above ground;b

Bridging the connectivity gap for outer islands with the installation of microwave towers to provide 4G Long Term
Evolution (LTE) technology. This technology will be constructed in atolls/islands with more than 100 people (42islands) via a Public Private Partnership (PPP) mechanism;

Component Two: Digital Government PlatformaDevelopment of an all of Government Digital Government Strategic Framework (DGSF) to improve businessprocesses and workflow efficiencies;b

National ID system to increase access to and enable the digitalization of public and private sector services;c

Secure Government Network and Data Center, Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity and Government Cloud(FSM-Cloud);dDesign and implementation of a National Government Portal to facilitate citizen and business access to public
information; andeImplementation of selected e-Services in key sectors (e.g. health, agriculture, urban, transport and education.

Component Three: Enabling Environment for Digital Government and Digital EconomyaCreation of a legal and regulatory framework for Digital Government through the development of institutional anddata governance arrangements, particularly around data security, data protection, authentication protocols andprocesses, privacy, transparency, non-discrimination, Netsafe principles and practices, and support for digitaltransactions;bCreation and rollout of a Government’s Cyber Security Program which will include the development of operational
and administrative standards, assurance, monitoring, audit and Cyber-Security Emergency Response capabilities;andcTelecommunications Regulatory Support, which will include assistance with respect to licensing, interconnection,
wholesale access, spectrum issues, quality of service monitoring and enforcement, technical regulation, andleadership and advocacy issues.

Component Four: Project ManagementaProvide funding for the Central Implementation Unit for the management of this and other projects over four years.

The proposed infrastructure under Component 1 remains in flux. Options that were discussed during the mission period
included (a) fibre to the home (FTTH); (b) fibre to distribution cabinets; (c) fibre backbone supported by 5G once available;and (d) combinations of microwave tower or undersea cable connections in particular areas (e.g. around the lagoon). The
final technical design will have differing social and environmental impacts that may require further assessment. For example,
FTTH would require installation onto private/clan/family owned land and would require a request or other permissionfrom thelandowner(s),depending on the different legislation in each state. Similarly, depending on the siting of microwave of 5G
towers and if public land is available, there may be a need for land to be leased. Any undersea cables (e.g. to connect
lagoonal islands in Chuuk or Rumung island in Yap) would need further environmental assessment and consideration of tidal
land ownership (from the high tide mark to the outer reef or as deep as a woman’s chest in some areas).

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DIGITAL FSM PROJECT: STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT PLAN

1.3

Summary of Expected Impacts

Given the known likely nature of the project activities, there are potential minor environmental and social impacts. Screening 1
has identified the following potential negative social and environmental impacts of the project:
Project Benefits
Independent economic analysis of the proposed project indicated that “economically speaking, except for one scenario in
Yap, all Fixed Broadband scenarios show positive Economic impacts and the Mobile Broadband scenario shows highpositive results for all FSM islands. 2”
Stakeholder consultations have indicated overwhelming support for the Digital FSM project, with perceived level of benefits
to be extremely high. Expected benefits of the project include improved access to information, social connections to family
and friends in other locations, improved access to educational resources, banking services, opportunities for increased
economic participation, access to government eServices (including the health system), increased use of internet for meetings
instead of requiring physical travel, and many more. Remittances are a major source of revenue for families in FSM, andinternet connectivity will make these vastly easier to access. Online purchasing has also been identified as a major benefit toindividuals and businesses.
Increased internet connectivity through the Digital FSM project will undoubtedly be beneficial for the people of FSM.
However, increased access will also introduce some risks, as is experienced globally.
Sensitive Receptors
Across the four States, there are likely to be sensitive receptors including schools, hospitals, churches, graves, and important
habitats and/or habitats for important species that may be encountered while implementing the Digital FSM Project. Prior to
doing any works, an assessment of the sensitive receptors will be undertaken to ensure that the project will not in any way
impact the receptor. The current alignments do not pass through any National Parks. The assessment may include forexample but not limited to, discussions with community, Government, and for example, ecological surveys as required.
Particular attention would need to be paid to hospitals and other emergency services (police, fire stations, etc.) to ensure
access is not restricted during construction works.
Environmental Impacts
The environmental risks are considered minor and relate primarily to managing underground activities where they occur andwaste during infrastructure installation and maintenance. The risks to the community and workers during installation andmaintenance relate to health and safety disruptions to access to properties and businesses. These types of risks can be
managed through effective codes of practice for the installation of infrastructure, training of workers and good supervisionand oversight of mitigation measures.
There are a number of potential minor impacts associated with the works including but not limited to the potential erosion andsediment movement where micro-trenching is undertake and/or the installation of new poles during rainfall events. The
likelihood of these impacts is low, and the impacts are considered to also be low.
Micro-trenching equipment can generate noise levels within and along the FSM Digital Project footprint and route. All microtrenching will be restricted to 7am to 5pm between Monday to Saturday. The likelihood of the impacts is low and the impacts
are considered to also be minor.
The FSM Digital project is unlikely to result in significant waste. There may be the potential for sediment waste from digging
of footings for towers. The likelihood of the impacts is low and the impacts are considered to also be minor.
There is unlikely to be any significant impacts on terrestrial, aquatic and marine ecology although it is likely that there will besome vegetation clearing for both above ground and any underground works. Terrestrially, the sites are all disturbed. As
such, the likelihood of any impacts is considered to slight with negligible impact. The FSM Digital Project is also unlikely tohave a significant impact on marine environments. The FSM Digital Project will not construct any new structures that will
reduce fish movement and/or alter existing benthic environments and moreover, will not undertake in water activities. The
likelihood of the impacts is minor and the impacts are considered to also be minor.
The main biological impacts will be the trimming and/or removal of vegetation. The likelihood of this is high although theimpact will be low. It is critical to ensure no protected vegetation is removed.

1World Bank: Concept Environment and Social Review Summary (ESRS – Concept Stage) – 8 June 2019

Polyconseil, FSM Connectivity Project, Economic and Financial Assessment, 26July 20192

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Invasive species already occur across the four states. When undertaking the importation of any equipment, it will benecessary to ensure no invasive species are contained within the importation and movement of equipment between thestates of equipment etc. The likelihood of these impacts is minor and the impacts are considered to also be minor.
In locations where there is a need for towers to be built (for microwave or satellite connectivity) with associated power supply(such as solar panels and batteries), there may be impacts in terms of vegetation clearing. There are also the potential
impacts associated with the use of vessels working within the islands and the potential for these vessels to run aground,albeit, this impact is likely to be rare.
The final technical design for each location has not yet been finalized. There was discussion about the potential for additionalterrestrial cables in Kosrae to connect Walung. If the ongoing consultations, technical and financial considerations determinethat these approaches are preferred, there would be a need for further environmental assessment of the proposed marine
locations and landing areas along with easement locations for underground and/or above ground fiber.
SocialImpcts
The Digital FSM project will touch almost every citizen living in FSM in different ways, and the stakeholder engagement planis therefore designed generally to target very broadly the communities across the entire country.
From the preliminary consultations undertaken, the key considerationsidentified include:•

Land –There will need to be extensive consultations and agreement with communities on accessing land required
for the Project. In all cases existing government-leased land will be prioritised, but in some locations there may also
be negotiations, Land Use Agreements, requests for services or permissions put in place. Involuntary land accessis prohibited by the Project,•

Construction works – communication regarding when, where and duration of construction works in each location
will be important, including any temporary access restriction during works, as well as information on community
awareness of issues and impacts of construction workers, particularly when working near private houses or remote
or isolated communities..

•

Competition in the Telecommunications Sector – across all four states of FSM during consultations, concern
was raised with FSM Telecom. There was a lot of interest in increased competition in the telecommunications retailsector, as well as the role of OAE. People expressed concern with regards to the price of phone and internet
services, to businesses and individuals, and were also concerned about ongoing costs of maintenance being
passed through to consumers. Further engagement is needed to understand the basis of the concerns, and tounderstand the role of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority and OAE in addressing any issues andcommunicating to communities and key stakeholders.

•Internet use – public awareness raising is key to ensure that citizens who may be exposed to the internet for the
first time, or have much improved service, are aware of risks such as online scams, fraud, identity theft, viruses,
hacking, spyware and malware and what they can do to identify potential risks and protect themselves. Programs
targeting parents to understand risks to children, such as content that may be explicit or violent, as well as people
who may target children for grooming or other risks, would be beneficial to be included under the program also.
Youth and cyber-bullying could also be targeted through campaigns under this program.

•

Legislation – where there are changes to legislation under the program, such as introducing laws regarding
posting content without consent (e.g. revenge pornography), it will be important that the legislation is socialised,and stakeholders are aware of the changes and implications of the law.

Physical Infrastructure – Planning, Construction and MaintenanceSocial risks of the physical infrastructure component are minor and relate primarily to land, presence of construction workers(approximately 10 foreign workers) within communities, community and worker health and safety during construction, public
perceptions of FSM Telecom and the Open Access Entity (OAE), unequal access for disadvantaged households (including
female headed and people living with disabilities), and exacerbating existing risks associated with internet usage.
The Digital FSM Project will provide FiberTo The Home (FTTH), which would be a significant social benefit as it increases
the likelihood of access by the poorest households and is the most cost and time effective way forward. FTTH involves
connecting the fiber to each individual private property (homes and businesses) where it is technically feasible to do so. Allconnections to households will be above ground. There are existing easements for utilities that allow utilities to accessprivate land for the purposes of provision of public services, which includes the FSM Telecom and the Open Access Entity(OAE), one of the implementing agencies for the project. There may be some impacts to private residences or businesswhere the services are connected, including removal of trees (food or shade), gardens including crops, fences and otherminor constructions. These can mostly be avoided, and if not, discussed and agreed with landowners in writing prior to any
works being undertaken.

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The construction workforce is expected to consist of approximately 10 foreign workers, including technicians and project
managers, working with local labor. Work will be carried out quickly so the duration of workers in any one place is possibly up
to one month or so, however this will vary from location to location. The main risk of the presence of workers is related totheir proximity to community members, including women and children, as they would be working at every household andpremises if FTTH proceeds. Further, the labor force would be visiting very remote, isolate communities, with associated risks
to women and children. Whilst the time on each island is likely to be small, if the work is conducted from the government fieldship visiting multiple locations, the time at sea may be quite lengthy.
Community health and safety during construction is largely related to potential traffic risks associated with blocking off partsof roads whilst works are undertaken, as well as the risks to the community of the workers as above.
Worker health and safety risks are those associated with construction, which is anticipated to include local workers. Identified
risks have been outlined in the Labor Management Procedures (LMP) section of the Environmental and Social Management
Plan (ESMP).
Digital Government Platform
In order to deliver government eservices and a portal as proposed under Component 2 of the project, a voluntary National ID
system has been proposed to provide a unique legal identity to all citizens and residents of FSM and facilitate theauthentication of that identity and electronic signature online.Primary of these risks would be that the systems are able to be
hacked and misused by third parties, which is an issue particularly given the connected nature of the system with other
eGovernment services, which makes the information rich (e.g. including health, education, tax and personal information that
could be used for identity fraud). FSM citizens are particular targets due to their rights to reside and study in the USA,making them valuable targets for identify theft. There would also be risks of inappropriate government use of citizen data,and perceptions of this and consultation on this would be important irrespective of if that risk is real or perceived or may
become a consideration under future governments.
This component carries a number of significant social risks, in terms of the potential use and security of this data by the FSM
government or other parties (commercial, foreign governments, criminal, etc.).Significant preparation would need to beundertaken to articulate the potential benefits, use, security and privacy of this system and data. Stakeholder engagement
would be required to ensure that the community have broad and deep understanding of this proposed system, ramifications
and protections, their ability to opt/in or out of the system, and potential benefits, risks and types of data to be linked to it.
Stakeholder engagement would also be required regarding each proposed government eService under Component 2 and indeveloping the proposed strategic framework, including with the relevant State and National Departments to understandexisting related activities. Consultation on gender mainstreaming is also needed.
Internet Connectivity
1.

Social risks arising from internet access include those outlined below. Notably, these risks already exist in FSM, given
fairly widespread albeit slow and limited speed access to the internet, some of the time, and in some locations,however they would be exacerbated through the project and the number of affected people would be expected toincrease. This project will increase the speed, reliability, availability of the internet, reduce costs of internet services
and would be expected to result in an increase to the number of internet users and significant social benefits.
However,it would also increase exposure to online risks that are experienced globally, including:a.

Changes to culture, community, society, way of life
andsocial discourse;b.

Political interference;c.

Scams, fraud and identify theft;d.

Viruses and hacking;e.

Access to the dark web;f.

Gambling and addiction;g.

Illegal adult content;h.

Revenge pornography;i.

Cyber bullying;j.

Children being exposed to violent or adult content;k.

Inappropriate use of social media;l.

Child grooming; andm.

Increased opportunities for human trafficking.

Image source: https://hackernoon.com/wtf-is-dark-web-358569fde822

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FSM citizens may be particularly appealing targets for online scams, fraud and identify theft due to their rights to work, live
and study in the USA as a result of the Compact of Free Association between the USA and FSM. Given the fairly recent
introduction of internet to FSM, the population currently have fairly limited understanding of these risks and are more likely tofall for scams. Identity theft is a particular risk, as it would allow people access to the USA.
There are also risks relating to unequal access based on gender, age or ability. Domestic violence may be an issue, withwomen’s groups reporting awareness of one or more instances of men denying their wives access to phones/internet overconcern of affairs or neglecting domestic and childcare duties. Conversely the internet will enable more information on
domestic violence prevention, rights and access to emergency support.
These risks are no different in scale and nature from what is experienced world-wide in terms of internet access, and don’t
need to be overstated in the context of FSM or as compared to impacts already being experienced due to current
connectivity. The only features that differentiate FSM are that people may be connecting to the internet for the first time,
meaning they are less savvy than other users to increasingly sophisticated scams, and also the particular appeal of FSM
citizens for scams due to the perception that they enable ‘backdoor’ access to the USA through the Compact.

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2

Previous Stakeholder Engagement Activities

The Central Implementation Unit held a Project Kick Off meeting in early June 2019 for two days. Representatives from all
four states were invited to participate, however unfortunately due to flight issues the Yap representatives were unable toattend.
Preliminary stakeholder consultations were undertaken in all four states in August 2019. The list of stakeholders is outlined
below, and detailed participation listsare included in Annex 1–Summary of Stakeholder Consultations.Stakeholders wereconsulted at the national level, as well as at each state level. Elected and traditional leaderswere included in the
consultations, as well as representatives from NGOs, communities, women and youth groups.
National:
−
−
−
−
−
−
−
−
−
−
−
−
−
−
−
−
−
State:
−
−
−

−
−
−
−
−
−
−
−
−
−
−

Attorney General’s Office
Department of Customs and Tax
Department of Education
Department of Environment, Climate Change and Emergency Management (DECCEM)
Department of Finance and Administration (DoFA) and Central Implementation Unit (CIU)
Department of Foreign Affairs (Immigration)
Department of Health and Social Affairs (DoHSA)
Department of JusticeDepartment of Resource and Development (including Land)
Department of Transportation, Communication and Infrastructure (DTCI) – Implementing Agency
Department of Women’s Affairs
FSM Telecom Cable (FSMTCC) / Open Access Entity (OAE)FSM Telecom (FSMTC)
International Organisation for Migration (IOM)
National Police
Public Information OfficeTelecommunication Regulatory Authority (TRA)
Governor’s Office
Senators and Legislature
Traditional leaderso Yap – Council of Chiefs (Yap “Proper” and Outer Islands)o Chuuk – Clan Leaders and Outer Island Leaderso Pohnpei – Chiefs
o Kosrae – (not applicable)
Department of Health
Department of Transport
Department of Land
Department of Youth and Civic Affairs
Chamber of Commerce
Environmental Protection Authority
Open Access Entity (OAE)
Church leaders
Women’s and Youth Groups
NGOs / CBOs
Attorney General’s Office

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3

Stakeholder Identification and Analysis

Project stakeholders have been identified in four categories as a basis of determining the likely relationship to the project andto determine appropriate consultation methods throughout the project lifecycle. The list of stakeholders needs to remain
dynamic over the duration of the project and as it enters different phases.
The project has distinct activities, and the stakeholders related to each are distinct with differing engagement needed. For
the purposes of stakeholder engagement, these activities are defined as:
Component 1 – Sub-component 1.1
1.

Backbone fibre to main islands in each state (along existing roads and road easements)

2.

Fibre to the Home (FTTH)

3.

Backbone fibre to locations without existing easements (including walking tracks)

4.

Microwave tower connections (short distances requiring line of sight from towers on both sides)

Component 1 – Sub-component 1.2
5.

Satellite connectivity to outer atolls

Components 2 and 3
6.

Government Digital Government Strategic Framework (DGSF), Government Portal, eServices and data
management

7.

National ID system

8.

Legal, regulatory, cyber security, telecommunications regulatory authority and gender mainstreaming

Project Component 4
Project Management does not have implications for stakeholder engagement. CIU staff engaged under this activity will be
involved in the stakeholder engagement of this Project.

3.1

Project Partners

Project partners are defined as stakeholders that contribute to the execution and implementation of the Project. Project
partners as identified for the Project Preparation stage are:•Department of Finance and Administration (DoFA)•FSM Telecommunications Cable Corporation (FSMTCC) / Open Access Entity (OAE) (implementing agency)•

Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) (implementing agency)•

Department of Health and Human Services (implementing agency)•

FSM Telecom•

Department of Transportation, Communication & Infrastructure (DTC&I) (implementing agency)•

Environmental Protection Authority (EPA)•

State Environmental Protection Agencies (EPAs) / Kosrae Island Resource Management Authority (KIRMA)•

State Utilities (Power, Water and Sanitation)•

Resource Management (Land and Marine)•

The World Bank Regional Office

The list of partners will likely change over the project life cycle and hence will be updated accordingly.

3.2

Project Beneficiaries

The project will have wide benefits – socially and economically – for almost all citizens of FSM, as long as access for all isdelivered as part of the project to avoid exacerbates inequality through introducing a ‘digital divide’.
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3.3

Project Affected Peoples

The project area for construction includes widespread construction work across all primary and secondary roads on the mainislands or atolls in each state, with some construction works on remote and outer atolls and islands also. As such almost all
citizens, households and businesses of FSM will be affected by the project both during construction as well as throughincreased connectivity resulting from the project. The downside social risks associated with the internet already exist in FSM,
however are likely to increase as a result of the project across the general population.
Broad stakeholder engagement across each state is needed. There are some parties who will be particularly affected, as
outlined below.
Different project activities will impact on the population in different ways. These are as outlined in the table below.
Activity
Component 1

Project Affected People
Communities

Land owners and ,users

Businesses,Government
and Public

Sub-Component 1.1
1. Backbone fibre to mainislands in each state (along
existing roads and roadeasements)

Minor affects to communities
caused by temporary loss ofaccess during construction.
Potential impacts to trees,
crops, gardens or informal
structures protruding onto
existing easements.

None foreseen

Minor affects tobusinesses and offices
caused by temporary lossof access during
construction.
Hospitals, police stations,fire stations, majortransport hubs (airports,
ports) and other services
requiring 24/7 accessduring construction.
State Utilities (Power).

2. Fibre to the Home (FTTH)

Minor impacts to landowners
and land users with houses orbusinesses (without existing
power droplines), who would
need to keep trees cut fromnew fibre dropline to the house

Minor disruption tolandowners and land
users who request FTTH.

Minor impacts to businessowners, government
departments, schools,
hospitals, health clinics,
NGOs, etc. who request
FTTH

3. Backbone fibre to locations
without existing easements(including walking tracks

Community members in selectlocations (tentatively some of
the Chuuk Lagoon islands,
Rumung and Walung)

Traditional leaders,landowners and land
users in select locations(tentatively some of the
Chuuk Lagoon islands,
Rumung and Walung)

Schools, churches, local
businesses, community
buildings, etc. in proximity
to proposed fibre

4. Microwave tower sites(short distances requiring
line of sight from towers on
both sides)

Communities close to locationof proposed towers, including
any with restrictions on growing
trees within the line of sightChiefs, Clan Leaders,Councils, Landowners
and land users ofpotential sites for
microwave towers,
especially where
government-leased land
is not available andacquisition of sites isrequiredBusinesses, schools orother public services
within proximity of tower
locations (or co-sited)

Community members who
would benefit from access to
new internet connections,assuming pricing and accessissues are addressed for all
income levels.

Landowners andtraditional leadersinvolved in negotiation of
any new sites for towers
required in theselocations, where

Minor impacts to schools,
dispensaries, etc. where
satellites would be locatedon existing buildings orsites, require power
supply.

Sub-Component 1.2
5. Satellite connectivity toouter atolls

Page 9DIGITAL FSM PROJECT: STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT PLAN

Activity
Component 1

Project Affected People
Communities

Land owners and ,users

Community members who
would be responsible formaintenance and service
continuity.
Components2 and 3

Communities

government-leased land
is not available.

Traditional resource
users and rights
holders

Businesses,Government
and Public
FSM Telecom (where they
have existing competing
infrastructure)
Businesses andGovernment

6. Government Digital
Government Strategic
Framework (DGSF),
Government Portal,eServices and data
management

Communities would benefit
from increased access togovernment eServices(none identified)State government
departments, schools,
hospitals, etc. would
benefit from proposedsystem if implemented inaccordance with theirneeds

7. National ID system

All members of thecommunities would be
potentially affected by thissystem if data is compromisedby hackers or used
inappropriately by government
actors.
Community would need todemonstrate broad support for
proposed system and provide
time for consultation process.

