Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has been implementing “Japanese Technical Cooperation Project for Promotion of Regional Initiative on Solid Waste Management in Pacific Island Countries Phase 3 (J-PRISM3)” since July 2023 in the Pacific Region.
After the kick-off for country activities of Palau in the middle of October 2023, J-PRISM3 Expert Team and Palauan counterparts implemented activities and organized the first Joint Coordinating Committee (JCC) Meeting in April 2024. Continuing joint activities, on 12 August 2025, the second JCC meeting was held at BPW’s conference room, and participants confirmed the progress of the project by sharing updated information and agreed on the implementation schedule for the upcoming year.
JCC meeting was chaired by the Project Director, Mr. Calvin Ikesiil, Director of Bureau of Public Works (BPW), MPII. Participants for the meeting were Palauan counterparts from BPW including their JICA Volunteer, EQPB, Koror States Government, Embassy of Japan, JICA Palau Office and J-PRISM3 Expert Team.
J-PRISM3 activities in Palau are aiming to achieve the following Outputs.
1) Financial operations of Solid Waste Management are strengthened by increasing revenue, through the discussion on the incentive program and the guideline for source segregation for commercial waste generators together with draft regulation of the tipping fee.
2) Environmental pollutions are prevented through improvements in the public open dumpsites such as in Aimeliik, Peleliu, or other states. The target dumpsites will be determined during the project and lessons learned will be shared for the improvement of other dumpsites.
3) The deposit and refund schemes for targeted problematic waste are deepened and expanded, through preparing guiding document for one problematic waste and drafting recommendation document for overarching deposit and refund schemes.
4) Capacity to develop financially sustainable model for wastes is strengthened, through implementing a pilot project for such model to create the road map.
After the second JCC meeting, concrete activities for J-PRISM3 such as accelerating the 3R + Return through initiatives like enrichment of the container deposit legislation will be promoted. Active participation and cooperation from all concerned parties in Palau and sharing experiences and lessons learned with other countries in the Pacific region are expected as pioneers in Pacific region with their confidence and pride, together with J-PRISM3 Expert Team.