For more than a decade, senior immigration officer Talei Suka has worked across the complex and evolving landscape of Fiji’s border management system.
Now, she finds herself part of a milestone moment, the first cohort of officers undertaking an intensive five-week induction program designed to strengthen the ministry’s operational capacity.
Ms Suka, who serves in the Permits and Visas Division, describes the experience as both timely and necessary.
“My hope for this training is to learn,” she said, reflecting a sentiment shared by the 20 officers selected from across the ministry.
“The topics are very relevant and applicable to our daily tasks.”
The program, held at the Pasifika Communities University and supported by the Australian and New Zealand governments, brings together officers from diverse units including Border Security and Passport and Citizenship.
For Ms Suka, this cross-functional approach is one of the initiative’s greatest strengths.
“We come from different units, but our main motive is the same, to grasp as much as we can from the vast wealth of knowledge shared by our facilitators,” she said.
With more than 10 years of service, Ms Suka believes the training fills a long-standing gap in professional development within the ministry.
Previous induction programs, she noted, were often limited to just a few days, which is insufficient for the depth and breadth required in modern immigration work.
“Three days is not enough, especially with the various topics and immigration trends we are dealing with now.”
Beyond personal development, Ms Suka is already looking ahead to how the knowledge gained will be shared.
Upon returning to her division, which comprises 35 officers, she plans to deliver presentations and contribute to internal reporting processes to ensure lessons from the program are cascaded across the team.
“We take what we’ve learnt back to the office so others can benefit as well,” she said.
As one of the first participants in what is being described as a pilot initiative, Ms Suka said she felt both honoured and excited.
“This is the first intensive induction training for the ministry.
“We are grateful to our management and to our development partners for making this happen.”