(none identified)(none identified)

8. Legal, regulatory, cybersecurity,
telecommunications
regulatory authority andgender mainstreaming

Low income and vulnerable
communities (including female
headed households, people
living with disabilities,
households with high numbersof children, the elderly andother low income households,
remote communities, etc.)
would benefit from pricestructures through the regulator
that allow targeted low cost
access to services.
Vulnerable people, including
women and girls, would benefit
from stronger legislation around
potential risks of the internet(such as revenge pornography).
Community would broadly
benefit from increased cybersecurity.

Gender mainstreaming
may challenge
existing/traditional
leadership roles incommunities, whilst
bringing broad benefits for
economic participation.

Government andbusinesses would broadly
benefit from increased
cyber security to minimizerisks.

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DIGITAL FSM PROJECT: STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT PLAN

3.4

Other Interested Parties

As defined by the World Bank, other interested parties are stakeholders who may be interested in the project because of its
location, its proximity to natural or other resources, or because of the sector or parties involved in the project. These may belocal government officials, community leaders, and civil society organizations, particularly those who work in or with theaffected communities. Other interested parties for this project have been identified as follows at the National level:
Government

Businesses / Industry
Others

−
−
−
−
−
−
−
−
−
−
−
−
−
−
−
−

Attorney General’s Office
Department of Customs and Tax
Department of Education
Department of Environment, Climate Change and Emergency Management(DECCEM)
Department of Foreign Affairs (Immigration)
Department of Health and Social Affairs (DoHSA)
Department of JusticeDepartment of Resource and Development
Department of Women’s Affairs
Department of Youth and Civil Affairs
National Police
Public Information OfficePotential Telecommunications Competitors
Potential Internet Service Providers (ISPs)
International Organisation for Migration (IOM)
Development Agencies (ADB, UNDP, etc.)

At the State level, the following interested parties have been identified:
Government

Formal Leaders
Traditional Leaders

Businesses / Industry
Others

−
−
−
−
−
−
−
−
−
−
−
−
−
−
−
−
−
−

Attorney General’s Office
Department of Education
Department of JusticeDepartment of Health
Department of Transport
Department of Resources (Land)
Department of Youth and Civic Affairs
Environmental Protection Authority / Kosrae Island Resource Management Authority(KIRMA)
PoliceGovernor’s Office, Senators / Legislature, Mayors, State Congress Delegates
Outer Atoll Representatives (except Kosrae)
Yap – Council of Chiefs (Yap “Proper” and Outer Islands)
Chuuk – Clan Leaders and Outer Island LeadersPohnpei – Chiefs
Kosrae – (not applicable)
Chamber of Commerce
Church leaders
NGOs, CBOs

In addition, there are some State specific agencies as listed below:−−

Yap Public Service Corporation (YPSC); andKosrae Youth Development Association.

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DIGITAL FSM PROJECT: STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT PLAN

3.5

Disadvantaged / Vulnerable Individuals or Groups

Some project impacts may disproportionately fall on disadvantaged or vulnerable individuals or groups, who often do nothave a voice to express their concerns or understand the impacts of a project.
This project has a strong gender component, and a separate gender consultant is being engaged through the World Bank tofocus specifically on these issues. The project includes a gender focus under Component 2 of the design and will aim atachieving gender mainstreaming.
Gender-based violence rates are high in FSM and women are vulnerable to trafficking, illegal sex work, unwanted
pregnancies, harassment and violence, and through the consultations it has been reported that there have been a number of
instances of revenge pornography, particularly in Chuuk state, for which legislation and enforcement are currently lacking.
Imported and transient workforces such as the construction industry are known to contribute to these issues. Genderanalyses will be conducted during the project design stage, and the findings will be incorporated into action planning for
implementation stage.
Other vulnerable groups, such as youth, the elderly and disabled, will be consulted. Attention will be paid to specificvulnerabilities as well as specific benefits that projects can bring to women and other vulnerable members of society, andwhere necessary particular targeted awareness raising programs for these groups will be proposed (for example, cyberbullying programs targeting youth or scams and fraud awareness and prevention for elderly people). The project will identify
vulnerable or disadvantaged individuals or groups and the limitations they may have in participating and/or in understanding
the project information on an ongoing basis. Additional support or resources needed to enable these people to participate in
the consultation process will be provided.The following have been identified as vulnerable people (or their representatives) ineach state:
Chuuk

Yap

KosraePohnpei

Women

Chuuk Women’s
CouncilYap Women’s
Association
Women’s Interests
Office (WIO)
Human Trafficking
Taskforce

Kosrae Women’s
Association
Kosrae Women’s
Christian Association

Pohnpei Woman’s
Council / Dept ofSocial Services

Youth

Church YouthgroupsChuuk YouthCouncil

Church youth groups
Dept. of Youth andCivic Affairs

Church youth groups

Pohnpei Youth Council
Youth for Change
Youth Development
Association of Pohnpei

People Living with
Disabilities

TBC

TBC

TBC

Pohnpei Consumer(Disability)Organisation
Pohnpei Women
Disability Organisation

Low Income
Communities

Mortlock and NorthWest Island Groups
Faichuk and otherlagoon islands withhigh poverty rates

Outer Islands(Not applicable)

Outer Islands
Low income
communities in
Pohnpei

Elderly and Others

TBC

TBC

TBC

Senior Citizen’s
Association

Page 12DIGITAL FSM PROJECT: STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT PLAN

3.6

Summary of project stakeholder needs

A summary of key stakeholder needs are outlined below:
Community

Stakeholder
Group

Key
characteristics

Language
Needs

Preferred
Notificationmeans

Specific needs

Lagoon Islands

Communities
within the Chuuklagoon withproposed
infrastructure(fibre and towers)

Various – someislands are
considereddangerous to visit
due to clan fighting

Chuukese /EnglishRepresentatives
on WenoLand userequirements
need to beaddressed.
Extensiveengagement.

Mortlock Islands

Very remotecommunities onouter atolls, somerequiring boat
journeys toaccess (e.g. 25+
hours by fishing
boat)

Small, traditionalsea faring
communities

Various

Communications
through
representatives
on WenoVery hard toaccesscommunities for
consultations due
to prohibitive
distances by boat

Remotecommunity
without access byusable/maintainedroad

Approximately 50100 households

KosraenCommunity
TownhallMeeting

Need to visit thecommunity by
boat

Chuuk

North West Islands

KosraeWalung Community

Meetings withleaders

PohnpeiNone identified during preliminary consultations – perhaps some communities on islands close to the main island may haveparticular needs to be considered.
Yap
RumungCommunity (Yap
Proper)Tamol (Outer
Islands)

Community
without current
electricity, roads,
or telecom copper
connections

Approximately 30
households

Very remotecommunities onouter atolls, somerequiring boat
journeys toaccess (hours byfishing boat)

Small, traditionalsea faring
communities

Yapese, English

Communication
through Chiefand Senator
Permission tovisit community
is difficult – very
restricted access

Page 13

Various

Communications
through
representatives
on Yap Proper

Need to address
way to confirm
best design forcommunity withlimited site
accessVery hard toaccesscommunities for
consultations due
to prohibitive
distances by boat

DIGITAL FSM PROJECT: STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT PLAN

4

Stakeholder Engagement Program

4.1

Key Messages

Key messageswill need to be developed as the project design is confirmed in more detail during implementation and throughthe process of engagement with stakeholders to select final locations and confirm technical options. Some of the key
messages will include:•

Fibre to the Home (FTTH) is optional and can be provided for free to households and businesses who request
connection in writing and can provide evidence that they are the legal landowners (formal title or community
acknowledgement).

•

Internet services would need to be connected if desired through a retain service provider. FSM Telecom is the only
current option, but in future there may be other retail telecom or internet service providers.

•Infrastructure delivered through this project will be owned by the OAE (not Telecom). The role of these entities also
needs to be outlined to community members to distinguish between the two.

•

All infrastructure related to the project will be placed on existing roads with road easements or government-leased
land as a priority, when available. Where this is not possible, land access will be negotiated through voluntaryagreements. No involuntary land access will be permitted.

•

Outer atoll communities with more than 100 residents will be connected via satellite if they are interested..

•

Where possible, local workers will be engaged to assist with construction. On outer atolls, local community
members will be trained in maintenance.

•

The expected timelines for construction works in each location should be communicated once determined.

The OAE have prepared a Communications Strategy, which will further develop key messages.

4.2

Purpose and timing of stakeholder engagement program

The objectives of stakeholder engagement in this project include:•

Disseminating information about the project;•

Eliciting input and advice from a range of stakeholders, and adjusting the project design in response to feedback
received;•

Fostering confidence and trust;•

Ensuring local buy-in of proposed project design;•

Providing avenues for conflict resolution by consensus; and•Generating, and responding to, feedback.

Engagement of stakeholders has already commenced as part of the project preparation. This will continue throughout the
project lifecycle, starting as early as possible and continuing throughout planning and installation activities and through thetechnical advisory components.
The nature and frequency of the engagement will be tailored to relevant groups, issues and subprojects. For example, any
land use agreements or permissions for land required under the project will call for a significant investment of engagementwith the affected communities, whilst other issues such as temporary access restriction for construction works could beundertaken through once off informing ofrelevant parties.
Table 1– Proposed Stakeholder Engagement Activities details the planned stakeholder engagement activities (including
disclosure and consultation as outlined in the following two sections).

4.3

Proposed strategy for information disclosure

Information prior and during project implementation will be made available through a range of approaches, tailored to theaudience and needs. The four state radio networks will be used for messagestargeting the whole community, such as
upcoming works plans and informing of open information sessions. Some brochures will be prepared for communicating
more complex information, such as regarding the telecommunication sector governance and roles of each organization(OAE, TRA, Telecom and potential new retail providers), given significant levels of community concern and interest.
Communities will also be informed of the code of conduct for workers. Land permissions, land use changes and related
topics will have a significant stakeholder engagement component. Traditional leaders, community and women’s groups will
also be involved at various points.

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DIGITAL FSM PROJECT: STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT PLAN

4.4

Proposed strategy for consultation

The following methods will be used to consult with various stakeholder groups, and will vary according to target audience:•

Interviews with stakeholders and relevant organization•

Public meetings, workshops, and/or focus groups on specific topic•

Specific measures to include vulnerable groups to ensure their views are incorporated into project decision making•

Other traditional mechanisms for consultation and decision making, including engaging with traditional leaders andPacific style “talanoa” conversations.

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DIGITAL FSM PROJECT: STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT PLAN

Table 1– Proposed Stakeholder Engagement Activities

Project stage

Information to be disclosed / Topicof Consultation

Methods proposed

Timetable: Locations/ dates

Target stakeholders

Responsibilities

Component 1 – Sub-component 1.1 (Activity 1 - Backbone fibre to main islands in each state (along existing roads and road easements)&Activity 2 - Fibre to the Home (FTTH))

Project Preparation- Overview of proposed project andcomponents- Summary of stakeholder
consultations and response/
actions-

Inception Phase- Proposed fibre routing- Identification of areas where
households, business and otherpremises are able to request FTTH
- Process for requesting FTTH forhouseholders, businesses andothers- Information on the GM, how the
public can access it, and steps
involved in resolution.
- Identification of sensitive receptors(biodiversity, cultural heritage,social receptors)

Public consultation workshops
Small group meetings
Individual meetings (as relevant)State radio and TV
Disclosure on DTCI and World Bank website of
Stakeholder Consultation Summary (as part of
ESMP)- All four states and national
July to September 2019- Government agencies at Nationaland State Level- Communities / General Public- Traditional Leaders- NGOs and CBOs
- Representatives of Vulnerable
Groups- Private sector- Other interested parties

DoFA CIU- Multiple community consultation workshops- Small group discussions with traditional leaders(chiefs, clan leaders, etc.)- Small group discussions with traditionallandowners and other affected parties- Radio, TV, Posters, Flyers, Facebook Page
(refer to Communications Strategy)- Collaboration with State Departments of Landfor follow up with each household interested inrequesting connections- House visits targeting vulnerable community
members, including the elderly, people livingwith disabilities, female-headed and low income
households (identified through special interest
groups and community leaders)- All four states and national
as required, prior to final design and rollout and during roll out in each state.

- All households and businesses
interested in connecting FTTH
- Vulnerable groups (especially those
who may not be able to participate
in public consultations)- Landowners and land users- Traditional community leaders

DoFA CIU, OAE
and State
Departments ofLand- Opportunities to Collaborate on
Project Implementation- Meetings, emails, VC- As soon as possible and ongoing- Project managers in utilities forrelevant projects in FSM (e.g.
Tonoas roads and Chuuk energy)
Walung power supply and Weno
water supply)- US Compact projects- Other potentially related

DoFA CIU and OAE- Understand ongoing and planned
related fibre and satellite- Senior level meetings- As soon as possible- FSM Telecom

DoFA CIU and OAEPage 16

DIGITAL FSM PROJECT: STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT PLAN

Project stage

Information to be disclosed / Topicof Consultation

Methods proposed

Timetable: Locations/ dates

Target stakeholders

Responsibilities- Summary of stakeholder
consultations and response/
actions, including revised project
design and ESCP

- Follow up public consultation workshops- State radio- Information brochure on telecommunications
sector in FSM (see component 3 below on
OAE/TRA)- All four states and national
To be held at the commencement of the
inception phase, once revised project
documents are available.
To be repeated in the event of any
significant changes to the project,including revised ESCP.

- Government agencies at Nationaland State Level- Communities- Traditional Leaders- NGOs and CBOs
- Representatives of Vulnerable
Groups- Private sector- Other interested parties

DoFA CIU- Code of Conduct for Workers- Public consultation workshops- Inception workshop- Project kick-off meetings- Consultation workshops in each state to
update on final project design, inform oftentative works schedule and workers
CoC for interaction with communities- All project workers

DoFA CIU, OAE,
Contractors- Traffic management plan
- Information on access changes
due to works schedule- Notification on state radio- Pamphlets with key dates and areas to beprovided to each household and business 2-4
weeks prior to construction works commencing- Radio
Twice daily in weeks of disclosure- All people near the works locations,
including visitors,- Road users, including pedestrians
and drivers, and local residents
near works areas

Contractors- Traditional Leaders- Landowners and land users ofproposed route for fibre- Landholders of proposed sites- Representatives of Vulnerable
Groups- All households and businesses
interested in connecting FTTH
- Other interested parties

DoFA CIU, OAE
and State
Departments ofLand

construction works

Pre-construction /Construction

Component 1 – Sub-component 1.1 (Activity 3 - Backbone fibre to locations without existing easements - including walking tracks)

Inception Phase- Overview of proposed project andcomponents- Land access requirements andnegotiations on individual land
access agreementsProposed
project routing for easementagreement negotiation process- Process for requesting FTTH forhouseholders, businesses andothers- Summary of stakeholder
consultations and response/
actions- Information on the GM, how the
public can access it, and steps
involved in resolution.
- Identification of sensitive receptors- Multiple community consultation workshops- Small group discussions with traditional leaders(chiefs, clan leaders, etc.)- Individual meetings (as relevant)- Small group discussions with traditionallandowners and other affected parties- Collaboration with State Departments of Landfor follow up with each household interested inrequesting connections- Locations to be determined based on
discussions with communities inlocations identified as suitable forbackbone fibre. Tentative locations
include:o Chuuk Lagoonal Islands
o Yap Proper (Rumung)o Kosraw (Walung)o Others identified as project design
evolves
Timing TBC

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DIGITAL FSM PROJECT: STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT PLAN

Project stage

Information to be disclosed / Topicof Consultation

Methods proposed

Timetable: Locations/ dates

Target stakeholders

Responsibilities- Opportunities to Collaborate on
Project Implementation- Meetings, emails, VC- As soon as possible- Project managers in utilities for on
relevant projects in FSM (e.g.
Tonoas roads and Chuuk energy)- ADB TTLs on related projects in
FSM (e.g. Walung power supply
and Weno water supply)- US Compact projects- Other potentially related

DoFA CIU and OAE- Code of Conduct for Workers- Public consultation workshops- Inception workshop- Project kick-off meetings- Remote communities – workshop on
arrival of work team with community
members- Consultation workshops in each state to
update on final project design, inform oftentative works schedule and workers
CoC for interaction with communities- All project workers- All communities, including remotelocations

DoFA CIU, OAE,
Contractors- Land access agreements including
timing, site screening
implementation of agreed
mitigation- Site meetings with land owners or used

- Prior to construction- All landowners/users including
vulnerable groups

DoFA CIU, OAE,
Contractors- Information on access changes
due to works schedule- Notification on state radio- Pamphlets with key dates and areas to beprovided to each household and business 2-4
weeks prior to construction works commencing- Radio, distribution to affected
communities
Twice daily in weeks of disclosure- All people near the works locations,
including visitors,- Local residents near works areas

Contractors(biodiversity, cultural heritage,social receptors)

Pre-construction /Construction

Component 1 – Sub-component 1.1 (Activity 4 -Microwave tower connections (short distances requiring line of sight from towers on both sides)

Inception Phase- Negotiations on use of existing
tower sites- Senior level meetings- As soon as possible- FSM Telecom

DoFA CIU and OAE- Proposed project site selection for
new tower sites where
government-leased land is notavailable- Information on the GM, how the
public can access it, and steps
involved in resolution.
- Identification of sensitive receptors(biodiversity, cultural heritage,- Multiple community consultation workshops- Small group discussions with traditional leaders(chiefs, clan leaders, etc.)- Individual meetings (as relevant)- Small group discussions with traditionallandowners and other affected parties- Locations to be determined based onsites required where government leased
land is not available. Tentative locations
include:o Chuuk Lagoonal Islands(Faichuks, Parem, Fefan, Tonoas
and Uman)o Yap Proper (Rumung andBechyal/Maap)- Landowners and land users ofproposed sites including vulnerable
groups- Neighbouring landholders ofproposed sites- Traditional community leaders

DoFA CIU, OAE
and State
Departments ofLand

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DIGITAL FSM PROJECT: STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT PLAN

Project stage

Information to be disclosed / Topicof Consultation

Methods proposed

Timetable: Locations/ dates

Target stakeholders

Responsibilities

social receptors)

Pre-construction /Construction- Negotiation of Land Use
Agreements- Valuation assessment of landprior to- Locations to be determined based onnegotiations commencing (as per FSM
sites required where government leased
Legislation)
land is not available.
- Small group discussions and negotiations withtraditional landowners and other affected parties- Signing of Land Use Agreements-- Landowners and land users ofproposed sitesincluding vulnerable
groupsDoFA CIU, OAE
and State
Departments ofLand- Code of Conduct for Workers- Project kick-off meetings- Consultation workshops in each state to
update on final project design, inform oftentative works schedule and workers
CoC for interaction with communities- All project workers- Local communitiesincluding
vulnerable groups

DoFA CIU, OAE,
Contractors- Information on access changes
due to works schedule- Pamphlets with key dates and areas to beprovided to each household and business 2-4
weeks prior to construction works commencing- Distribution to affected communities
Twice daily in weeks of disclosure- All people near the works locations,
including visitors- Local residents near works areas

Contractors

Component 1 – Sub-component 1.2 (Activity 5 - Satellite connectivity to outer atolls)

Project Preparation

Inception Phase- Overview of proposed project andcomponents- Summary of stakeholder
consultations and response/
actions- Public consultation workshops- Small group meetings- Chuuk, Pohnpei and Yap
July to September 2019- Government agencies at State
Level- Traditional and Formal Leadersfrom Outer Island Communities

DoFA CIU- Proposed project site selection forsatellites to be attached to existingbuildings (schools, dispensaries,etc.) or towers/poles on existing
government-leased land; or
identification of private land where
government land is not available orsuitable.
- Information on the GM, how the
public can access it, and steps
involved in resolution.
- Identification of sensitive receptors(biodiversity, cultural heritage,social receptors)- Small group discussions with traditional leaders(chiefs, clan leaders, etc.) and operators of
selected building (school, dispensary, etc.)- Small group discussions with traditionallandowners and other affected parties- Meeting with owners of private land.

- Locations to be determined
As soon as possible- Heads of selected school,
dispensary, etc. and relevant state
government department- Landowners of proposedsitesincluding vulnerable groups- Traditional community leaders

OAE- Proposed project site selection forsatellites to be placed on new- Small group discussions with traditional leaders(chiefs, clan leaders, etc.)- Locations to be determined
As soon as possible- Landowners of proposedsitesincluding vulnerable groups

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DIGITAL FSM PROJECT: STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT PLAN

Project stage

Information to be disclosed / Topicof Consultation
locations (if any) for negotiations
on land use agreements

Pre-construction /Construction

Methods proposed

Timetable: Locations/ dates- Small group discussions with traditionallandowners and other affected parties

Target stakeholders

Responsibilities- Neighbouring landholders ofproposed sites- Traditional community leaders- Code of Conduct for Workers- Project kick-off meetings at each site

- Workshop on arrival of work team with
community members- All project workers- All communities, including outeratolls and other remote locations

Contractors- Information on works schedule- Councils of Chiefs and other leaders to be
informed in advance by email/phone- Email/phone- Traditional community leaders, toinform others in community
Two-four weeks before works commenceContractors- Overview of voluntary National ID
system- Public consultation workshops- Focus groups- All four states
Timing TBC- Broader public, including vulnerable
groups and women- Government agencies

DoFA CIU andDoTCI- Consultations on digital
government strategic framework,
portal and eServices, genderstrengthening- Information on the GRM, how the
public can access it, and steps
involved in resolution.

