Every organization has a training programme with its main objective to provide a skill-set to new recruits into the organization so that they are able to perform on their assigned positions and deliver outcomes to the satisfaction of their supervisors and their organization as a whole.
In the Department of Foreign Affairs, all new recruits are subject to two compulsory programmes on commencement for all rank and file officers.
First, is the internal department orientation programme which introduces to the new recruits to the functional roles and responsibilities of the Department as well as its organizational structure covering both at headquarters and at its overseas missions and posts.
Secondly, all new recruits undergo the PNG Public Service Induction Programme delivered by the Somare Institute of Leadership and Governance (SILAG) which introduces them to the operation of the PNG Public Service and the laws, regulations and codes of conduct that govern it. At the end of the induction programme, the new officers take their Oath of Office to become legitimate public servants.
The Foreign Service Training Programme (FSTP), however, is the Department’s flagship training programme that targets officers recruited into policy positions in the policy divisions of the Department and who have a minimum of first university degree. Officers recruited into operational and administrative positions with first degrees are also considered for the Foreign Service Training Programme, given the opportunity for rotation and progression into policy divisions.
The FSTP is a foundational training programme geared towards providing a knowledge-based skill-set and framework for officers in the policy divisions. The foundational skills acquired is intended to be applied in the performance of their jobs to advance their policy and diplomatic work in representing and promoting PNG’s national interest with PNG’s partner countries and international organizations. Officers who complete this foundational training programme and are placed in the policy divisions can rightly claim to be fully pledged Foreign Service Officers (FSO).
Since 1990, the Department of Foreign Affairs has cooperated with the Government of New Zealand to deliver this very critical foundational training of new policy officers recruited into the Papua New Guinea Foreign Service. The methods and manners of delivery of the FSTP has developed and evolved since 1990 to the present day, but it has always been with eminent individuals associated in one way or another with the New Zealand Foreign Service.
The FSTP from 1990 – 1998 was delivered by Rodney Denham, a former New Zealand diplomat whose last assignment was as Ambassador to Mexico. Dr Lance Beath, another former New Zealand diplomat delivered a FSTP in 2008. In 2012, two cohorts of new recruits undertook the FSTP with full funding support provided by the PNG Department of Foreign Affairs and with four (4) distinguished retired New Zealand diplomats, namely Michael Powels, Peter Kennedy, Dr Lance Beath and Peter Nichols.
From 2014 – 2017, four (4) cohorts of new recruits undertook the FSTP which was a collaboration between PNGDFA, New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (NZMFAT) and the Victoria University of Wellington (VUW). The VUW coordinated the FSTP in close consultation with DFA and engaged many eminent former NZ diplomats and academics to deliver the FSTP as facilitators in both Wellington and Port Moresby.
The 2023 FSTP again will be conducted both in Wellington and Port Moresby with major funding support from the NZMFAT complemented by PNGDFA and delivered by VUW. The 2023 FSTP will commence in Wellington in October 2023 with 19 trainees from PNG, six (6) from Fiji and seven (7) from Vanuatu. Because of the regional nature of the FSTP, the 2023 FSTP will be called Pacific Diplomatic Training Programme (PDTP).
