Government recognises there is an urgent need for consultants and trainers in the green productivity sector.

The Assistant Minister for Local Government, Housing and Environment, Lorna Eden, made these comments yesterday.

She officiated at the opening of the Asian Productivity Organisation’s 10-day course on Management Consultancy with Special Focus on Green Productivity at Tokatoka Resort Hotel in Nadi.

“We need consultants who can implement change and work as external think tanks, be resourceful and be the catalysts of change in the organisations you work for,” she said.

“We don’t have enough people in the country and I suspect it’s the same in the other APO countries that are trained to the level that we need to be able to train our industry with green productivity.”

Ms Eden said these types of courses were a platform to train the trainers so they will be able to pass on that knowledge.

“Green productivity as showcased  in many of the countries has led to improvements in product quality, reduced scrap and rework costs, reduced wastages  and pollution and reduced environmental risks,” she said.

An example

Ms Eden said one of the outstanding green productivity demonstration projects  has been at Fletcher Pacific Steel plant now acquired by BlueScope (Pacific) Steel Limited.

“This company has recorded a total savings of over $1million after the implementation of the green productivity project at its steel processing plant in Walu Bay,” she said.

She said the Fijian Government in its support for green productivity in the country has made positive changes to policies that are encompassed by sustainable development measures for the future.

The workshop

During the workshop, the 25 participants will visit industrial areas and will have to draw up action plans.

Fiji National University’s National Training and Productivity Centre Director, Kamlesh Prakash, shared similar sentiments.

“These are the change agents full of knowledge on the tools and techniques of promoting and implementing environmental improvement enabling better environmental performance of organisations in Fiji,” he said.

He said this workshop would assist various stakeholders on efficient and effective resource management whether it is with the environment or with their organisation’s hierarchical structure.

“We waste a lot of energy, paper, water including in many organisations we have a lot people doing the same job,” Mr Prakash said.

“So we need to ask ourselves do we really need that. These are the many ways we can access our brains through the techniques they teach in class to have an efficient and productive workplace.”

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