- Public consultation workshops- Focus groups- Meetings with state governments- All four states
Timing TBC- State government departments(e.g. women, health, education,
lands, etc).
- Women’s groups- Other interested parties

DoFA CIU andDoTCI- Information on telecommunication
sector structure, governance andliberalisation- Information Brochure (2 page) in English (otherlanguages if deemed necessary)- Facebook page (OAE) / online, if possible- All four states
Timing TBC- Interested community members

OAE and TRA- Information on cyber security andlegal and regulatory frameworkchanges- Public consultation workshops- Focus groups- Meetings with state governments- All four states
Timing TBC-

DoFA CIU and TRA- Community awareness raising onsocial and financial risks of theinternet- Targeted programs through schools, youth andwomen’s groups- Broad information sharing through community
groups, schools, traditional leaders, churchgroups- Workshops and information sessions- Brochures (2 page) in English, translated as
applicable- All four states
Timing TBC- Parents, women and youth- Broader public, including vulnerable
groups- Traditional Leaders- Private sector- Other interested parties

Component 2

Design stage

Component 3

Implementation

Page 20

State government departments
Women’s groups
Private sector
Other interested parties

DoFA CIU andDoTCIDIGITAL FSM PROJECT: STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT PLAN

Project stage

Information to be disclosed / Topicof Consultation

Methods proposed

Timetable: Locations/ dates

Target stakeholders

Responsibilities- Service connection options andsupport for vulnerable/low-income
households with service access- Inauguration ceremony (in each state)- State radio- Advertising of retail telecommunication
providers and internet service providers
regarding service connections- All four states
Timing TBC- All households and businesses
interested in connecting

DoFA CIU, retailproviders

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DIGITAL FSM PROJECT: STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT PLAN

4.5

Proposed strategy to incorporate the view of vulnerable groups

Vulnerable groups will be targeted through representative organisations, including women, disability and youth associations.
Remote communities, which are often low income, will be included through their traditional (e.g. chiefs) and formal
representatives (e.g. senators).
The project will inherently benefit vulnerable groups, such as people living with disabilities, by increasing access
opportunities for a range of government and private services, including the eGovernment systems, access to banking,remote employment opportunities, education and health services. As the project is intended to be delivered nationwide,
including to any outer atolls with a population over 100 people, all people will have theoretical benefit from the project.
Measures will be developed through the project to allow access to project benefits. The main impediments to vulnerable
people benefitting from the project will be related to the cost of “last mile” connections to each household, access to devices
and costs of services. The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority will have a key role to play regarding the latter, toensure that the project doesn’t deepen inequality. The “last mile” connection question will differ depending on the final
technical solution selected, with the potential “leapfrog” option of upcoming 5G or other wireless platform being a preferential
outcome.
Additional vulnerable groups on this project may be identified during future stages of community engagement, and the plan
will be revised accordinglyto reflect this identification of new stakeholders.

4.6

Timelines

There is no current information available regarding the project timelines. This will need to be updated once the project design
is further finalised. There remain a number of project design components that are in flux that will impact timeframes,
including FTTH / FTTN, proposal for fibre cable on five islands within Chuuk lagoon,

4.7

Review of Comments

Comments, suggestions, clarifications and other information collected will be documented in Consultation Records, and at
the next engagement opportunity a summary of how they were taken into account will be reported back to the stakeholder
group.
This document includes details of the consultations undertaken as part of the project preparation phase, including key
discussion points and recommendations to respond to stakeholder feedback in Annex 1–Summary of Stakeholder
Consultations. A summary of all parties consulted is included in Annex 2 –Organisations / Agencies Consulted, and the list of
individuals in Annex 3 –List of Stakeholders Consulted. Detailed records of discussions are included in Annex 4 – Records of
Stakeholder Consultations.
Concerns voiced by the stakeholders and commitments consequently made by the project will be recorded in theEnvironmental and Social Commitment Plan (ESCP), which will be updated over the project lifecycle.

4.8

Future Phases of Project

People will be kept informed as the project develops, including reporting on project environmental and social performanceand implementation of the stakeholder engagement plan and grievance mechanism. Projects will report at least annually to
stakeholders andmore frequently during particularly key activities when the public may experience more impacts, including
negotiations relating to land and construction.

5

Resources and Responsibilities for implementing
stakeholder engagement activities

5.1

Resources

The Department of Finance and Administration (DoFA) have established a Central Implementation Unit (CIU) to oversee
World Bank financed projects, including safeguards oversight. CIU will be the key agency with responsibility for oversight ofthis plan.
A proposed budget for the stakeholder engagement activities has been outlined in the ESMP, reflecting the activities as per
Table 1– Proposed Stakeholder Engagement Activities.
The key point of contact for further information on the project is the CIU’s National Safeguards Coordinator,or alternatively,
the International Safeguards Specialist.
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DIGITAL FSM PROJECT: STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT PLAN

5.2

Management Functions and Responsibilities

To ensure that the stakeholder engagement plan is effective, DoTCI will hire, train and deploy qualified personnel with goodcommunication skills to undertake the stakeholder engagement, where needed in addition to the CIU personnel. Hiring
suitable staff will be included in the ESCP as one of the commitments.

6

Grievance Mechanism

A formal Grievance Mechanism (GM) has been developed for this project as a part of the Environmental and Social
Management Plan (ESMP). The GM takes into account culturally appropriate ways of handling community concerns.
Processes for documenting complaints and concerns have been specified, including time commitments to resolve issues.
The GM has been and will continue to be communicated to all stakeholder groups during each planned engagement activity.
Special communications will be held with the vulnerable groups identified at each location. Further details are included in
Section4.4Proposed strategy for consultation.

7

Monitoring and Reporting

7.1

Involvement of stakeholders in monitoring activities

Procedures to monitor the progress of implementation of the ESMP and relevant social safeguards, will be established andmaintained throughout the Project. These will include, but not be limited to, monitoring of engagement outcomes related togender.
Recording and monitoring in the implementation phase of the projects will be carried out by the implementing agencies incollaboration with the CIU at regular intervals. Regular reporting of such information to other Project partners should also beestablished, including to people in the project areas.
Monitoring and Reporting should be conducted by qualified and experienced national experts, with the potential assistancefrom NGOs and international consultants. No involvement of potentially affected communities is planned. Six-monthly
reporting back to stakeholder groups should continue throughout the implementation stage. Stakeholders should always bereminded of the availability of the grievance mechanism through consultations and reports.
Performance will be evaluated against activities specified in Table 1– Proposed Stakeholder Engagement Activities.

7.2

Reporting back to stakeholder groups

The stakeholder engagement process will promote the development of strong, constructive and responsive relationships
among the key identified Project stakeholders for successful management of the project’s environmental and social risks.
Effective stakeholder engagement between the Government and project stakeholders improves the environment and social
sustainability of projects, enhances project acceptance and makes significant contribution to successful project design andimplementation.
Comments, suggestions, clarifications and other information collected will be documented in Consultation Records, and at
the next engagement opportunity a summary of how they were taken into account will be reported back to the stakeholder
group. Stakeholders will be reminded of the availability of the grievance mechanism during all consultations, workshops,
meetings, etc.
The CIU will maintain and regularly update this SEP detailing public consultations, disclosure information and grievances
throughout the project, which will be available for public review on request. Stakeholder engagement should be periodicallyevaluated by senior management, assisted by the Safeguards Officer including:•Engagement activities completed, reported and recorded; and•Grievances received and how they have been addressed.

Concerns voiced by the stakeholders and commitments consequently made by the project will be recorded in theEnvironmental and Social Commitment Plan (ESCP), which will be updated over the project lifecycle.

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Annex 1–Summary of Stakeholder Consultations
Workshops and stakeholder meetings were held in August 2019 in all four states of FSM. The main objectives were toensure that stakeholders understood the proposed project, had the opportunity to raise any concerns that could determine
the project design, clarify information provided, and determine stakeholders’ attitudes towards the project. The preliminary
stakeholder consultations were also an opportunity to identify any major risks that could be anticipated.
Consultations were held with 74 organizations and agencies, including special interest groups related to gender, youth anddisabilities.
State

Information Dissemination and Consultation Meeting

Other Consultations

Yap

6 organizations

11 organizations

Chuuk

10 organizations

9 organizations

Pohnpei

19 organizations

1 organization

Kosrae10 organizations

3 organizations

National(no workshop)

5 organizations

Minutes from the meetings and workshops are included in Annex 4 – Records of Stakeholder Consultations, including list ofpeople met.
In all consultations, stakeholders indicated that they supported the project and wanted it to commence as soon as possible.
They also indicated that they would provide support as needed to resolve any issues that may arise, such as land
permissions. Overall, the stakeholders indicated that the project benefits would far outweigh any negative risks or impacts.
The following emerging themes identified in discussions were similar across all states:
1

Existing Internet Access. All states have an existing level of internet access – although somewhat constrained byprice, reliability, connection speed and availability. The social risks associated with internet use are already being
experienced in FSM. Opportunities to reduce these downside risks are needed, irrespective of this project.

2

FSM citizens may be particularly appealing targets for online scams, fraud and identify theft due to their rights
to work, live and study in the USA as a result of the Compact of Free Associationbetween the USA and FSM.

3

Legislation and regulations–a gap analysis of legislation and regulations is needed to consider the social risks. In
some states, law enforcement is also somewhat limited (e.g. Chuuk). It would be recommended that this can beundertaken as soon as possible, even prior to construction

4

Public Perception of Telecom – in all states, one of the primary concerns raised during consultations by a wide
range of stakeholders was the role of Telecom in the project. Public perceptions were that Telecom are nottrustworthy, have an anti-competitive stance, and have been providing bad services at high cost. There is a lack ofunderstanding as to why internet hasn’t improved already given the fibre landing in three of the four states, which
may have partially resulted in missed understanding of what was delivered under the prior project (submarine
cables). Key messaging for ongoing stakeholder engagement should reiterate the separation of roles between theOpen Access Entity (OAE), Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) and Telecomand the possibility of
improved competition in the telecom retail sector through ‘liberalisation’, which would appear to be publicly
supported. The implications of these for end users should also be clearly articulated. Concern was raised regarding
economic benefit going to Telecom (national level) rather than being retained within the states.

5

Existing Fibre Networks and Associated Infrastructure – Telecom have installed their own infrastructure insome locations, including fibre networks (e.g. Weno island in Chuuk), and towers in various locations, including
some outer atolls. This investment has included funding through grants, and in some cases may not be compatible
with being opened to other retailers to use as the market opens. Telecom are continuing to deploy additional
infrastructure in new locations concurrently with the Digital FSM preparation process.

6

Selection of Outer Islands to be included – All outer atolls with a population over 100 people are to be includedin the project. This is currently estimated at 42 atolls based on data from the last national census in 2010 (andsome sampling in 2013).As the next census is scheduled for 2020,this could be an up to date basis for determining
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DIGITAL FSM PROJECT: STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT PLAN

which atolls should be included in the project. Atolls often consist of a collection of islands within close proximity toeach other, and the population may be over 100 people but distributed across small, proximal islands within theatoll. Further consideration may be needed regarding the criteria to select atolls to be included. Defining the
population numbers is complex due to significant fluctuations between school holiday periods, weekends/weekdays
due to regular inter-island commuting for schooling and work.
7

Viability of Outer islands–Ongoing maintenance of infrastructure provided to outer atolls will be a considerable
challenge and cost. Some of the outer atolls are prohibitively difficult to access (e.g. 25 hours or more by fishingboat in the Mortlock islands, or further in Pohnpei state). The cost and practicality of maintaining service to outerisland communities with little to no formal economy or ability to pay for services would need to be factored into themodelling for the OAE, to ensure that the infrastructure provided remains viable over the long term and that it isable to benefit low income or vulnerable people. Training locals to be able to undertake maintenance in each atoll
could also reduce the overhead costs and response times. Internet services are critical for these remotecommunities, by providing increased access to government services, welfare, education, health as well as better
connectivity to families, friends and social networks. Increased access to communication for emergency response(including boats at sea)would also be potentially life saving.

8

Inclusive Access–irrespective of the provision of physical infrastructure for connectivity through the proposed
World Bank grant funding, end users will obtain access to services through a retain provider, of which currently
Telecom is the only option. There is a risk that vulnerable groups – low income households (typically female
headed, and those with more children), people living with disabilities, the unemployed or those living in remotelocations (including the outer atolls) will possibly be unable to access internet services. A funding mechanism forservice provision to vulnerable communities could be considered (e.g. regulations on pricing, a fund that can
support low income households with connection costs, etc.). Another option may be communal services (rather
than individual).

9

Timelines and Sequencing.There was significant interest from stakeholders in the project proceeding as soon as
possible, with many requests for priority connections (including to the outer islands and Kosrae to correspond withthe submarine cable landing). Many were of the opinion that remote communities should be serviced first.

10 Engagement of local companies during construction. There was consistent interest across the country for local
labor to be used where possible for construction, given the scarcity of employment opportunities. The FSM labour
law requires foreign companies to train locals.
11 Government eServices– there are government eServices already being developed for health and education.
Coordination with these would be needed to avoid duplication of systems under the framework. There was someconcern about a national ID system that linked multiple eServices together, although the benefits were also
recognised. This would require further consultations with clear representation of what is proposed and theimplications. Questions were also raised about if these systems would be national or state level, reflecting someconcerns over the centralisation of data that may need to be factored into the eServices framework.
Particular concerns in each state include:
Chuuk
a.

Lack of electricity.A number of the lagoon islands are currently lacking roads, easements and electricity.There aresome planned electrical mini-grid projects. Some households have private generators, but there is no data available.

b.

Land permissions need to be carefully managed, however there is likely to be community and leadership support(formal and traditional) for the project that will support this going forward. Within the lagoon, the current proposal is forfiber cables to be laid on five of the islands in Chuuk lagoon, microwave connections between other lagoon islands andsatellite connections to outer islands. This proposal has implications for land permissions, as follows:o

Weno – There are existing roads and easements (primary and secondary roads) on Weno, however historicallythese easements have been problematic for infrastructuredevelopment. There has been community resistance todigging, which is seen as being particularly intrusive (e.g. for underwater pipes or other services), although there
is an ADB grant to assist with underground water supply on Weno. Chuuk is also subject to typhoons that impact
overhead cables. Telecom have built an above ground fiber network around Wenowith grant funding; however it
is unclear if this network is suitable or compatible to being opened to other retail providers.

oTonoas – There is a section of road on Tonoas with easements, however other parts of the island do not havepublic land - this would need to be negotiated for the project to proceed. There is another World Bank project that
may also be involved in road construction in Tonoas.
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DIGITAL FSM PROJECT: STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT PLAN

c.

oFefan, Udot and Uman – these islands lack existing roads or public easements, as they were not agreed to by
the landowners. If the proposed fiber cables are to proceed, significant negotiations would be needed regarding
land permissions on these islands. In the event that new technologies (such as 5G) are imminent, the time andcost of this process may not be warranted.

o

New base stations are proposed for the Faichuk islands (3), Parem (1), Fefan (2), Tonoas (1) and Uman (2).
For all of these, appropriate sites would need to be identified and a suitable land parcel negotiated with the local
landowners.

oExisting base stations are proposed to be upgraded used on Romanum (1), Fred (1), Takuro (1) and Weno (6).

oOuter Islands–it is proposed that 4G LTE towers will be sited on public land associated with existing government
facilities (schools, health clinics, solar generation sites, cell phone sites, etc).

There are opportunities for coordination with other planned infrastructure projects, including:oWorld Bank Infrastructure Grant – will likely be used for road construction on TonoasoWorld Bank Energy Project – if cables are laid between the lagoon islands, then it could be worth consideringlaying fiber cables at the same time (although the cost benefit of this would need to be considered). There may
be additional opportunities to share sites for solar panels and telecommunication towers with this project.

o

ADB grant for a new water system on Weno, implemented with the Chuuk Power Utility Corporation (CPUC).
This project is planning to run underground water pipes around Weno.

Kosraea.

Road Alignments – on Kosrae, there are two new proposed roads (realignment of a coastal road and a new crossinland route). The fibre location should be considered in the context of these roads, noting that the coastal road is
proposed to relocate due to rising sea levels, however, also services a number of existing households.

b.

Walung Community – this community are currently difficult to access by a gravel road in disrepair, or by boat from theairport. The community are supportive of the project. There is no road in the community or existing easement, however
ADB are currently in the process of getting permissions from landowners for an electricity project to run a cable along
the same route as a fibre cable. A site for a microwave tower would also need to be confirmed (potentially on theexisting school site) and formally agreed with the community. On the other side (near the airport), the WIMAX tower
would also need to be sited with suitable land identified and negotiated.

c.

Easements under Review – over 1,000 easements around Kosrae are currently under review to confirm that they arevalid. This will be completed prior to project commencement and will ensure that they are robust and less likely to bechallenged.

d.

Foreign Workers – there have been issues in Kosrae with regards to foreign workers and prostitution, including
underage. There are also issues of workers leaving children behind with local women.

Pohnpeia.

Existing Government eServices – there is an existing system being developed by the Department of Education
containing student and staff records. Similarly, there is an existing system being developed by the Department of
Health for eHealth records.

b.

Significant concern regarding Telecom – interest in understanding the future possibility of Telecom and OAE
becoming one entity and retaining monopoly over service provision.

c.

Human Trafficking Prevention – more support was requested in this area, especially given the increased risks andexposure of more internet access.

Yapa.

Rumung community (Yap Proper) – currently have no electricity, copper telephone cable and only basic roads (noeasements). The community were interested in being included as part of the current project, despite rumours(unfounded) that they had declined provision of previous services. They have a cell site currently through Telecom.

b.

Village groups – there may be some land issues where houses are built behind other houses in clusters. Strategies
for these scenarios will need to be developed and could include a community based wireless distribution option.

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DIGITAL FSM PROJECT: STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT PLAN

Key Recommendations:1.

An additional component is proposed to be included in the project design for Community Awareness Raising, toinclude:oParental awareness raising program regarding online risks to children (including grooming and violent or
explicit content) and parental control options (delivered through schools and NGO/CBOs);oCyber-bullying awareness raising campaign (schools and parents);oBroad community awareness raising on scams, fraud, viruses, hacking and identify theft;oNational reporting line for online scams, fraud, etc.

oRegional Cyber-Crime Cooperation, including human trafficking;o

Maintenance capacity building in remote locations, including outer islands.

2.

Gap analysis for Legislation and Regulations– preferably to be undertaken as soon as possible, such that any
updates have time to be implemented prior to the increased service provision being available. This also applies tothe awareness raising program above.

3.

Land permissions – Further consideration is needed regarding the proposed infrastructure for Chuuk state, given
the constraints of land permissions within some of the Chuuk lagoon islands.

4.

Telecom – The public will need clear messages regarding the roles of Telecom and the OAE, as well as theregulator. A strong regulator will be a key component to ensuring public value for money and affordable services,and this will need to be implemented in practice as well as clearly communicated to the public.

5.

Cultural Awareness Training and Health Testing for Workers (no bikinis, no photos of stone money banks, notrespassing on private land) before arriving, as well as STD and other communicable disease (e.g. TB) testing(work with public health).

6.

Locals Workers should be engaged for construction works where possible.

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DIGITAL FSM PROJECT: STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT PLAN

Annex 2 –Organisations / Agencies Consulted
Consultations were undertaken in each state and at the national level in August 2019:
State

Information Dissemination and Consultation Meeting

National−

Other Consultations
1 Central Implementation Unit (DoFA)
2 Telecommunication Regulatory Authority
3 Attorney General’s Office
4 Human Trafficking Project
5 National Police
12 Attorney General’s Office
13 Director of Health
14 Environmental Protection Authority
15 Yap Chamber of Commerce
16 Land and Marine Resources
17 Yap Women’s Association
18 Senator and Chief – Rumung Island
19 Governor and Senators / Legislature
20 Council of Chiefs – Pilung (Yap Proper)
21 Council of Chiefs – Tamol (outer islands)
22 Others (Lubuw, Margery, Bill Ackers)
33 Governor
34 Attorney General
35 Department of Resources (Land and Marine)
36 EPA
37 Chuuk Youth Council
38 Lagoon Islands Representatives (Fefan)
39 Chuuk Women’s Council
40 Chuuk Power Utility Corporation (CPUC)
41 Chuuk Outer Islands Representatives (Mortlock Islands)

N/A

Yap

6 Department of Public Works
7 FSM Telecom
8 Yap Chamber of Commerce
9 Yap State Public Service Corporation
10 Manta Ray Bay Resort
11 Media and Protocol

Chuuk

23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32

Chuuk Public Utility Corporation (CPUC)
Department of Transportation and Public Works
Legislature
Department of Education
Department of Health Services
Chamber of Commerce
FSM Telecom
Economic Commission
Department of Administrative Services
Mortlock Islands Development Authority (MIDA)

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DIGITAL FSM PROJECT: STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT PLAN

State
KosraePohnpeiInformation Dissemination and Consultation Meeting
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73

Other Consultations
52 Walung Community Consultation Workshop
53 Governor
54 Department of Resources and Economic Affairs

Department of Transportation and Infrastructure
FSM Telecom
Governor
Attorney General
Senators with Legislature
Department of Administration and Finance
Department of Resources and Economic Affairs
Municipality Representatives
Project Management Office
Small Business Center
Lt. Governor
Division of Budget/Finance
Department of Health and Social Services
Department of Resources and Development
Attorney General's Office
Department of Education
Department of Land
Outer Island Chief Executives (Municipality Representatives)
Pohnpei Housing Authority
FSM Telecommunications Corporation
PREL
Office of Fisheries and Aquaculture (OFA)
Public Affair's OfficePohnpei Consumer's Association (Disability)
Pohnpei Transportation Authority
Pohnpei Environmental Protection Agency
Pohnpei Community Health Center
Micronesia Conservation Trust (NGO)USAID Climate Ready (NGO)74 Department of Social Affairs – Gender representative

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DIGITAL FSM PROJECT: STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT PLAN

Annex 3 –List of Stakeholders Consulted
National
August 12th and August 30th, 2019
First Name

Last Name

Role

PieterRob
BeulahBakkerSolomonDaunakamakama

CEO
Economic Advisor
Project Manager

Anfernee

Mallarme

Legal and Regulatory Officer

Craig
GeorgeAbigailReffner
Skilling
Avoryie

Assistant Attorney General (Acting)
CaptainAttorney

Page 30

Organisation

Gender

FSMTCC / OEM
Central Implementation Unit
Central Implementation Unit
Telecommunication Regulatory
Authority
DOJ
DOJ
DOJ

M
M
F
M
M
M
F

DIGITAL FSM PROJECT: STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT PLAN

Yap State – List of Stakeholders Consulted
August 14th to 16th, 2019
First Name

Last NameJohn
Faustino
GidionStevenVictorKimberlyPeter
StevenJude
Peter
ManuelJacquelyn
Sonya
Peter
WilmerSteve
AileenGeorgeMark
Kimberly
Jacquelyn
Anthony

Gilmatam
Yangmog
MoofalLibmadNabeyan
Guretmag
Gilinug
Maroa
Penrosa
Garamfel
Maleichog
Lefagoyal
Sampson
Wulf
KilmeteLindsay
Tareg
TorwanHartman
Guretmag
Lefagoyal
Tareg Jr.

James

Yinug

John
Jacob
Christina
Martina

WaayanFalan
FillmedReichardt

Role

Safeguard Coordinator
Safeguard Advisor
Director
Chairman of Board of Directors
Board Member
Administrative Officer
Executive Director
Secretary
Chief, Marine Resources
Management Division
Chief, Division of Land Resources
P&HC
Executive Director
Program Director/NIWA Member

Page 31

Organisation

GenderMedia & Protocol
YSPSC
YSPSC
YSPSC
YSPSC
Yap Chamber
Yap Chamber
Yap Chamber
Manta Ray Bay
FSMTC
Public Works
Yap ChamberSocial Consultant
Environment Consultant
CIU
CIU
Dept. Of Health Services, Yap
Yap Chamber of Commerce
Yap Chamber of Commerce
Yap Chamber of Commerce
Yap Chamber of Commerce
The Office Place

M
M
M
M
M
F
M
M
M
M
M
M
F
M
M
M
F
M
M
F
F
M

Dept. Of R&D

M

Dept. Of R&D
Yap EPAYap EPA
Yap Cancer Program

M
M
F
F

DIGITAL FSM PROJECT: STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT PLAN

First Name
Gertrude
Debra
Julie
Mary
Dee
Jennifer
Laura
Jaynalynne
Elizabeth
Joan G.
Lourdes
Linda
Nina
Louis Lukan
JosephTed
Theodore
Nicholas
Jerry
LeelkenJohn
Lubuw
GilikoVincent
Jesse
Henry
Stan
Louis Lukan
JustinLast Name
Mangarwen
Laan
Laagpith
Gurumeu
LibianPalemarNgadenSalii
Ribilyan
Rutun
BanyanTetethVanBreugel
Gaw
Lukan
Rutun
Rutun
Figirlaarwon
Fagolimul
Dabchuren
Mafel
Falanruw
JosephFigir
Salalu
Falan
Yow
Gaw
YilubwagRole
COM Counsellor
Ridge2Reef State Coordinator
Village Rep
Village Rep
MemberMemberPresident
MemberMemberMemberMember
Women Interest Office
WIO Volunteer
Municipal Chief
Village Member
State Senator-Rumung
State Senator
State Senator
State Senator
Staff
State Senator
Advisor/Stakeholder
State Senator
State Senator
Lt. Governor
GovernorDirector
Chief Member
Chief Member

Page 32

Organisation

GenderCollege of Micronesia
Ridge to Reef Project
Dugor Women
Adubwee Women
Waned Women
Fais Women
Yap Women Association
KWA
YWA
YWA/Rumung
Nimar
WIO
WIO
Rumung Municipality
Rumung Municipality
Yap State Legislature
Yap State Legislature
Yap State Legislature
Yap State Legislature
Yap State Legislature
Yap State Legislature
Tech Entrepreneur
Yap State Legislature
Yap State Legislature
Yap State Government
Yap State Government
Dept. Of Youth & Civic Affairs
Council of Pilung
Council of Pilung

F
F
F
F
F
F
F
F
F
F
F
F
F
M
M
M
M
M
M
F
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
M

DIGITAL FSM PROJECT: STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT PLAN

First Name
Bruno
SimeonStevenCyril
JamesFrancisJohn
Ramon
JuliusRachelle

Last Name
Tharngan
WaathanMar
Yinnifel
ManguonFithingmew
Malefahoy
Peyal
ChosemalBergeron

Role
Chairman
Chief Member
Chief Member
Chief Member
Chief Member
Chief Member
Assistant Admin.
Chairman
Admin Officer
Attorney

Page 33

Organisation
Council of Pilung
Council of Pilung
Council of Pilung
Council of Pilung
Council of Pilung
Council of Pilung
Council of Tamol
Council of Tamol
Council of Tamol
Yap AG

Gender
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
F

DIGITAL FSM PROJECT: STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT PLAN

Chuuk State - Stakeholder Consultations
August 19th to 23rdFirst Name

Last Name

Role

Kembo

Mida Jr.

CEO

WisneyToshimiNakayama
Torep

SenatorFaculty

Christopher
Tos

Eustaquio
NakayamManagement
Director

WillieTesimeBisalen
Kofot

Management
Management

Iromy
JohnnyBrutonRayphandManagement
Project Manager

TR
Julio
Enjoy
Dino
BinastoManeichy
Brad
DonseanPeter
Curtis
Cindy
BeautyBradlyClarice
Masashi

Mori
Marar
Rain
Aliven
Ruben
Sonis
Mori
Mori
Aten
GrahamMori
Aisek
KoichyGrahamMori

IT Manager
Director
Marine Coordinator
Supervisor
Deputy Director
Senior Land Commissioner
Technical Support Manager
Coordinator
Chief
Director
President
MemberMemberMemberMember

GideonRedleyBisalen
KillionMemberMemberPage 34

Organisation

GenderChuuk Public Utility
Corporation
Chuuk State Legislature
Dept. Of Education

M

Chuuk Chamber of Commerce
Dept. Of Transportation andPublic Works
Dept. Of Health Services
Dept. Of Administrative
Services
Economic Commission
Mortlock Islands Development
Authority
Isolutions
Dept. Of Health Services
Dept. Of Marine Resources
Land Management Office
Dept. Of Marine Resources
Dept. Of Land
Chuuk EPAFSMTCC
Commerce &Industry
Dept. Of Marine Resources
Chuuk Chamber of Commerce
Chuuk Chamber of Commerce
Chuuk Chamber of Commerce
Chuuk Chamber of Commerce
Chuuk Chamber ofCommerce/FSMDBChuuk Chamber of Commerce
Chuuk Chamber of Commerce

M
M

M
M

M
M
F
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
F
F
M
F
M
M
M

DIGITAL FSM PROJECT: STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT PLAN

First Name

Last Name

Role

Chris
Arvin
Rodolfo

Eustaquio
Agus
ReamicoExecutive Director
MemberMemberMori-M
SabinoLesterKiki
Christine

Mori
Asor
MersaiStinner
Rober

President
Attorney General
Floor Leader
President
Assistant

NelyndaFaustina
SinceraKealoha
Sila
MondaleRoby
FrancisFritz
KillionHans
Tim

Finance Officer
Board Member
KP Coordinator
CHIP
Volunteer
Board of Director

LepiosEzechiel

Sammy
Lucas

Mayor
Board of Director/Kuttu

Wilfred
Bundi
CalvinAnthony
SarafinNowellSoumweiFred
Yerem
NarianPuas
Petrus

Deputy Mayor
Liaison Officer
Deputy Mayor
Mayor
Deputy Mayor
Secretary

Grace

Williander

Director

Ankel
Ruben
Eric

GeorgeHaiidyMarar

P/L Commissioner
Counsellor
Board of Director
Page 35

Organisation

GenderChuuk Chamber of Commerce
Chuuk Chamber of Commerce
Chuuk Chamber of Commerce
GEMVJ
Chuuk Youth Council
Chuuk State
Chuuk State Legislature
Chuuk Women Council
Chuuk WomenCouncil/Environment
Chuuk Women Council
Chuuk Women Council
Chuuk Women Council/KP
Chuuk Women Council
Chuuk Women Council
Mortlock Islands Development
Authority
Ta Island
Mortlock Island Development
Authority
Kuttu Island
Oneop
Oneop
Piisemwar
Lekinioch
Mortlock Islands Development
Authority
Mortlock Islands Development
Authority
SatowanSatowanMortlock Islands Development
Authority

M
M
M
M
M
M
F
F
F
F
F
M
F
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
F
M
M
M

DIGITAL FSM PROJECT: STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT PLAN

First Name

Last Name

Role

Mike
HernerSetileBraielBoard of Director/Oneop

Picho
BrianaCheidaWerieyEPA
Staff

KipierTenderLippweRickysach

Mayor
EPA/DECEM

Page 36

Organisation

GenderNamoluk
Mortlock Island Development
Authority
Ta
Mortlock Islands Development
Authority
Namomuk
MIDA

M
M
M
F
M
M

DIGITAL FSM PROJECT: STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT PLAN

Kosrae State - Stakeholder Consultations
August 26th to 27thFirst Name

Last Name

Role

Organisation

Maxwell

Salik

Fisherman

RamseyArnoldElijahGeorgeCaleb
MongkeyaClassroom Teacher
LibrarianFisherman

Annie
EstherSepe
SelynnSenioraRosa
Elterina
Antilise
Joceyann
Ken
Mada
Lynn
WitsonMongkeyaCaleb
SemeonSemeonArnoldJonathanGeorgeGeorgeGeorgeKilafwakun
Lindsay
BenjaminPhillip

Classroom Teacher

Walung Giant Clam Farm
Project
Department of Education
Department of Education
Walung Giant Clam Farm
Project
Department of Education

Nurse

KCHC

Vice President

HairomLivae

Director

Skiller

JacksonDirector

Bruce
AlersonHowellAlikManagerActing Mayor

Nena
Rinehart
KrystleNedWilliamMelanderFSM Telecommunication
Corporation
Dept. Of Transportation &Infrastructure
Kosrae Small Business
Development Center
Project Management Office
Tafunsak Municipal
Government
Kosrae State Legislature
Kosrae State Legislature
Kosrae State Legislature

Legal Aid

Page 37

Gender
M
M
M
M
F
F
F
F
F
F
F
F
F
M
F
F
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
F

DIGITAL FSM PROJECT: STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT PLAN

First Name

Last Name

Role

YamadoAndy
Salpasr
GersonMelanderAndrew
TilfasJacksonSenatorDirector

Rensley

SigrahDirector

Bob
Tulensa
Arthy
SasakiBlair
Alokoa JB
Kiobu
Mary
Priscilla
Rensley

Skilling
Palik
Nena
GeorgeCharley
SigrahLuey
LivaieLaboufeSigrahSenatorSpeaker
Lt. Governor
SenatorAdministrator
Senator
Project Coordinator
Vice President
MemberDirector

Bob
Tulensa
Arthy
SasakiBlair
Alokoa JB
Kiobu
Mary
Priscilla

Skilling
Palik
Nena
GeorgeCharley
SigrahLuey
LivaieLaboufe

SenatorSpeaker
Lt. Governor
SenatorAdministrator
Senator
Project Coordinator
Vice President
MemberPage 38

Organisation
Kosrae State Legislature
Kosrae State Legislature
Kosrae State Legislature
Dept. Of Resources andEconomic Affairs
Dept. Of Finance andAdministration
Kosrae State Legislature
Kosrae State Legislature
Kosrae State Government
Kosrae State Legislature
KIRMA
Kosrae State Legislature
KIRMA
Kosrae Women Association
Tafunsak Women Council
Dept. Of Finance andAdministration
Kosrae State Legislature
Kosrae State Legislature
Kosrae State Government
Kosrae State Legislature
KIRMA
Kosrae State Legislature
KIRMA
Kosrae Women Association
Tafunsak Women Council

Gender
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
F
F
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
F
F

DIGITAL FSM PROJECT: STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT PLAN

Pohnpei State - Stakeholder Consultations
August 28th to 30thFirst Name

Last Name

Role

Reed
Sherlynn
Juanita
Helper
Josephine

OliverEperiamLawrence
SamuelCarl

Lt. Governor
Admin Officer
Education Specialist
Data Manager
Law Researcher

Christina
Smithy

Elnei
Clark

Budget Officer
Mayor

Ludickson

EdwardSteezia
RainerPatterson
Francisco
AlbertOnlinoNelsinGabriel

Aldis
GilmeteShed
Celestine
Augustin
Lawrence
IriarteRodriguez

VP, Customer Service
Representative & Administration
Marketing Analyst
Public WorksRegional Coordinator

Vitus
Kanoberson

SusaiaAsher

Chief of Staff
IT

NelbertNick
Walberg
Jessie

Perez
Solomon
HadleyHenry

President
Director
Legal Counsel
A/O

EmilioHeinrick

Eperiam
Stevenson

Election Commissioner
Public Affairs Officer

Administrator
Executive Director
District Administrator
Chief Rep

Page 39

Organisation

GenderPohnpei State Government
Pohnpei Dept. Of Education
PREL
Pohnpei Dept. Of Education
Pohnpei Attorney General’s
OfficePohnpei State Government
Pingelap Municipal
Government
FSM TCM
FF
MF

FSM TC
Kitti Municipal Government
USAID Climate Ready
Pohnpei EPA
OFA
Pohnpei Housing Authority
Nett District Government
Sapwuahfik Municipal
Government
Pohnpei State Government
Pohnpei Community HealthCenter
PFA/PCOResources and Development
Department of Land
Pohnpei Transportation
Authority
Pohnpei State Government
Pohnpei State Government

F
M
M
M
M
M
M
M

F
M
M

M
M
M
M
M
M
M
M

DIGITAL FSM PROJECT: STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT PLAN

First Name

Last Name

Role

Juity

Hainrick

Mayor Rep

NathanUlik

Chief Magistrate

William
Kapilly

KostkaCapelleExecutive Director
Director

Lululeen

SantosCoordinator

Page 40

Organisation

GenderNukuoro Municipal
Government
Kapinga Municipal
Government
Micronesia Conservation Trust
Dept. Of Health and Social
Services
Social Services

M
M
M
M
F

DIGITAL FSM PROJECT: STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT PLAN

Annex 4 – Records of Stakeholder Consultations
Consultation: #1
Date:

12th August 2019

Participants:

1 + project teamDiscussion:
FSMTCC also known as the Open Access Entity is the owner of FSM’s submarine Cable Assets. Proposedis that OAE will own and maintain the FTTH assets. Currently it does not own terrestrial infrastructure. The
inception phase of the project is under the responsibility of CIU. The company is a privatised entity with anindependent Board of directors and two government ministries as shareholders. The assets of FSMTCC
are grant funded by World Bank. FSM Digital’s scope includes institutional strengthening and eGovernment
services, which are not part of FSMTCC’s mandate.
OAE is a not for profit organisation, its full cost of operations are to be paid by the communicationsindustry. Operational costs are 250-300K per year, which may grow to 300-350K per year. There are costs
to maintain sea cables, annualised at around $500K growing to $650K in 2021. The third costs category isservices that are outsourced to FSMTelecom of approx. $800K per year. As a not for profit organisation,
OAE may add 5% to bill for contingency to pay future “cable repairs” etc. Telecom does not invoice OAE
as it will give OAE the opportunity to add a 5% mark-up to the invoice and Telecom wishes to avoid that.
This is an anomaly in the structure/arrangements.
Current terrestrial cable is partly hanging on poles – cheaper but exposed to natural disasters. Therefore,
plan is to bury fibre, however then there are land, access and cost implications. There may beencroachment issues from illegal buildings on easements or roads. There is a possibility of using overheadcables for sections where underground is too difficult/costly, and accept risk of damage on occasion, withtrained staff in each state to repair (splice cables) if needed. The World Bank’s economic analysis indicateda preference for the additional $4-6 million in cost to bury cables as much as possible.
Discussed the scope of the project – and if the OAE will need to construct fibre to the home (FTTH) or tothe closest distribution cabinets. Whilst the decision has not been made on the full extent of the installation,at this stage planning is to the distribution cabinets and we can work on that assumption for the current
round of assessments. As part of procurement, if there are significant cost/efficiency savings from FTTH
then that may be considered later.
A consultant will be engaged to do geo-mapping to confirm the exact routing of the cables and siting of thewireless towers / dishes. The geo-mapping TOR is currently on WB website for 75-90 days’ work for all 4
states, to commence in September and expected to be completed by the end of 2019, after completion of
the preliminary stakeholder engagement process. If there are significant variations, there may be
implications for further stakeholder engagement, in particular with respect to land access.
The physical construction has 3 parts:
1. Fibre Optic Cable, hangingon poles or buried in ducts, terminating in local distribution cabinets.
According to the current plans, this will follow public roadways in all locations except Chuuk, where
there are not roads in all areas. Refer to Specific Issues section for more detail.
2. For islands that are within line of sight of the main island Weno, microwave links could be
deployed, that can transmit speeds up to 4 Gbps. Typically, this equipment is deployed on towers,
the microwave link is the connection between the towers, from there the signal goes into the local(broadband / fibre) access network. A local source of electricity is needed. Bigger islands within the
Chuuk lagoon could be connected via submarine cable.
3. For outer islands or more remote locations, the short-term alternative would be to offer basic
mobile services on the outer islands using solar powered small LTE cell sites with VSAT
connectivity sharing a certain amount of satellite capacity.About 42 small islands would require
such a solar powered small LTE cell site with VSAT connectivity. These have a small footprint(20sqm maximum) and are intended to be co-sited on existing government buildings, including
schools, health clinics etc.
It was agreed that the following assumptions could be made for the purposes of the impact assessment:•

Assumption1 – fibre will be laid on public land in all locations, to the local distribution cabinet(OLTE or SLTE) – refer to program design and preliminary/indicative mapping. At this stage, FTTH
is not planned or accounted for under this assessment.

Page 41DIGITAL FSM PROJECT: STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT PLAN•

Assumption 2 – WIMAX and 4G LTE towers will be sited on public land associated with existing
government facilities (schools, health clinics, solar generation sites, cell phone sites, etc). In theevent that this is not possible for selected WIMAX locations due to line of sight requirement, anassessment of land implications will need to be undertaken on a case by case basis.

Labor Management Plan inputs / assumptions – a consultant will be engaged to assess thelaborimplications;however, this will be completed after the ESMP period. There will be options to structure
contract to encourage use of national contractors, which may cause slower construction than engaging
purely international contractors. Balance of imperatives. Some preliminary estimates are in the reportprovided by Pieter (but there may be gaps in data needed for labor management plan).
There is a parallel project in Chuuk state for power lines to be run around the main islands. FSMTCC arecoordinating and plan to operate jointly in laying the fibre optic cables together with the power cables. For
Chuuk it will be reasonably important to lay underground, given their exposure to typhoons. Pohnpei andYap also have some exposure to typhoons, however Kosrae this is not such a consideration as they are
only three degrees North of the equator.
Team who will assist with the consultations include:•

Chuuk – Donsean is engaged as a contractor for FSMTCC. Donsean is a technical person.

•

Pohnpei – Wilmer (CIU staff) will assist•

Yap - Sebastian has been engaged for stakeholder consultations. Part time employee of FSMTCC•

Kosrae – Andy George needs to be engaged to assist

For the construction phase, also need to confirm arrangements for safeguards monitoring in each location,
especially in Kosrae, need someone part time down there.
It was agreed that Pieter will inform the FSMTCC board of ESMP team and consultations at the board
meeting this week in Pohnpei, and that they have the opportunity for any issues to be presented if needed.
Suggested stakeholders include the former vice president (RedleyKillion), former telecom exec/CEO (JohnSohl), president of the FSM Development Bank, (Anna Mendiola) and the former lieutenant governor ofYap (Tony Tareg) if available. All four are Directors in FSMTCC / OAE’s current Board. CEO of market
regulator TRA (TakuroAkinaga)
Specific issues:
Kosrae - A new gravel road is proposed for one section. It will need to be considered if the fibre will follow
this new alignment or the existing one. This can be confirmed as part of the geo-mapping process. In theearly mappings there was a section of fibre proposed where the road (shown in red) doesn’t have existing
ducts or poles to hang the wire. This could also be covered as microwave and that section of road may
have been subsequently built (and this issue is not relevant). It will be confirmed if this red section is anerror in the mapping or not.
Chuuk – there are not roads in all locations and the easements are not clear. There could be land issues
there. Probably not a big issue as a tower may be an option – up to each island to decide what they want to
do – they will have to address the land issues. On two islands – reasonably big solar power projects goingin – they are putting power units in, then need to deliver to the houses – they will probably go with above
ground. Telecom has put some fibre on Weno, but not a lot of companies/households have beenconnected and the capacity is not clear. The Chuuk map in report has some problem with the place names(they shifted) – to note when referencing the map.
Acronyms: EMC - East Micronesian Cable (System)

Consultation: #2
Date:

13th August 2019

Participants:

2 + project teamDiscussion:
The World Bank Task Team Leaders are James Neumann and Natasha Beschorner, based out of
Washington DC.
James came to FSM in May/June 2019 and held a workshop. ACTION: Rob will provide copies of James’s
presentation and the list of participants from that workshop.
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CIU asked for a project concept from the World Bank however it wasn’t provided, and the workshop
proceeded without it. Subsequently CIU found the concept note on the World Bank website (published in
March 2019) but hadn’t been shared with CIU/FSM government.
The overall project budget is USD 30 million. Of this, USD 5 million will be allocated to funding the CIU.
This appears to be in addition to the USD 20 million budget currently outlined in the World Bank project
documents (as outlined below).
Budget (Source: Project Information Document – PID, 17 June 2019)•

Component 1 - $12 million•

Component 2 - $6 million•

Component 3 - $1.5 million

Project Management - $0.5 million
TOTAL $20 million
Rob confirmed that there is no construction under Component 2. The proposed data centre will be sited on
an existing building.
CIU were not aware that the National ID system was proposed to be included as part of Component 2 andnoted that in FSM it was unlikely to be acceptable and consultations on it may be quite controversial. Thereis an existing voter ID system, but no tax numbers (e.g. for businesses).
The CIU are not interested in the national ID system and were not aware that it was in the concept note.
Rob will confirm with the Chief of Staff are they interested in it. If not, then it would be excluded from theconsultations. Would require a state national leadership conference and interest/buy in from seniorleadership. Rob to provide formal confirmation by email regarding this component.
There is a draft cyber security bill – Rob will provide – a group from Australia, workshop in December 2019
to do a diagnostic and better inform the legislation.

Consultation: #3
Date:

29th August 2019

Participants:

1

Discussion:
Consultation process – went through two phases. The first one was the TRA process, which has been
completed and decisions are made from those. Have sent out rules and regulation documents totelecommunications companies including Docomo (Guam), Digicel, FSMTC and others. They sent theircomments and those have been addressed. Issues raised were things like pricing. Process of promulgating
the rules and regulations.
The second consultations are still ongoing – they are waiting to receive comments back next month. This
one is following the administrative procedures act from AGs office – government standard procedure forpromulgating new rules and regulations. Sent out to all four states governors, offices, congressmen,chairmen of committees, etc. Copy of rules and regulations on the website – www.tra.fm.
They are planning to have a town hall community meeting once the second phase consultation process iscompleted in all the states. The townhall is part of the second round. Looking forward to making the rules
and regulations be effective by Sep 31st, 2019.
Have not had a lot of involvement with the Digital FSM project, although they were involved in theworkshop. Excited by the eGovernment component. Providing the cables throughout the islands is a goodthing.
Main concerns – raised during the conference – Kosrae are delayed in getting fibre connection because
they were trying to also fix the road. Compliance for the people about land in Pohnpei also.
It has the potential to make it a smooth process where all components work together.
Relationship with FSM TC (Telecom) is pretty stable. Hard to answer if Telecom are overcharging or if it’s acommunity perception issue. Most people think that Telecom is very expensive, and the rates are too high.

Page 43DIGITAL FSM PROJECT: STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT PLAN

Consultation: #4
Date:

29th August 2019

Participants:

3 + Project Team

Discussion:
-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

The internet – bring it. The only way people will compete in the world is to speak fluent English.
Currently the national government doesn’t have laws against child pornography – don’t want FSM to
become a place where tourists come to “sex tourism” and exchange of images. That’s a major gap
that FSM has. Have already seen things like that – nothing that they can do.
People downloading child pornography here – can’t do anything about it. The child pornography modelis that they have to share original material – begins a dialogue that means more material is being
shared. Can tell if it’s original or recycled material.
Through this project - legislative support and community awareness. Informing people of new laws
and what activities are prohibited. Socialising new legislation regarding child pornography.
Companies that like to target FSM nationals because of their ability to work in the US. Recruiters from
Hawaii target Kosrae -could be an opportunity for more exploitation.
Scamming – could have a labour trafficking component. Work from home – make $500 per day – notwell versed in how that’s untrue, especially as they could live in the US.
In Chuuk someone was sent pieces of guns – piecemeal – to put together. The economy out here
can’t really sustain such activities.Pohnpei is the only state that has minimum wage– most people
don’t earn enough to engage in dark web.
Wouldn’t have jurisdiction over issues of revenge porn at a federal level. Chuuk state anti-trafficking
laws have a cyber element. Would have to be addressed as state level legislation, unless it was undertelecommunication laws.
There are cyber-crime conferences for the Pacific – need treaties between countries – to manage
between countries.
The trans-national crimes unit has undertaken some awareness program on cyber safety for almost all
4 states. The key component is the awareness part for people to understand what is really going on
online. There was a good response to that program. They are planning to do ongoing training, but thisis shifting of the administration so currently awaiting leadership. Funded through the AFP. This also
involves NZ, Australia and countries in the South and North Pacific (21 Pacific island countries).
Cybercrimes focus was on bullying, sexting, etc.
There is currently nothing to assist with prosecuting cyber-crimes cross jurisdictionally. Currently can
only look at cross jurisdiction if they’re on a boat and it’s covered by the Nauru agreement. Receive
US Compact support – a resource also – they were the ones who flagged and notified about the childpornography issue and extraditions – they also provide support and training. On a request basis.
Domestic violence is also addressed at a state level. State police normally do an awareness on
domestic violence on the island,in conjunction with national police if they need assistance. DV has
been changing slowly. People are starting to be aware that it’s not the way they are supposed to act.
The other issue that we have in Pohnpei is the cultural, traditional lifestyle of men. This has always
been an issue and slowly changing. Impression is that domestic violence is reducing. Men are now
more open to wives working and earning money. Girls have more exposure also. The internet opens
the whole world.
One thing that would be helpful is a mechanism to notify the government if they have been scammedor dealing with some cyber issue. At least to DoJ or TCNI (transports communications andinfrastructure) to follow up so they can track issues (e.g. revenge porn or particular scams). Could be
used as a basis for the community awareness programs.
Former President created an impersonation Facebook page - law enforcement group to help out withtaking down profile.
NFC transfer – a public corporation that promotes fisheries – hacked into exec director’s email – sent
accountant an email with instructions to do a wire transfer for boat parts. They checked and got a
response saying yes – so they sent the transfer of approx. $30K. When they talked to the banks, they
didn’t assist. Started interviewing people – only a few days later got the FBI to talk to them – then thebank took that seriously. Because the transfer was through US based banks, and culprits were in the

Page 44DIGITAL FSM PROJECT: STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT PLAN

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

USA (DC/Maryland). Nigerian. Bank froze the account and saved some of the money, some money
had gone to Africa and couldn’t be recovered.
Construction workers – national level issue – these are very small communities and foreign workers
can sometimes be disruptive. Professional code of conduct in place. Awareness of FSM laws, no sex
with lawyers, etc. Especially in more remote places where it is hard to have law enforcement. There
are some communities that are ripe for exploitation. Mechanism to complain and notify authorities –GRM – anonymous reporting.
Filipino knew the guardian of a couple of young children was cash poor – was offering $10-20 toencourage young girls to visit and have sex with him. He testified against himself – they were in loveand getting married – an admission. Convicted and judge gave him a 15-month suspended sentence.
When company finished the project, allowed to go.
Trafficking persons report – a great message which is congress does it’s part by appropriating money,
and it all falls apart in the judiciary. Congress appropriates money for human trafficking programs, go
to court but get a weak slap on the wrist. That situation could be replicated a thousand times.
Have to be a lot of awareness for families – don’t give children to workers. Whalers would come andwomen and girls were given for exchange – there is a cultural / historical foundation. Awarenessraising may have impact in changing perspective on it. Provide an 800-number to call and report andknow that there is a penalty for these behaviours.
Another judge and another horrific scenario – and they got a 15-year sentence. Judges are giving
higher sentences.
Increased law enforcement presence if possible – perhaps some people with the construction workers– security? Background checks?
Consultant look over current legislation – around cyber security issues that have to do with potential
porn, etc issues. Think we don’t know what we are lacking. Have that presented to congress for
implementation. Grievance mechanism – that is anonymous – perhaps also online. Ensure people
coming in aren’t perverts and creeps.
Some websites would need to be restricted (dark web content).
Online gambling also an issue.
Human trafficking issues – more funds needed. Risk of online exposure, connections, etc.
National ID – need to consider that FSM has a unique position with access to the united states. If an
individual (e.g. Nigerian scammers) getting someone’s access and information would make for a muchbetter scam here than other countries. Would need additional safeguards because this is an attractive
place to scam people.
Guatemalan national married a Chuukese woman in the US. He got deported from the USA, his coworker was Chuukese, so co-worker married him. Got him a fake FSM birth certificate. Therefore, as
an FSM citizen cannot be deported from the USA anymore. Added attractiveness to get busted here.
An individual from Cameroon came here with forged acceptance papers from College of Micronesia,
got him entry into COM – and then realised he was not enrolled. Once you have a visa to be here,
then you can get a visa for USA or Guam more easily. The other issue was that he travelled throughAir Niugini – avoided US territory – once he gets there, they would return him back to his own country.
Ship registry – they don’t have one. You can be international or domestic (waters you work in), andopen or closed. FSM is domestic and closed – have to be an FSM citizen to own the boat. RMI and
Palau are international and open. Headquarters are in a strip mall in Virginia. Core business – fleet of
6 boats, insurance, upkeep, authority to flag the boat, pay registration fee, every year boat issurveyed. Lots of fees. Constant fee generating machine. Got on the internet and created a webpage– Micronesian ship and marine registry – sold registrations, registered 372 vessels. Made 100,000 tomillions of fees. Started selling seafarers certificates. Looks just like a passport with country name,photo. All these international maritime conventions on safety, etc. Check you can operate a lifeboat,
mouth to mouth, etc. When you go to embassies around the world with big ports, a special line for
seafarers. A diplomatic note one day that someone from Syria had a fake seafarer’s certificate from
FSM and wanted to use it to get a visa for the USA.
The good part of fibre coming here – ability to track that faster. Got on the internet and fought back.
Circular to UN – informing that they were not authorised, slowly trickled to ports around the world.
There will always be a group of people who want a seafarer’s certificate – e.g. paedophiles who can’t
get through international maritime organisation (IMO) for a legitimate certificate.
Scammers are becoming more aware that FSM is a “back door” into the US.
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Craig – assisted with land for telecom towers. If the entity that wants the easements is part of thegovernment – If TCNI do it – then the AG office would be their lawyers to assist with land. OAE would
need their own lawyers as they are not a government entity.
When land is undocumented – the land commission has to declare the land a registration area – landcommission determine who would get a title for land in Pohnpei. In Pohnpei – don’t need to worry
about people having tide water land – that’s all public.
Chuuk – on paper it looks fine – they are supposed to register – but registration areas just never get
done. Government AGs office and landowners collude together. Would wait for a line to fall over and abanana tree to fall over – then would get a judgement for approx. $2 million. In federal court – cases ofcivil rights – where police had discharged a weapon against people – state would agree to a
judgement of $2-3 million – no payment made. There are risks of Chuuk regarding land. Some of theeasements can be challenged
Utilities - Power, Water, sewer, trash, cable TV…
Who is the easement holder?If it’s the state of Chuuk – are they limited to subleasing to a Utility tocome in there. Technically CPUC – are public but independent from the state. They are an SOE,
supposed to be independent. Chuuk state – in their easement – can they provide utilities – Chuukstate and OAE need an agreement to say it is covered by the easement. Maybe no compensation but
would defend Chuuk state against any claims or indemnify them. This is probably needed wherever
there is an easement. The Pohnpei easements are worded for multiple utilities – this is also true for
Chuuk. Just a question of if OAE is seen as a utility. If they go to the home, could perhaps argue thatthey are a utility.
Each state will be different – each state has an AG with different contract workers every 1-2 years withdifferent opinions and requirements on the easement wording. Have a strip of land with 3 different
easements on them. It’s not insurmountable.
Each state has an eminent domain process – e.g. involuntary resettlement.
No one liked OAE from the get-go – new, change, competition to FSM Telecom. Contracts withexorbitant salaries – scheme of carpet baggers coming in.
Usually land surveyors go out and survey the land – e.g. for the road.
In general – Chuukese believe that the government can’t own land. In Dec 2017 – weather station andlegislature are – decision that the land due to some defect with the notice and appeal went back to thelandowners and the legislature had to leave.
Court system doesn’t lend itself to stability and has a lot of debt.
Published court decision that talks about the boundary for tide water land. From Chuuk state supreme
court that says that people own tide water land up to where Chuukese women can no longer engage
in traditional reef net fishing (e.g. approx. chest height). A boat had hit the reef and they wanted
compensation. In his opinion – custom, tradition in Chuuk – from high water mark to end of the 12-milezone – that was owned by the people not the state. FSM Supreme Court – published decision – lookat the digest. Competing claims of land ownership between two clans.
To lay the fibre – consider the
Did an easement in Tol for a cell tower. Took the land commission employees and had them takenover to Tol for visits. After 5-6 visits do a hearing (not official) to provide their best opinion on who
owns that land. Came back – more people showed up – eventually people would say… yes, that’sours. By the time they got to do the hearing – most people came out to say this is probably who owns
this land. Typically, they tend to agree. Quite complex.
Community engagement will be key for having land easement issues cleared in Chuuk.

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DIGITAL FSM PROJECT: STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT PLAN

Consultation: Yap Consultation Workshop
Date:

14th August 2019

Participants:

12 + project team•

Department of Public Works x 1•

FSM Telecom x 1•

Yap Chamber of Commerce x 4•

Yap State Public Service Corporation (YSPSC) x 4•

Manta Ray Bay Resort x 1•

Media and Protocol x 1
Discussion:
The Yap cable was connected at the start of this year. The World Bank has provided a PPA to agree
to fund the project.
Questions:- Who owns the infrastructure? The government would own but provide access to Telecom andother service providers.
- Who would own the government portal – state or national level? Noted that there is some existing
portal at Yap state level.
- Does the project include connections to the house or not? Telecom – OAE is wholesale, not retail– it is not yet clear but could be up to Telecom to run it up to the homes.
- If Telecom run the cable to the home, then who owns that cable if you want to swap providers? If
the OAE owns to the home, then that becomes a moot point.
- What happens when a second home wants to tap into those connections? This is a current issue
for power lines – need to provide secondary or tertiary lines from that first house. Some program
to assess that cost.
- Existing cable underground – is it fibre optic? No – it’s copper. Would it be better to replace that?
- Would there be a requirement to maintain satellite connectivity as a backup? Telecom do require
this for essential services (not 100% redundancy). Not sure for this project.
Comments:- Permits and approvals for construction works would be needed (EPA).
- The project is good for the state. We don’t need impact assessment. They already have copper
cable, it’s already in place. So, we have done some major digging.
- Opportunity to reuse the existing copper ducts owned by FSM Telecom – at the moment somepolitics between them that could result in sub-optimal outcome.
- Fair to say that most people in Yap would be very happy to have improved internet services.
- There is one island (Rumung) who didn’t want to have electricity connection (they mostly live inColonia and visit their island). Possible that they will also not be interested in internet connectivity.
Note that when solar projects were done (some standalone household, some mini grid), they
were put on clan owned land with no real issues. They have subsequently requested a cell site
for mobile communications. They have over 100 people and would likely now be interested inhaving fibre connection. The island doesn’t have power, except at the cell tower location. One
option is to co-locate a microwave tower with the cell site, or to run fibre to the island.
- OAE did the submarine fibre – they did the construction for that. It was a very smooth process.
The Telecom is the one dealing with the community.
- Parental controls of having the internet – partly up to parents to implement in the household and tohave awareness, educate the kids. There is no way to control that. Telecom want the users to use as
much as possible, but there are issues of family values that should be left to the families.
- Education systems for parents – e.g. awareness raising of how parents can control access to kids.

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The government or this project should not look into these issues around control of use - that’s up thefamily or individuals. The government has control over communications because they control theinfrastructure. Freedom is okay, but freedom to do bad is not allowed.
- Request for regulations - including cyber security – to be reviewed to make sure that all is up to datefor Yap state and adequately balances privacy, policing and censorship. Preference for control within
hands of individuals.
- Issues around usage at schools – e.g. should cell phones be banned at schools? People are spending
more time on technology – rather than in face to face interaction with family and others. At home have
3 kids, struggle with power bill, but kids need to be charged. Sometimes they find their cables cut inhalf.
- Government eservices – most governments have portals – have our own. May have a preference for it
to be at the state instead of national level.
- A national ID system is something that they need to have – e.g. for passport to be renewed – they all
have to go to Pohnpei – no big pressing issues currently, except cost and inconvenience.
- The marine works were done by local construction company. Some construction skills are available
locally. There is a preference for more local workers to be involved if possible. Telecom have somepeople available with skills locally to splice fibre if needed. They did the backhaul from cable stations.
They are not fibre, but they have the skills (approx. 13 people).
- No real concerns with bringing in foreign workers, although preference for local people if they haveskills, through competitive bidding process.
- Access to outer islands – can fly to 3 islands, otherwise serviced by the field ship. They have 3
canoes. Perhaps only 4-5 islands would have over 100 people.
- The existing backhaul terrestrial cable (connected to the submarine cable) is all on existingeasements.
- Preference for underground due to location and risk of typhoons – right in the path of typhoons.
Primary line and secondary lines.
- To premises – underground or aerial. Depends on individual house – may avoid some issues withneighbours.
- Good sit down with legislature, government and work through the issues.
- Telstra owns the copper conduits - some are damaged, cracked, may not be worth reusing.
Key Issues:- Need to confirm if Rumung island should be included in the network connectivity – follow up
conversation with the Chiefs- Confirm the approach of selecting islands with over 100 people. A lot of the populations are transient(e.g. depart during school term or weekdays), so population estimates may be inaccurate dependingon when the sample/census was conducted. Most recent census was in 2010, so also may be somechanges to population sizes.
- Yap has atolls – two groups – atolls may split communities onto smaller islands, may be more than
100 within an atoll on different islands. Need to consider inclusion in the project, combined populationand impact on proposed infrastructure needed to span islands within an atoll for coverage where
populations are.
- Is it to the home or to the node? Relative cost and who bears the cost? Will project benefits berealised if not to the premises (e.g. can people afford to run connections)? Trust in Telecom company
in terms of wanting to swap service providers and who owns the cable to the premises. Whomaintains the fibre to the house if there are issues and can households afford it if it falls to them?
- Awareness raising – including for parents – they have the ability to control what their kids’ access.
- There may be issues with land becoming difficult if it needs to cross other private land of neighbours.
- If the fibre is connected to each house, who owns that infrastructure (on “private/clan” land)? Whomaintains that? Any implications for service providers?
In summation – Yap are in support of project proceeding.

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Consultation: #5
Date:

14th August 2019

Participants:

1 + project teamDiscussion:
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There are concerns about security threats from Huawei with current networking equipment
In Yap state, most people already have access to the internet through 3G, sometimes fast enough tostream movies, and this is having an impact already.
The biggest impact so far is that people are falling victim to scams – some are now reported (not a lot).
Nigerian prince, ‘recruitment’ for fake jobs, pornography and non-consensual pornography (e.g.
revenge porn)
AG’s office is already drafting some state-based legislation to address the revenge-porn issue. They
are also engaging with schools around internet safety.
There was an issue of a federal worker downloading child pornography at work – and there was nolegislation to prevent that or make them able to be dismissed/prosecuted.
They have prosecuted 12yos for producing child pornography and were told that they had seen it on
their parents’ phones and were copying what they had been exposed to.
There is minimal human trafficking and good human trafficking legislation in place in every state. This
is not a concern from a legislative perspective, even with increased internet access. There was an
issue of people being taken to Guam for work and then having their passports taken off them, andchild brides to Australia.
Importing illicit materials (weapons, drugs, etc) – the legislation could be improved in this area atnational and state level. Meth is starting to come in. There are some illegal weapons – mostly bow andarrows. In Chuuk, they also use “Philippine Sling Shots”.
Gambling is illegal and not much of an issue, although there are some problems with lottery scams.
Have heard that their connection currently has no security – it is an open connection (not sure if this istrue – but project component 3 looks to address issues of cyber security already).
Issue of a young man being blackmailed from Cote D’Ivoire who committed suicide. Romance scam,
where compromising pictures were threatened to be released online without consent.
FSM has particularly high suicide rates – it is very prevalent. There is also a lot of existing sexual
abuse of children.
Issues of bullying also – posting of local fight videos – impacts adults and children
On some outer islands (Ulithe) – people are choosing to buy internet credit instead of food. A welfare
issue for their children.
In terms of a National ID – there is no privacy in FSM already, so the privacy aspects of this would beless of a social concern. The population is so small that everyone knows everything. There areexisting social security numbers, passports and registers that could be used as a basis.
There are online ‘dramas’ on the Micronesian Forum, where people post a lot of negative posts,
particularly targeted at the government. This is more used by middle aged / older population, while
teenagers and younger users are more on Facebook. Issues with the younger group include filming
live pornography, sometimes get people very drunk and then film them, lots of issues and impacts on
people’s reputations, causing a source of distress. It is very easy for share/email/forward photos andvideos. Young people are now being exposed to a lot of content online.
Some consideration is needed regarding restriction of certain sites and content.

Consultation: #6
Date:

14th August 2019

Participants:

1 + project teamDiscussion:

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Definitely need better internet speed – lots of advantages for the health sector. Bandwidth is currently
a big concern and issue for them. Would like to be able to connect to health clinics and other heathsites on remote communities/outer atolls by video conferencing.
Currently they have issues of duplication of records and tracking where everyone goes. Would be
useful to stay up to date on health services accessed, vaccinations, etc. They are currently unaware if
people are being treated elsewhere.
Connecting to other states and countries would also be very beneficial for knowledge sharing andtraining. There are federal programs for online health records (eHealth record - EHR) is being
developed currently for all states, but it requires a certain level of internet connectivity to be beneficial
which is not currently there. The EHR system would address their key needs for the health sector.
They have been waiting for this for over 2 years already.
Outer island health staff are would benefit from increased access to online learning without flying.
They currently connect via radio, which is open to anyone to listen to and has confidentially issues andsometimes is difficult to communicate effectively through.
When people are born on the outer islands, a health ID is created, but sometimes that doesn’t comethrough and they end up with duplicate records. They often don’t record the date of birth andsometimes don’t have family names or use them inconsistently (sometimes their own name,sometimes their father’s name, sometimes they forget what they provided previously). This contributes
to duplicate health records.
National ID system would cause some concerns for security/privacy, depending on how it was usedand how many different government services it was linked to. This may be concerning for users.
Since internet access has been on Yap, have not seen an observable increase in the incidence ofsuicide rates. There are concerns that parents used devices to ‘babysit’ their children which is notdevelopmentally ideal for long durations.
There has also been no clear change in terms of either legal or illegal drug use as a result of current
level of internet connectivity in Yap.

Consultation: #7
Date:
14-Aug-2019
Participants: 1 + Project Team
Discussion:-

Fully support the program internet access around the island. Cheaper, would be wonderful to remove
the monopoly.

Consultation: #8
Date:

15th August 2019

Participants:

5 + project teamDiscussion:--

Socially conservative entities concerned about content control – and using this to slow down the
project. Consider ways to enable that without slowing down implementation. Censorship.
If a family don’t want children watching too much content, it’s up to the family.
With new upgrades – what speed are we talking about? FSM has 100GB per second coming in.
Concern that the regulator will be throttling – actually has allowed for future data needs.
At some point a list of rates are going to be presented – and they are too high for people to use,
especially for businesses (worse than for individuals).
Business Rates US $2,400 – 11,000 per month (if you pay upfront, 10% discount).
Competition in the Telecom sector? It’s still a small market and risky. It’s a very difficult place tonavigate business wise. There is an ethical responsibility on TCC to get this through, so the end users
get connectivity at affordable rates.
Once the infrastructure is in place – then it is more possible to open up the market to other retailtelecommunication providers to create competition – removes some of the business risk.
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If the cable is provided free – the cost should come substantially down as the satellite currently in use
is really expensive. Increased competition may also reduce end user costs.
Business account – currently paying $399 per month for 2.5MB per second (one step up from thebasic).
Councils will provide letters in support of the project.
Local company assisted with the construction of the terrestrial component of the sub-marine cable.
They won the bid competitively.
Outer islands are still pretty traditional – a matter of the council to provide permission to enter. Foreign
work force would be okay if there is no option of a local one. Preference to workers from the local
island.

Consultation: #9
Date:

15th August 2019

Participants:

2 + project teamDiscussion:
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In Yap – if it is on the road, then there is an easement – and as such no impact on driveways, trees,etc.
Land in Yap is privately owned (individual), including in Yap proper and on the outer islands. The
government.
In Colonia – some properties are owned by the government.
Some land titles are formal – but it is through the chief for landowners.
On outer islands, government has permission for public buildings (such as schools, health clinics,
dispensary).
On Rumung island – there is no land with government permission. Would need the permission of thechief to be able to provide access. There is a school – but it’s on the other side of the island. Telecom
company already have assets setup. Existing satellite tower with solar power.
If a cable was to be run to Rumung, would need to do a marine assessment. Would not need to be as
sophisticated as sub-marine.
As long as the community want it, then there shouldn’t be that much damage.
There is a causeway connecting Rumung, but it has been damaged (impassable). There was a recent
proposal for dredging – didn’t get anywhere because of manta rays in the broader area. Preliminary
assessment was undertaken – report can be provided (from James to Wilmer).
Approximately 40% of land titles are contained in an excel sheet by Dep of Land. On Yap proper only,
nothing on the outer islands. Operating a GIS system – would be useful to make that available topeople outside. Would allow for land use planning. Sheet is stored as backup in a vault. Marine also
provide their data to SPC – surveys and assessments.
Primary and secondary roads all have easements. There are maps available – in hard copy (orscanned).
Telecom would have maps of existing copper wire locations. Public service corporation have also laidwater pipes.
The Department of Land can hold community level consultations ahead of works so that people areaware of the project. As long as communities are involved there shouldn’t be any issues.
For State Government connection - US$300 per month for land, US$200 per month for marine fromtheir budget. Perhaps subsidised by the state gov.
Personally - $30 per month for home use. Get to use it for 5 days out of the month – it is unlimited, butthere is not always access, sometimes not available and sometimes very slow.
Roads have not changed much in the past 30-40 years, except widening (through agreement with thechiefs). Some of the maps showing easements were developed in the 1970s-80s.
Need to control access – software for the office to block access – at home told the kids not to use it,check their history. This is already happening and will continue under the project. “You cannot control
that”. With every good thing, comes a few bad things. Heaven and a little bit of hell.
The local way is more important than the churches. Chiefs are the “bottom line”.
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Consultation: #10
Date:

15-Aug-2019

Participants:

13

Discussion:
Each year run the National Women’s Conference. Types of issues that they look at include:•

Food security•

Eliminating violence against women•

The Family Protection Act NOTE: RELEVANT FOR COMPONENT 3•

Improving women’s participation in politics

Questions / Comments:- Is this project being implemented by Telecom? Some sensitivities/concerns regarding this andstructure/distinction between Telecom and OAE.
- Will this replace the copper?
- Workers – noted that there was a garment factory that had foreign workers, and they were not awareof local customs and sensitivities.
- Proposed that workers should have cultural awareness training (no bikinis, no photos of stone moneybanks, no trespassing on private land) before arriving, as well as STD and other communicabledisease (e.g. TB) testing (work with public health).
- Everyone was looking forward to faster, better service. Even old people want to stay in contact withchildren overseas.
- If the technology becomes 5G, will there be health implications? Not currently proposed and not sure if
this is a real or perceived risk.
- The internet will impact life and living – need to have some education/awareness program before theinfrastructure is available. People change their lifestyles (staying up late, sleeping in), changes
priorities and perspectives. However, most people already have some internet access in their homes
and these issues have already arrived. At home, people often wear headphones and are moredisconnected from each other. Kids often know more about technology than their parents.
- Training for parents on parental controls will be important – particularly for women.

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Consultation: #11
Date:

15-Aug-2019

Participants:

3 + Project Team

Discussion:- In the 1980s, when the copper was laid, Rumung didn’t want to have it installed.When they wanted tolay the submersible fibre optic, the people on this side where the cable terminated said “they don’t
want development”. Rumung was not consulted regarding the project. Decision made on thetestimony of other people.
- Chief stated that they are interested in having the community connected to the internet.
- There are typically 30 people during the week, but on a weekend, there would be around 100 people
there. It’s part of Yap proper island (not an outer island).
- Diaspora would be 700-800.
- The underground fibre would be preferable if there is project budget available. However, there are twovillages / communities / chiefs, and it would need to be considered if the wireless may suit the needs
better.
- There is not currently power on the island. There have been plans for electricity. The difficulty is thelow population.
- There is no public land on Rumung – it’s all private land.
- Who owns the channel between Rumung and the next island? The same community on both sides of
the island (one village), and other villages (with different chiefs) along the north side of the island,
where the road/track runs (approx. 3m across). Would be a logical connection across the island along
the existing road/track.
- Municipal chief will organise a meeting of the other village chiefs to discuss.
- The economics of this and technical design needs to be considered. Channel is used by hotel boats
etc. as well as people living around the area. Would need to sign post that the cable is there.
Deliberate damage possible if there is a brawl. Have been some plans for dredging to deepen thechannel. This has not been approved, but it is a potential issue. Someone is negotiating to develop theuninhabited area as a tourist development. No casino proposal in this area.
- Government control and family control of internet use. Some legislation – to control what types ofprograms or filter some content.
Consultation: #12
Date:

16-Aug-2019

Participants:

13 + Project Team

Discussion:- Roads are gazetted – primary and secondary – public- Update from “islands” to “atolls” – as an atoll may be more than one island- Last mile connections – is the important one – how and where they would like it. Fibre is excellent
news, that opportunity to provide input in where it would go to. At some point – is it logistically possible– there may be a lot of different homes. Instead of going to every single home, can do wide WIFI
spots. Could be handled through villages/communities to share access through telecom.
- All the villages have power, except Rumung island.
- Structure of FSM TCC – is that the OAE. Concern about Telecom, monopoly and pricing.
- Lack of information – assumption that we have fibre now – but the costs are the same, theperformance hasn’t improved – closeness of Telecom and the Cable Corporation. Want to be
comfortable that the intention of the OAE is – have some influence on how that is structured.
- Revenge porn – putting together some legislation.
- (Online gambling), children’s access to content, adult content, cyber bullying, scams, access to thedark web.
- Fake news – nothing in place to help with that.
- Overuse of technology – esp. children.
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Who will be the agency responsible for supporting component 2 and 3 of the project?
Foreign workers should supplement the work force – if possible, want them to be Yapese.
Project design to include a fourth component on community awareness raising, on parental controls,
cyber bullying and scams.

Consultation: #13
Date:

16-Aug-2019

Participants:

8 + Project Team

Discussion:- Clarify regarding the existing copper line connecting to the sub-marine cable.
- Which line is better – telephone line or underground?
- With sea level rise, the existing copper cable running around near the ocean is sometimes exposed.
May need to consider the routing of the new cable in terms of sea level.
- How do communities / villages connect ‘collectively’ to a wide area WIFI network, instead of individual
households.
- Council can provide a letter outlining their preference around to the distribution cabinet, to thepremises / house or village level, including their commitment to the land aspects.
- What timeframe?
- Chiefs were in support of the proposed project.
- Like some idea of controlling internet access to the people – how and where is that control coming
from? Is it the government, international, etc?
- Water line, power and current copper are in place. Might be an idea to follow that and everyone cantap into it. Issues on the coastal areas where it is exposed. The road is not submerged, but the cables
are exposed. There may be places where it needs to be up on poles (near the hospital).
Consultation: #14
Date:

16-Aug-2019

Participants:

3 + Project Team

Discussion:- Perhaps 21-22 islands were connected to the solar mini-grid project- It is very hard to track population numbers as people move a lot (e.g. commute for weekdays but areback for weekends). School kids come to Yap Proper, and back for the holidays.
- Some of the atolls have underground services – this is much better due to exposure to typhoons.
- Most places are currently connected by radio- Everyone on the outer islands would have already had some exposure / access to the internet.
- In our culture, if a relative passed over, modify … how do you tell local communities / family first before
the news is spread more broadly.
- The proposed ‘Component 4’ is needed in terms of raising awareness of people on the risks of theinternet – in particular around cyber bullying, awareness of scams and prevention, and parental
controls.
- Legislation around child pornography, use of internet in workplaces (including government) etc. could
also be reviewed to ensure that there are no gaps.
- Would also need to review legislation in light of the dark web and other illegal activity.
- Make sure that there is no ‘elite capture’ of access on outer islands in terms of controlling accessacross a community.
- The schools are on community land – not government property – they have permission to build
schools, dispensaries, etc. If ever the government decides to relocate – the land goes back to thecommunity. This is also the case for the church. That lease agreement is through the council.
- Requested additional consultations as the project proceeds – to confirm where they would beplaced.
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Local workers are preferred – if the contract comes with outside workers – that’s okay.
Request a list of islands, atolls, an estimate of the maximum population
Council is next meeting later this month – if we can get the blurb for the chair to tell the council
what we have talked about, and to assist with collating the list. Sebastian can perhaps attend themeeting.
6 main atolls
No past issues with foreign workers.
They are to tell us which islands are needed and where it should be put – determine the best
location. Never have a mountain on the outer islands.

Consultation: #15
Date:

16-Aug-2019

Participants:

2 + Project Team

Discussion:---

Land is via stewardship and is passed via name, and the majority of it is not documented. Landcannot be sold – no one has the right to sell land as it affects the whole clan. There have been
attempts to survey and document land ownership, but it remains complex.
Each community has a ‘Failu’ for men (by the waterfront) and a ‘pebay’ (community house) near
the centre of the village for all. Some also have historical ‘women’s houses’ but less common now.
Connections could be provided to the ‘Pebay’ in communities where it is complex to get it to every
household (e.g. if land permissions don’t allow access to houses behind other houses, then it may
be possible to distribute from central point wirelessly.
Will be important to consider access and costings for the outer islands – for them it will be literally
lifesaving.
The US Compact will expire in 2023.China has been heavily courting FSM and giving gifts.

Consultation: Radio Presentation
Date:

16-Aug-2019

Participants:

Public - Radio

Discussion:
An overview of the project was provided over Yap
Radio.

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Consultation: #17
Date:

19-Aug-2019

Participants: 1 + Project Team
Discussion:-

There was a grant for the fibre optic
cable laid on Weno, which is currently
being taken to the premises.
Each municipality has a mayor. The
Chuuk Power Utility Corporation(CPUC) are putting solar panels on
schools in selected islands. For
permissions the Mayor represented
the communities. These may be goodsites for satellites as they also requirea power supply.

--

Land on Weno island is privately owned. Weno and some of Tonoas islands have easements forroads, but the other islands don’t. The people would not agree to them.
Internet would bring more exposure to the outside world and brings privacy concerns throughparticipation in online forums.
Some lagoon islands don’t have power, and some have sporadic power (solar, generators). There aresome who are getting mini grids.
The World Bank provided a $60m infrastructure grant – Chuuk had a share for road construction. This
will likely be used on Tonoas. It would be good to coordinate on construction with the road project.
Faichuk island group within the lagoon is one of the most populated parts of Chuuk, but also has somemajor issues. They do have solar but no road or easements.
Suggested it would be good to outreach to communities so that they understand the project.
Gambling is illegal in Chuuk. A group proposed to setup online gambling from Chuuk and sought tochange the legislation, but it was not permitted. Would need to consider online gambling legislation.

Consultation: #18
Date:

19-Aug-2019

Participants:

9 + Project Team

Representatives from:•

Chuuk Public Utility Corporation (CPUC)•

Department of Transportation and Public Works•

Legislature•

Department of Education•

Department of Health Services•

Chamber of Commerce•

FSM Telecom•

Economic Commission

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Discussion:
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Road easements are only in place in Weno and Tonoas (lagoon islands). In other places they don’t
have easements.
Land considerations here will need to be carefully managed, however there is likely to be communityand leadership support (formal and traditional) for the project that will support this going forward.
There was a pretty big typhoon that hit about 4 years ago. Digging is more intrusive than putting inabove ground cables. They may not want that to happen.
ADB grant for 20m for a new water system for Weno. Already starting public radio announcements out
to the communities. This year suffered a major drought – no rain for 7 months – very concerned thatthey would run out of water for the island.
The state law is clear for Utilities – they can put things in place for private property – there areconstraints on nuisance, and it can’t detract from the value of the property (services typically increase
the value). Law was amended about 7 years ago for the utilities. OAE would need to look at their lawsalso – do they have something similar? This would be a national law. Would be more community
resistance to putting it in the ground – a great time would be when water pipes are being laid along theroad for Weno. For Tonoas – have put the distribution line around the island, now running to a 20m
coconut processing facility. Just signed a PPA for that. Before they put the poles in, spoke to village
chiefs and got them to sign authorisation.
The old roads have asbestos pipes under the old roads. Was installed in the late 60s and 70s – it has
been leaking (water pipe leaking).
In Weno – on the main road should be okay. Some question on other roads – should be fine?
Other islands – some don’t have roads.
Discussions with mayor of Fefan for projects. Community is supportive once you explain the project
and what it is for. If they run into problems, talk to Toss.
Outer islands – they need it, and they would be supportive.
National statistics office – has data but it is a bit outdated. Will be a new census in 2020. No state
census, only national.
Telecom are planning to put on two more towers.
There is an existing lease agreement between Telecom / telecommunications sector for cables to belaid on power poles owned by the CPUC (utility).
Can assume safely that all communities would want this.
Land can be addressed.
Construction workers – if they are in their hundreds, then they may complain. When 10-20 would not
be a big issue.
There are no legal quotas – just regulation. The first priority is local workers – Chuukese instead ofoutsiders. At least labour would be local.
National law controls employment. The constitution requires locals to be employed if they are
qualified.
Foreign companies have to train locals – in the FSM Labour Law.
Filipinos were convicted for sex trafficking of minors – bringing Filipino workers into FSM. With local
girls.
Outside of Weno – people currently have limited access. A lot of the population is outside of Weno.
The downside issues are already here – they are existing.
Quite a dramatic number of youths – their marriages were arranged through Facebook. Online dating,no particular issues.
Parental control. Through schools and also community centers.
Internet usage boomed here when social media turned up. Facebook is synonymous to internet.
CPUC are expanding power to the outer islands – economically – there is no way that people on theseislands can pay for power. If it’s affordable or too expensive. For power – great intention from WB but
could bankrupt the utility. Would it be subsidised by people from the bigger islands to the outerislands? How can these remote communities viably connect? Even in more densely populatedareas…
Awareness on identify theft. Viruses. Fake news. Political interference. Social discourse.
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People from the lagoon area need the internet. For communications, to send money. In Faichook
area, need to go up to the mountain to get access. The internet access would be very helpful to getvery good internet connection to the people out there to connect to relatives outside.
Then on the other side for FSM Telecom – would like the money to remain here to help the Chuukeconomy, not sending out lots of money abroad if there are foreign companies coming here. There islegislation that is being developed to ensure that companies are registered locally.
Drugs are not a problem, except locally grown marijuana.
Outer islands – rely on families for remittances. Would be a plus to have faster internet.
Operations for search and rescue would be reduced – through Dep of Transport – if they have cell
phones on outer islands, would make our lives easier. Would also put in requirements to carry, alongwith safety life jackets, also a cell phone.
Law on telecommunication – previously only Telecom, now there is OAE. Telecom used to be the only
company authorised by law to do telecommunications. As a consumer, you want competition for prices
to go down and service to go out. But when consumers are winning if they are foreign companies, but
the funds go abroad, that’s a problem for the economy.
Rough for locals to reduce investments to turn around against Telecom and used against them. As autility – heard WB was putting money to a competitor and allow others to use their wires to kill theirbusiness.
For outer islands– some lease agreement for the power utility to have land for provision of services.
Land is not granted. $1,300 pm for 25 years for leasing the land. The savings from fuel are to go
towards paying the lease for land for solar. Use those savings to keep the tariff flat. Doing projects on
the outer islands costs more money – need to get a boat, go to outer islands to maintain. Savings onfuel is to be passed on to the outer islands. Chuuk is spread so wide – 15-20 hours one way, you’re
still in Chuuk in any direction. There are also no economies out there – there are people who havenever had power for hundreds of years – don’t want to put assets in locations where they can’t
maintain them. Need to work in conjunction with the utilities – they are both WB funded. There will alsoneed to have power there. They are doing mini grids for these islands. There are two outer islands thatare moving access from 22% to 50% of the population – heavily populated. A region in the lagoon thathas 30,000 people. One outer island atoll would have a population of approximately 10,000 people –approximately 10-8 miles away from Weno/Chuuk Lagoon. May need a fibre to be laid to that location.
Still concerned whether they can do O&M on these islands.
Potential for the island’s economy to be stimulated by access to power – e.g. shops could open – butin the short term the utility has to depreciate these assets and they will be in the red. Gov subsidies
may not be an option. Even very cheap power – no one is using it – it’s too expensive. Our
government would not want to double their tariffs to provide for the outer islands, so they don’t
maintain it. Very expensive to deliver services. FSM is so hugely spread out.
Chuuk state – don’t have ‘pebay’ (community house) like Yap does – instead it may be a school orother community facility.
Cooperatives could be setup for villages / communities – creating an NGO that is a cooperation, withdifferent members – could have sub-coops. Could be setup at a municipal level, with each village as a
sub-co-op.
Would the wire be shared amongst all operators?
Certain frequency – used for 4G or 3G – there is only so much on the cable. Telecom is trying to buy
up that whole frequency.
Who appoints the board of the OAE? Concerns around transparency… how genuinely the access will
be open to competitors.

Consultation: #19
Date:

20-Aug-2019

Participants:

7 + Project Team

Discussion:

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If Chuuk state decides that the cable should be trenched, within the existing easement – only a permit
would be required. If the cable was aerial, what would be needed – for Weno – just the same thing.
Existing power poles on Weno are within the easements, and as such that communities have alreadygiven consent. Easement is 15ft from the centre of the road on each side, and an additional.
The road easement is 30ft total, and an additional 5ft additional on each side for services (40ft total).
Land is the biggest issue – all land is privately owned. Same situation as the first phase of this project.
Do secondary roads have an easement on Weno? Yes, they have easements on secondary road.
Usually in a community, the owner of the front gave permission to the owners behind and it goesforward from that. The front owner has control over everything – usually they are related, so if they
block access to services… it is resolved.
Chiefs don’t have power over properties – only influence. The landowners – would need to be theones who are consulted. Heads of families. 60% of Weno have formal land titles. For other lagoonalislands, it would only be 10-15%. Tanoas – 80% covered. Outer Islands – 10% titles.
The chiefs have say on the outer islands.
Preference if the fibre could be run all the way to the houses.
Utilities – power, water, sewer and communication – to private land. Telephone poles belong to theutilities – FSM Telecom are leasing some of those poles. It was quicker and cheaper to lay the cable
above ground – but it is costly when a typhoon comes through.
FSM Telecom are planning to take out the copper from Weno and take it to another state to bereused.
Lagoonal islands – quite a few with large populations – quite a few don’t have roads or power. What isthe easiest way to get telecommunications to them? Cable to each island, distributed by WIFI or 4G ineach location. Or to have a microwave dish to get the signal across. Prefer to have the lagoonalislands with cables underwater to connect them. Also need to engage with tidal owners – from highwater mark to the end of the reef is owned. Open water between the islands is owned by the state.
Therefore, microwaves may be a preferable option. Some of the lagoonal islands have populations ofapproximately
In Japanese times, power ran between Weno, Tonoas, Fefan and Etten. Unfortunately, they weretaken out and they were never done with any easement (forceful).
Depends on the islands lagoonal –For the outer islands, the Chiefs have the ability to determine regarding land.
ADB did an easement and the governor signed it into law. Passed by legislature - covers the price ofland valuation for easements / access across any private land. There would be costs involved if weare covering any private land. They are ongoing lease payments. Usually the deal is that there is a
one-time payment. This administration does not agree with leases – looking at purchasing land.
Easement for government land purchases – currently the government is demanding outright purchase– with a one-off payment (not ongoing lease payments).
There are some marine protected areas – also anywhere there may be unexploded ordinances andheavy traffic around sunk wrecks. There are some maps – particularly the dive shops. There are otherwrecks (not from the war) that have been sunk – some of those.
At the moment there is no concept of fibre across the lagoon itself.
Faichuuk – has the largest population.
Outside of the government assets on each island – then we would need to involve the landowners.
Would be important to engage with each group of stakeholders, landowners.
On all the lagoonal islands – would likely need to lease land to put these on. There are some
generators, and some solar going in, but not all of them. Would need to incorporate that as well.
On the outer islands – there are schools and dispensaries – could be used if suitable.
There are more than 20 atolls in Chuuk state, which consist of a number of islands. Some havecommunities and some don’t. Would discuss with disaster coordination office for numbers of people.
EPA has GIS system.
The national government has scheduled field trips to the outer islands – depends on FSM Dept.
Transportation, Communication and Infrastructure
Commerce and Industry Office also takes care of labour – needs to approval all labour that would
come in. There are no laws in Chuuk requiring a percentage of local workers.
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Preference would be local construction workers if possible.
Human trafficking – there was an issue of construction. There was a case involving project workers –the project manager got involved with a minor and they were convicted. The age of consent was moved
that year from 13 to 18yo.
Another issue is misinformation – when getting a lot of information to remote communities, and not highquality of information. People get news from Facebook.
Scams – online lottery problems.
There are existing need to make government data more secure – vaults for backups are not fireproof(only the door). The cloud / backup / data centre is key.

Consultation: #20
Date:

20-Aug-2019

Participants:

1 + Project Team

Discussion:- Difficult to look at negative side of the internet – young people are very interested in having access.
- Security issues- Young people are more vulnerable to a lot of risks – content for young people, but also increasing
vulnerability to human trafficking – recruitment is increasing- No law on cyber-safety – to cover the regulate the use of internet in the islands, especially in Chuuk.
- We see the potential that the internet brings to the islands, in terms of economy.
- Shared internet access – given the cultural dynamics – if it is provided to a community / chief to control.
Normally have to respect when told not to. There are homes where WIFI is shared with young people
and neighbours use it, it’s not really controlled by elders in the house – so that is not likely to be a
problem.
- Revenge porn is common in Chuuk. Uploading pictures and videos on Facebook – underaged girls
drunk and taken advantage of sometimes. These are issues that are surfacing on the internet and being
shared around. With the current internet that we have – it is difficult for law enforcement to prosecuteand convict on these because of the low capacity of law enforcement. How impactful this can be – will
increased access increase this problem?
- It’s an island context where everyone knows each other – when there is exposure to another person,then there can also be community violence breaking out as a result – typically against the perpetrator,and victim is discriminated or verbally attached. The family of the victim usually look for the perpetrator
to attack – to hurt them.
- A question of capacity of the law enforcement – improve the system.
- Have a law on human trafficking, including distribution of porn materials, especially that involves minors.
Interesting to work with the schools, also need to work with law enforcement to improve or expand
enforcement.
- Raise awareness in schools with young people – and through youth organisations – on the risks andissues of revenge porn.
- Chuuk has a big population of kids who are not in school – the negative impacts are normally bigger for
those who are not in schools. Work with local NGOs to connect to those people who are not in schools.
Also, the Church.
- The Chuuk Youth Council is a council of many organisations – many are church youth groups – usually
started and supported by the churches. Can create a curriculum – in agreement with the churches. So
far have seen complementary actions with churches to social issues – for a common good.
- Porn is a major concern for the churches – it’s usually a taboo – that in itself brings together NGOs,
CBOs and the church together – to work with young people to protect themselves from being victimisedby pornography, revenge porn, etc.
- Human trafficking – happens in Chuuk. One good thing about the internet is that it increases
awareness. Because it’s a taboo, a good idea to have on the internet

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Usual way of educating the communities – can find information online about how to protect yourself, canaccess information more broadly instead of listening through community where the social dynamics may
not allow you to ask questions.
One of the good things is that you are able to report it – improves communication. To complement thepotential idea of working with law enforcement, could improve reporting mechanisms so that people
reporting are being protected. At the national level there is legislation that protects people who reporthuman trafficking.
Long term impact in terms of people having difficulties in the community if they have reported someoneof authority. Would be very difficult – if they know that they have been reported on. Could block accessto opportunities, especially if they have been facilitated by the authorities.
There have been a couple of cases prosecuted resulting from online human trafficking. Human
trafficking law recently created in 2014 – it wasn’t enacted until 2-3 years ago. It’s hard to say if it wasthere before, as people have only started reporting it recently.
People being taken out of Chuuk – but also within the state. Not necessarily transferring of people fromone place to another. Definition is capitalising on the exploitation part. Could be people chatting on amessenger, and then they arrange a date, one or two more guys take up, abuse them, share it online.
Abuse of authority and use of a human being to do what they want to do, qualifies. Exploitation of anindividual involving a third party.
Support the project going ahead. Youth are pro-digital. The issues are the main ones. We want to see a
way toYouth are often marginalised – not included in implementation. Would like to be included in the
consultations, from planning stage to implementation. Propose more engagement with NGOs, CBOs,
etc.
Chuuk Women’s Council and Chuuk Youth Council – hold government to account.

Consultation: #21
Date:

20-Aug-2019

Participants:

10 + Project Team

Discussion:---

Mechanism for communal access to the internet is needed – especially for poorer communities and to
facilitate the development of commerce across the country. At the moment, a lot is centred on Weno
island. Remittances, banking services, etc would be beneficial if available for all consumers and moresecure. Payroll services for government employees would also be beneficial.
There is an interest in the upcoming procurement for the Digital FSM project for the CCOC members –they would like to be notified when these come up (Wilmer to action)
There would be educational benefits – such as online content – for remote communities and it would bevery important to include these islands. There should be uniform access to the internet across all of
FSM.
There is a need for legislation to support increased digital services (private sector) to be available –such as money transfer and shopify, etc platforms that are beneficial for the private sector.
Currently issues of land titling and surveying are major impediments holding up the economy.
There have been some issues in Chuuk with regards to online scams. Some sort of public education isneeded. People perceive the internet to be the ‘bible truth’ – and the internet even more so.
For businesses, it would be useful to have access to training on issues such as backups, virus
protection, banking security, etc. Perhaps through the College of Micronesia.
Would also be benefits to businesses and tourism through ATMs that are more reliably connected.

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Consultation: #22
Date:

20-Aug-2019

Participants:

1 + Project Team

Discussion:--

Most people have slow access to the internet. The fibre has made no difference – still very slow.
Need to consider how to deal with harmful aspects – pornography, etc.
There was a prosecution due to an assault of a young woman, that was recorded and posted online(self-incriminating evidence), however the perpetrators had left FSM before they were able to prosecute.
They need some ability to monitor content posted from FSM and to be able to track them down, as the
FBI are able to do, using IP addresses.
Legislation is needed to make disseminating information without consent (e.g. videos) a crime. There
are an increasing number of compromising photos and videos online. Some of them are nonconsensual.
There is not a lot of human trafficking in FSM – this is not of much concern
No additional legislation would be needed for online gambling – this would be covered under existinglegislation.
Supports the project to proceed.

Consultation: #23
Date:

21-Aug-2019

Participants:

1 + Project Team

Discussion:---

There is no government owned land on these islands (Fefan, Parem, Siis) and almost no easements.
Approximately 30% of the land on these 3 islands would be formally titled. On Fefan there used to be aroad, however it is now a walking track. An easement project started but stopped and there are only
some easements in place. There was some confusion over the boundaries and complexity of finishing
the project. There was a study done on Fefan for a tuna cannery project. There should be assistancefrom the state to clear the question of easements, but it would be necessary to hear from thecommunities.
On Parem island the school building may be suitable as a location – tentatively. Islands also havemeeting halls, churches and other community spaces.
Land consent is needed – from family, chiefs, etc.
Community awareness is needed – landowners would need to be engaged and give permission. Project
support would need to be developed, in certain municipalities, 95% of land is privately owned and there
are ongoing disputes between the Attorney General’s office and landowners over municipal assets (e.g.
schools). Engagement through consultations on island would be needed – there is low access to radio.
Chiefs represent the people. It would be needed to meet with the traditional and formal leaders of themunicipalities.
Currently most people have some (limited) access to the internet. Without legislation, it’s like driving on
a new road with no speed limit. Awareness and training are very relevant and important.
A big percentage of people have no income – how can they pay for services? 75% of income is fromoutside the islands, remittances are a big issue. Price structures are key for poor families.
Labour force – also would need to keep people informed and have liaison with the community.
There is some current 3G connection from other islands, however not full coverage.

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Consultation: #24
Date:

21-Aug-2019

Participants:

1 + Project Team

Discussion:-

Grateful to have cable to be
upgraded – both positive andnegative impacts.
Even with slow internet – seeing thebenefits – can communicate withfamilies and learn good informationfrom the internet.

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Again, the social issues that comes with this – would like us to work with Women’s council on those andhelp them to be aware on what has been experienced in other projects in other countries. Those are theinformation that they want to empower the communities want to learn the positive and negative fromother countries and minimise what is appropriate and applicable to our own people and educate themon the pros and cons on having access to the internet.
Currently most people have some access to the internet some of the time. The social impacts of theinternet are already here – they are experiencing them daily and the Chuuk Women’s Organisation are
working to address some of this and are keen for support to support this for youth, women and families.
In FSM for the World Bank - focused on infrastructure – what about social infrastructure?
With the internet – can rape – kids take pictures of girls and put it online – think it’s just for fun – but it’sreally a human rights violation. What we teach these girls and are empowering those girls. The
community is not ready for it. We are seeing it. Empowering and education of women and girls.
Organisation is trying to introduce the family law – at the state level. This looks at domestic violence andcounselling. There is no law on domestic violence. Encouraging consent – was successful in increasing
the age of consent from 13 to 18 years old.
National government has laws – looking to bring the state laws up to speed.
Almost every new project that brings in outsiders have issues with communities. Briefing is also nicewith the organisation that comes in so that they can share the issues that they have learned along theway from contract workers who take advantage of our girls. In 2014 age of consent law was approved –because of the experience that they had had with previous contract workers – some of them weredeported because they enforced the age of consent law. Helped the human trafficking cases. With new
people coming in – especially construction workers – have a debrief with organisations, government
agencies – before they come out in the community. They need to respect our culture and they arecoming from a different culture. Cultural awareness is the key to that – no excuse – they can sign off
that they did the briefing. There is a consultation with the people coming in.
Domestic violence is a big issue.
Human trafficking - There as a case where it was posted on the internet – a guy uploaded pornographic
image on the internet – detected from Pohnpei and the national police got that guy. Waiting for this trial.
A case in Guam – Chuukese women through they were going to be hired in Guam – but turned out it
was for prostitution. Once they reached Guam, they took away their passports. Girls were not educatedand didn’t know that they were there to be prostitutes. Sex trafficking and separate labor trafficking.
Recruiting girls to work in Guam as “storekeepers” but were taken passports. A relative was married toa police officer and exposed the case. Establishing Guam’s own human trafficking laws. Pacific /Micronesian region to focus on these laws. As we advance, we need to also learn more about whatcomes with the outside. Global issues that apply in our small communities. Educates us – also exposes
us to what is out there that is not good, relevant and healthy for our people.
Facebook – have seen Chuukese pictures passing through – naked videos – now shared and open out
there without accessing to the internet. Facebook has exposed Chuukese and they think it’s funny.
Facebook changes to privacy settings?
Like the idea of getting parents involved and monitor what their kids are exposed to. Parents being
engaged in their activities. Depends on each individual how they take control of the use of the internet.

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Some husbands don’t want their wives to be online and have the internet – believe that the way forthem to have an affair with someone, but the men have access. The man is in control and wife issubmissive to giving up the right to be on the internet. Then some wives that are smarter than thehusband and they get access to the internet at work. Depends on each individual and accessibility of
the internet.
Young teens have access to communicate on where to meet – can cause violence if they meethusband/boyfriend gets made – parents know that they went out with a guy and come back.
Changes to social dynamic – since having a phone, wives don’t cook, clean, do the washing – ordertake out or have children do the laundry. Got to look at both sides. Abusing of time – not looking after
the family – using the internet / Facebook instead of getting kids ready for school, searching forconnection. Don’t talk to real people, because using the technology.
There is a couple in the Lagoon island that stay in a place with free internet. They have been here for amonth without a house – just outside the church – bring their kids there – to have access to the internet.
The municipal office just removed them to go back to their island. Child neglect – just live on their boat
to have internet access.
People are using phone credit instead of buying food – also happens in Chuuk. Let their children stave.
One of the things that they are really seeing – kids are going to school and malnutrition is really
increasing. Leadership – need to show that they can’t always ask for infrastructure – but also otherprograms that are important. Help government implement some of the things that they can’t do.
Infrastructure and social – there are no funding for these social issues.
Grant from ADB to do a survey of the government performance – for the whole state. 2-3-year project.
Assessment from the community consultation came up with 5 priorities – social issues, economic andwork, education, infrastructure. Shared the result of the survey with leadership – went back todevelopment bank. Come up with priorities and promote these social issues.
There shouldn’t be any problems – women are the landholders – matrilineal – the women have the say,
but the men take care of the land. Women is the silent power – let the brother be the person
representing and speaking on your behalf – but the decision is from the women. Land that is for family
cannot be given – as the father have to buy your children land. Women have to be the ones to sign theland. Women have to be involved and talk to. Women are the one with their name on the land. For the
women to respect the brother and let them be involved. Some families it is changing, and the women
have all the rights and power and authority to the land. Everywhere in Chuuk the women own the land –lagoon and outer islands. Women has the power of the land, but to respect the brother they involve him.
Hard for man to sell the land – land is for all of us. Man going to respect and remember that even theparents told us that when they get married, they have to go and stay with the wife, not the other way
around. You can sell land in Chuuk.
Where will it go? Consultations with communities – balance of technical, economic and social / land.
Very ready for fast internet

Consultation: #25
Date:

21-Aug-2019

Participants:

1 + Project Team

Discussion:--

All outer islands have schools (fairly big, with long term leases), dispensaries. No need to use private
land.
How difficult Chuuk is – WB paid for a consultancies firm Entura to bring a whole team to Chuuk, hired
some locals to do a feasibility study to all these islands (lagoon, Mortlocks and North West) to determine
if they can pay for power, if their economy can be generated. Will give a report in 2 months – still
haven’t got the feasibility study – it’s too hard to come up with a feasibility for these islands.
You can be on a ship for 25 hours in each direction and still be in Chuuk.
The majority of these islands have never had power, or roads. In order to put in power – either above
ground or underground. Needs equipment – diggers, bring over lines, transformers, easements, go to

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people and put a pole here for people who have never dealt with this before. Geographically this is very
difficult.
Within the lagoon looked at dropping a cable – two benefits to this – could just expand the power plantin Weno – other benefit is land is cheaper on lagoon islands compared to Weno – could then put solar
farms on those islands and bring it back.
ADB have said they need to do a study to map the ocean floor in the lagoon to determine the length ofcable needed and any issues in terms of the ocean bed.
The islands are not surveyed – except Weno – maybe some (few) within the lagoon. Our landcommission office was mismanaged and burned down several years ago. The vault was actually open
when it burned down – so everything burned inside. There are no surveyed boundary lines on theislands, how do you determine the owners.
4-5-6 generations, with no probate down – so how do you determine if it has been passed down
appropriately. When you go to villages – you know that the family has been there for a few hundredyears – but who owns which plot within the family land – as soon as they might have money fromputting up a tower – everyone wants land. IF you deal with the wrong landowner, you get sued ormachetes.
Weno is more modernised – businesses, power, water, cable, TV, internet – people are pretty civil.
Within the islands, still a lot of infighting – people are dying from fighting with knives, rocks. No public
safety out there – police.
Can shoot signals – hard for people to cheat with that. For power generation – got to have a generator,
solar panels, or both as mini-grid – but also need to have a distribution network with cables. $3 million
for mini-grid for 2 islands – one lagoon and one in the Mortlocks. Satawan – approx. 20 hours by shipfrom Chuuk Lagoon. World Bank brought back Entura – they went by plane (6 people max) – withrenewable energy person. They are doing a feasibility study for that island. The $1.5m from WB is
supposed to be a mini-grid with combination of diesel generator and solar – need to be able to get
drums of diesel out there. Need to be able to train locals to do basic maintenance on the lines – likely
above ground. They have an above ground system, but it has been down for years. Only works when
the congressman buys diesel – they don’t maintain it – fuel injectors will get dirty, clogged – safetyissues. Islanders with limited outside exposure – safety issue. How do they dispose of oil? They are
self-generating and who is in charge of that.
About 10 years – Chuuk was the worst utility in FSM – power out every 2 days, no money for
employees or to buy the fuel. Today we are the best in FSM – Pohnpei is now the worst. USA came inand put in $15mill into Chuuk’s system. We have just got out of a hole – this connection to the outerislands could sink the utility – as they can’t maintain it. The feasibility studies are very important – don’t
want to put the infrastructure in if they can’t feasibly maintain. Expectations – people wait for power intheir home, but it doesn’t come, or it doesn’t last – only works for 6 months, then it doesn’t work, and
WB has gone.
World Bank is looking at the access to energy – currently 22% - those two islands would move it up to
close to 50% based on population for those islands. Sounds grand and dandy – island needs power,
give it to them. The question is can we do it in a sustainable manner. Telecoms can’t do it without
power. All the outer islands – individuals have private generators – all of them.
The satellite may be more viable than the power – as the infrastructure is not as involved.
If you want to generate an economy where people don’t need to leave the island because they cansustain.
A survey would be very helpful to know how many people have self-generation.
Some islands – the population is very transitory based on season, and also there is a lot of migration ofyoung people to the USA. Need locals to come back and deal with issues here. In order to solve a
problem, you need to be a local – half the battle is to train the locals. The issue in FSM is too much
migration. Under compact 2 – people go for studies but can now stay and live in the USA.
Currently doing Tonoas – had to take bulldozer, bucket truck to lift people to the poles – tyres break
down, suspension breaks down. Petroleum company are doing the generation, utility is doing the
distribution. Don’t know how they are going to manage operations – local office or send people from
Weno. Have a lot of local contractors that they have worked with – can’t determine if they need an office
there until they know the load. Not sure how much the revenue will be – the island has not had power
for a long, long time. The landowners shut down the power plant – they wanted a new lease, wouldn’t
agree to the amount, and shut it down.
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The people who own the land with the power generation are fairly wealthy families – if the deal falls
through, they have enough for their own generators – so they are really impacting everyone else.
Related by blood – you are part of a clan. This is fading somewhat.
There is conflict between adjacent landowners – conflict between people who live next to each other –such as boundary lines, who owns the land, what you can do with the land.
There is really little development – the compact has given $1 billion over 30-40 years – to FSM, Chuuk
has the most. When you go around, we can’t tell.
Why lack development – land issues, lack skilled workers – electricians, accountants, lawyers, doctors,
lawyers.
The US front loaded the compact – released a lot of money when the society wasn’t developed. Pulledpeople off the street – made them judges – people got money to buy boats, cars, family, etc.
If we could go back in time, back load the funds – as people are educated and understand how tomanage the government, private sector. Now the US is strict with the money - $197million is frozen rightnow because they have to go through the US to get money approved. They just say no, as mostprojects are not in compliance if they think it’s not necessary. Chuuk is about to get $90 million. Somewill be on a new hospital.
Post-disaster recovery funds – USAID – may have funded the Telecom fibre cable on Weno (possibly
funded by the compact)
Telecom do have an anti-competitive stance – they were highly against it. Statutorily created company –100% owned by the government but no shareholder dividends. It is subsidised. Concern that people
may lose their jobs… e.g. the CEO of Telecom – would push against it. There was a lot of false things
said about World Bank and their intentions – this continues today. Some people have conspiracy
theories that WB want to take control of these countries. There is also a sentiment that this is ourcompany – one of the few that have been successful in FSM. Rob Solomon came to Chuuk – want theland next to Telecom – L5 is hotel of DUDE and his wife – told him they would get high speed internet.
Utilities in Chuuk – specific law to allow you to go into private properties. It is a CPUC specific law – if
the definition of infrastructure included telecom, could make an argument to make that right.
To lay cables underground on a new route – now will deal with these challenges of landowners wanting
to see the law to see if you’re allowed to put in Telecom cables. There has to be a lot of outreachprograms – radio announcements, food for bringing the chiefs together – the chiefs (every single one)signed it, mayors and formal municipal leaders – promises that they will be allowed to put in the lines
and regularly maintain the lines. A lot of outreach in Chuukese. Also did Q&A.
Feasibility – in October will put in a line item for public outreach and media – 10% of budget, cameras,
chairs, tents – go out to islands. There is little outreach for the private sector.
World Bank’s goal – 80% of utilities in FSM are owned by the public. Major disconnect between public
and private sector – but the biggest users are the private sectors. They are doing projects in a vacuum
without engaging with the private sector. Before they do projects, go village to village and get people’s
perspectives on things.
Tell people that they are putting a new pipe – currently there is an asbestos pipe underground – need to
do a study on leaving that in the ground. Zero outreach right now.
There is anger with Telecom in Chuuk also – expectations.
The CEO for OAE – they had a small distraction about salary of $300-400K per year. Something isn’tright – who pays for this. Fearmongering – who pays for it. Misinformation? 200-300K per year.
President Christian – was here with the new regulator – and the new OAE CEO for ribbon cutting.
Teased Pieter the whole time about how much he makes – the $400K man. In front of everyone.
Misinformation creating fear in people and giving out information that isn’t true. Leads to confusion –whose fault is it...? What is slowing things down.
We have high speed now – can download movies and HD already.
AMI – changed meters so they are smart readers. Can be connected and disconnected – all meters
done online and can be managed online. Telecom is not dependable.
$10m renewable project – 2MW solar farm – load is 2MW – during the day could be running on the sun.
Need a computer to monitor coverage and warm up the generator if the clouds are approaching, turn on
generator when the clouds are there, switch back. The internet is not dependable enough. Go to OAE,
setup their own system – to connect to the fibre.
A 3rd party may create their own local network. To provide essential services in a reliable way.
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The future is collecting data through the network. There is so much error with humans.
Meter readers are fabricating readings for relatives, misreading. ADB are grading the utilities.
The current management is not capable of turning around the performance of CPUC. We have 24-hour
power but still major problems. Dependable high-speed internet will have a huge impact. Data collection
is huge for the utility. They have no IT department – need to bring it on.
If Telecom put in a fibre that isn’t up to par – they didn’t do transparent procurement – they are getting
ready as a utility to move onto the cloud – social impact if the second phase is not good.
Without power, water and sewer – you cannot develop an economy. A lot of people come and look at
the ocean and resources – but can’t invest here without the infrastructure.
With cable and the security of fibre optic – helps with water. The new water system is smart meters $20m from ADB for new water system. Reticulated water system for Weno and Tonoas – buried pipes.
Probably design will be 2020, construction in 2021.
ADB contact person – Michael Trainer.
Private engineering firm from Guam – advisors for a new water project. A lot of the WB, ADB projects
bring in their own engineers – want to bring in local engineers. Can’t rely on engineers from the entity
providing funds. Take two workers up to Guam, teaching them how to do GPS and mapping. Comeback to Chuuk and do portions of the water lines. If we can put in the lines with their GPS system, would
be very helpful.
What size of the pipe, brand name of the meter, meter number – all mapped on GPS. Could also map
the cables with them. Would really help with O&M in the future. Could be laid in conjunction.
Also, will be doing laterals into houses – could do the same pipe into the houses.
Telecom are already in the Mortlocks – putting in towers. FSM Congress money – appropriated funds todo this. Violation of terms of agreements?

Consultation: #26
Date:

21-Aug-2019

Participants:

1 + Project Team

Discussion:---

There is some internet through satellite to the Mortlock region through Telecom – to the closer islands
There may be future social impacts through connecting these islands that have no current connectivity.
If WB can provide the means to improve telecoms in the area, it would be most appreciated. Plenty ofplans still on that.
11 municipalities with 4 atolls of a few islands each.
Enhance the connection of what they have now. Look at what we already have, and the new, put this
together.
Project to enhance the current capability. The intention is to get assistance to the remote places.
Wanted to mention issues of land – there are existing dispensaries – even those have issues until now.
All the land on the atolls – all owned by individuals or family. There are a few municipalities where they
have government land. Most municipalities have outright purchased land there. People also own the
tidal land.
Namonuk island – men own on that atoll. Everywhere in Chuuk – men are Chiefs. What the chief says isdone, not the women. The lineage is through the women, not the man.
There would not be a problem at all with leases for land if needed. The municipalities would support
that.
Only two islands in the Mortlocks that have a tower. On Mort – the satellite dish is on the roof of theschool building.
Express their interest in the program. Existing facilities for the government and open to sharing thosefacilities. It would also benefit a lot – including transportation around the islands.
People would be very interested in training people to maintain the infrastructure.

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No issues with people to come for works. Employment on island would be preferable. The labour is out
there. No municipality would deny the opportunity.Any jobs that can be done locally would be welcomedin the economy
What will the people get out of the project? The internet may help small businesses out there.
Question of ownership – OAE / Telecom
There is always a possibility to pay for services – some islands don’t have economies, but they find away. They have no choice. What are the rates for service?Free hotspots through schools may be an
option. Internet costs – how to spread costs of satellite across the users given higher costs for outerislands.
Mortlock Islands are 30 miles to 300 miles away. You can understand the problem, especially in case of
emergency. There used to be government owned vehicles making monthly regular runs for materials
and passengers. Is the World Bank providing grants for communications can they provide grants fortransport?
About half of people have some existing access – some of the time. They can be very determined;
people can go to small picnic islands just to get connection.
Even without the internet – things are changing (times are changing). With the internet more people areon it. This is expected. Facebook and all that. Good thing especially for emergencies.
We have the part of Mortlock that is closest to Weno. With the thinking these days, it is different from far
out there because they already have access to the internet. They might want that to happen earlier. It
would be a good advantage to do that.It’s free, it’s a grant. We appreciate it and are keen to have it assoon as possible.
Have the islands in the Mortlocks been considered – need to understand each island and which one hasaccess already. The outer Mortlocks – have zero access at the moment. The rest have some WIFI and3G that they can use – telephone and internet.
The remote communities should be considered first.
Funding is a grant.

Consultation: #27
Date:
26th August 2019
Participants: 3 + Project Team- Carson Sigrah- Governor
Discussion:-

Fibre Cable should be laid on the existing coastal road – not the new proposed alignment (unless they
do both).
There are easements for utilities for existing households – Governor would support looking at thisincluding OAE.
It would be important to do the submarine and terrestrial components together if possible.

Consultation: Walung Community Consultation
Date:

24-Aug-2019

Participants:

Approx. 25 people + Project Team

Discussion:-

ADB energy project - currently getting permission from landowners to run power cables. Ideal to run
fibre at the same time or allow space in the conduit for both. All people in Walung have given
permission, but state law requires all heirs (including overseas) to give permission also, which is
causing delays.

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Primary school building may be well located for a microwave tower. Cannot place behind the school. At
the front may be possible, will check but likely under existing school lease.
No work on Sunday. Workers need to Understand local culture. Culture is to feed visitors. Procurement
to require as many local workers as possible.
Some 3G access currently. Limited.
Concern that people may participate less in church. Kids may grow up with different culture andchanges.
In support of project and proposed fibre and microwave tower location (at front of school).

Consultation: Kosrae Stakeholder Consultation Workshop
Date:

26-Aug-2019

Participants:

18 + Project Team

Representatives from:•

Department of Transportation and Infrastructure x 1•

FSM Telecom x 1•

Governor + Governor’s office•

Attorney General•

Senators with Legislature x 8•

Legislature Legal Aid x 1•

Department of Administration and Finance•

Department of Resources and Economic Affairs•

Municipality•

Project Management Office•

Small Business Center

Discussion:
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There are over 1000 easements – have directed staff to start reviewing these as some may not bevalid/legal. Some may need to be updated. May be a challenge. From the landing point to … side.
Decide whether we continue with the main route or look at the secondary point. Purposes of whether
these are still valid or not.
The government has purchased 300sqm – need to know exactly where the landing point will be – notyet finalised. The design team will have to look and consult on this. If it is within the corridors of that land
it will be okay – anything outside of that would need to be discussed.
For the cable landing station – needs to be flat and has a foundation (can be built). Doesn’t matter
where – can accommodate. Landing station – needs to be 8x8m. Will be on government land or with alease arrangement.
Decision has been made to go underground. The routing decision – based on the existing setup, not yeton the new road. Decision by the leadership.
The legislation allows all utilities to have access – this would include OAE as they can be seen as being
a utility.
If there are any problematic easements – they will be addressed by the end of the year.
How do you define a utility? Need to look at how to consider OAE. Is/was Telecom a utility - Yes? All
public services are utilities.
Who pays for operations and maintenance? Does the WB fund that? The cost of maintenance would be
reduced as compared to maintaining a copper network.
Kerma – EPAs – can also include training / capacity building within the project. Also, for maintenancetechnicians.
This room includes law makers and decision makers. Take more time to deal with social and env
safeguards.

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It is very clear that they want the cable as soon as possible. Leadership – would like to nominate asocial point to work with directly so the government can support the effort to be quicker. Everyone isvery anxious, not to talk but to proceed.
Glad to have the timetable to communicate to the people.
Some demand with respect to land. Some consideration to that.
What to do when there are households behind other houses in terms of access.
On the map – Kosrae has decided to pursue the cross-island road. In the future if they decide to identify
funds to redirect land to new road to connect communities. Could be included but would be issues witheasements and road alignment. There are about 3-4 miles left to complete the segment. On the second
tranche – 6-7 miles.
Regulators tell incumbent operators – separated accounts (landlines, mobile, etc). They need to be able
to make phone calls from their network to operators and the other way around.
Telecom has existing fibre optic to the villages. Using it for cable TV – not integrated to telephone
network. For terrestrial fibre… don’t connect to copper cable as it doesn’t make sense speed wise.
Prefer local workers – not right now.
Can’t work on Sunday – as long as they are compliant with the laws.
Hackers – already happening. Awareness raising for community on this.

Consultation: #30
Date:

26-Aug-2019

Participants:

2 + Project Team

Discussion:--

Concern regarding content for kids and what they can download
Interested in funding being allocated to women’s groups for advocacy on legislation relating to internet
use
On Kosrae, land is mostly owned by men (now collectively). There is an heirship law that requires
everyone to sign off regarding land permissions
There have been some issues with fishing companies and prostitution. When the airport was built by a
Korean company, there were also workers who left kids behind. The same issue has arisen with the USarmy.
In some cases, parents take their children to foreign workers as an income stream, and awarenessraising is needed around this.
Cyber bullying has already started at Kosrae high school.
KWA support the project, although noted that it would change culture.

Consultation: #31
Date:

26-Aug-2019

Participants:

1 + Project Team

Discussion:--

The department is ready to support the project
There are some issues with easements that the department are in the process of resolving. They are
undertaking a review of all the easements to see if they are valid and undertook to address any issues
before the project commences. Assured us that this review would confirm all easements were lawful
and therefore they would be robust at the time the project commences.
There is one new road being proposed (inland), and if this proceeds the department will secure theeasements for this also for construction. This may also include the area around to Walung community.

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The road corridor is 60ft wide, of which the road uses the middle 30ft. There is an additional 15ft on bothsides of the road.
Approximately 75% of the land is formally titled with Certificates of Titles (CTs)

Consultation: #32
Date:

27-Aug-2019

Participants:

1 + Project Team

Discussion:
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There is no current legislation for revenge porn, however some issues are arising already
FSM has some human trafficking, including some allegations, but there has never been a conviction.
The case from Chuuk where people were taken to Gaum was mentioned, however there don’t seem tobe any other examples from Kosrae.
The definition of human trafficking is quite broad, including issues such as domestic kidnapping andother items that may not typically be considered. A case was mentioned where a perpetrator took awoman from her house without consent and held her without permission, sexually assaulted her.
There are laws related to explicit adult materials
There is some domestic violence. A group sponsored by SPC are working on this issue. Family
protection laws in Kosrae are having a positive effect, with less incidents since the law has been inplace. The internet may also be useful to increase information and awareness of these laws.
Yap and Chuuk don’t have a family protection act
There was a scam involving someone from Kosrae, who sent $5-10,000 to Guam. Public awareness ofscams would be beneficial to avoid people falling for these.
Gambling is currently illegal;however, it is not clear if this law would also apply to online gambling
There were several cases where firearms were brought into Kosrae, which were prosecuted throughjoint law enforcement. Two instances were locals and one was an American. There is not a lot of
smuggling as Kosrae is too small.
Supported the proposed fibre optic cable as it would be a good thing for the community
No specific areas of support requested for legislation review – would be interested to have anexpert provide advice on what the main areas of concern would be and gaps in the legislation.

Consultation: #33
Date:
29th August 2019
Participants: 2 + Project Team
Discussion:
Appreciative and supportive of the project and briefing before the broad stakeholder workshop.
Consultation: #34
Date:
29th August 2019
Participants: 2
Discussion:
There is an existing system developed by the State Department of Education. The database contains
student and staff records. They are also proposing another system to address admin, finance and HR
issues. There is a national system also – mostly administration focused.
Not aware of issues within schools associated with cyber bullying or use of technology. Impression wasthat there is currently limited use of technology in the classroom, primarily with teenagers.
Consultation: #35
Date:
29th August 2019

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Participants: 1
Discussion:
Land ownership is a mixture of men and women, it was traditionally matrilineal but that changed underformal land ownership. Of the main island of Pohnpei, by land area approximately 30-50% is formallytitled. They are currently clarifying this percentage. There is no formal titling on the fringing reef islands
or outer islands.
There is a new law to allow utilities to access private land if it is requested. Currently utilities are notallowed to install on private land without a specific request. This can be done in “bulk” as a spreadsheetof households who have requested the service connection, to be managed through Department of Landor the Governor’s Public Information Office.
Consultation: #36
Date:
29th August 2019
Participants: 1
Discussion:
The internet has the potential to be particularly beneficial for people living with disabilities. People livingwith disabilities, and women in particular, remain very disadvantaged and are often very low / noincome. As such, it would be beneficial to find options for these people to access cheap or free internet
connection services so that they may be able to benefit from the project. Could look at those who aremembers of disability organisations as a way to target individuals.
Consultation: Pohnpei Consultation Workshop
Date:
29th August 2019
Participants: 28 + project team•Governor’s Office x 2 (including Lieutenant Governor)•
IT Specialist – Pohnpei Community Health Center / Pohnpei State IT Steering Committee•
Chief of Staff•
Pohnpei Department of Education (PDOE) x 3 / PREL
•
PNI
•
PLP
•
Pohnpei Housing Association (PHA)•
PCHC•
PFA/PCO•KMG•
USAID Climate Ready Project•Community Housing x 1•
OFA•
Pompei State Admin•
State Attorney General’s Office•
FSM Telecom•
Municipal / Local Government x 3•
Electoral Commission•
Pohnpei Transportation Authority (PTA)•
Department of Land•
Director of Department of Resources•
Disabled Persons Organisation
Discussion:-

Is there submarine cable already in Pohnpei? Yes
For outer islands – will service be provided for free? There is World Bank intention to provide
support for some service of disadvantaged people / outer islands for a period of time to subsidise
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use of satellite. What is the duration of this support? The expectation is that this will trigger
economic growth and based on this then over time people in the outer islands would be able toshoulder those costs. Otherwise need to look for alternative solutions.
What are the two biggest challenges for the project? Land in each location. Are there other politicalor competition issues? OAE is not a competitor to Telecom.
Now that there is one customer – can you ensure us that you don’t collude and expand yourmonopoly that exists. By law – the task is limited to long distance submarine cable connectivity.
That will be extended likely to fibre to the home for operators of FSM. Ultimately, they areconcerned about the price to users – role of the Telecommunication Regulatory Authority.
Question of the priority of the legislation, regulation and awareness raising components – can thishappen before the physical infrastructure is installed to pre-empt issues?
Experienced issues of scams already. There is already widespread access to the internet in
Pohnpei.
Why can’t I connect my home now?
IT Steering Committee for Pohnpei – will be a key stakeholder for consultations.
Why doesn’t Telecom service the whole island.
A lot of interest in the competition in the retail telecom sector – including use of the infrastructure
through OAELand is a challenge – already gave Telecom our easement rights. Does that apply to this project?
Land should not be a problem.
Can a consumer connect to the wholesale provider to save costs (like when you buy rice or
chicken)? OAE - by law, they are not allowed to connect retail customers – only licenced operators(such as Telecom) – licenced by the Telecommunication Regulatory Authority. Could be possible toprovide services to an outer atoll if a legal entity was established.
Who are the agencies involved in implementation? OAE (for component 1), also DCTI and TRA.
What is the project timeframe?
Everyone is in favour of the project
How can you provide the service to outer islands 600 miles away from Pohnpei? Through satellite.
Cable is too expensive.
Can’t wait for the data centre for the government
Kids in Pohnpei looking for a job – in Guam or Hawaii – thank you for the new jobs. Without that I’msure that a lot of people will be able to be hired in Pohnpei. The economic calculations suggest thatthe economic growth will be significant in Chuuk and Pohnpei.

Consultation: #38
Date:
29th August 2019
Participants: 1 + project teamDiscussion:--

Work closely with the Pohnpei Women’s Council comprised of 28 women’s groups.
The internet is amazing to an extent of connecting family members far away
Some problems with young girls – video posting of sexual activities of young girls – several
accounts. Have been trying to look at trying to create legislation around that
Recently passed a domestic violence act – there are some reservations that child protection issues
are not adequate – but it took 9 years to get it to this point. We didn’t include cyber bullying orinternet terrorism in that specific legislation Looking at trying to create one. There is always room
for amendments. Trying to create child protection services – standard operating procedures aroundthose – approval of the DV act, the Governor established a DV task force to do research andprovide recommendations on child protection services and what each department can offer. That
has been done and sent to the legislature – have not yet heard back. Did include cyber bullying inthat – but not yet adopted. Issues of online grooming etc. may still be needed.
The internet has created more understanding of domestic violence. The more people have accessto the internet, the more understanding they are because there are some groups that share anddistribute elimination of violence against women messages. There is also a working group that try

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to submit policy on EVAW including creating information and educational materials and includes
internet messages.
Recently increased the age of consent act – will be included in that.
The outer islands – amazing to be able to connect them.
Negative side – current issues for women include lack of understanding of how the internet is justopen, in the sense that some women (in rural areas) who have computers or cell phones – don’t
understand what issues they might get into when talking to people that they don’t know or befriend
people from around the world but not understanding what sort of problems that they might get into.
Had a case where a woman befriended someone from India – under the impression that they werefriends – shared sexual video on chat and it was shared and somehow came back to Pohnpei andit was shared widely. She was a great grandmother.
No observable issues with drugs, weapons – main issue is exposure of young people.
Construction workers – issues – it depends on – in the past we have had women who fall into
relationships with them – doesn’t happen as much now as previously. People are more aware of
the risks in Colonia, where people are more aware and educated as compared to people from ruralcommunities. May need some awareness raising for those groups. Consulting with traditional
leadership first may be useful. This is not in any way a negative connotation but everything that thisoffice does has to be through consultation with traditional leaders. Cannot take public education
into each municipality without their approval. This causes issues because in terms of domestic
violence and the family protection act, there is not a lot of support from traditional leaders. These
are still issuing in Pohnpei where people tend to turn away and consider it to be the family’sbusiness. Not what is understood, and people are not aware of domestic violence.
Internet access would really help with public support and awareness.
Land used to be matrilineal in Pohnpei – however can now be owned by men and women. In thepast the land was inherited / passed on to the first and oldest son. Land is still a major issue.
Pohnpei is still a matrilineal society – however this is changing / progressing slowly. There are still
so many land issues.
Sounds like a really good project – please proceed.

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