Lenwo from the State of Kosrae, FSM

Destination Update

Planned Events / Activities

April 15: Good Friday

June 6: Malem Village Celebration

July 20: Utwac Village Celebration

Visitors Arrivals

Borders are still closed so still no visitor arrivals other than those on repatriation flights.

For more information, visit:
https://micronesiatour.com/destinations/kosrae

Member Highlight

Department of Resources & Economic Affairs (DREA)
Kosrae State Government

Sleeping Lady Island vs. COVID19

Brief Background: Who we are and what we do (Department of Resources & Economic Affairs, DREA):

The Department of Resources & Economic Affairs (DREA) is mandated to contribute, expand, and monitor Kosrae’s Economic activities and growth. DREA has four divisions under it:

Division of Economic Planning
Division of Trade & Investment
Division of Agriculture & Land Management
Division of Fisheries & Marine Resources

Here at DREA we work to:

Promote development and improvement of private businesses and oversees foreign investment;
Fosters production, marketing and protection of commercial production of land and sea produce;
Assist private parties in the development of agriculture and forestry in an ecologically sound manner;
Manages, conserves, and develop marine resources;
Surveys all public and private lands and monitors the use of public lands maintaining a written roster of all parcels of public land;
Negotiates Government leases, easements, and contracts, and designates for homesteading purposes public land in accordance with Chapter 5 of Title 11 of [Kosrae State] code.
Coordinates economic planning, including the Government’s adherences to the Overall Economic Development Plan and many more.

Additionally, DREA also work closely with Kosrae Farmers Associations, Kosrae Chamber of Commerce, Kosrae Small Business Development Center (SBDC), Civil Society of Kosrae (CSOK), Kosrae Visitors Bureau (Kosrae Tourism) and many other public and private sectors entities.

Kosrae and COVID19:

COVID19 is becoming an omnipresent enemy to many lives around the globe nowadays. Even though Kosrae or the Federated States of Micronesia is still COVID free, we are still living our daily lives hoping that this virus will never get to our shores.

Since the pandemic outbreak in March 2020, our leaders has been working hard to make sure our island and people are safe, well educated about this virus, and be well-prepared for the devastating effects of the coronavirus and its variants.

Since the emergence of the corona virus, the Department of Resources and Economic Affairs (DREA), Kosrae State Government) has been working closely with Kosrae COVID-19 Task Force to make sure our people and businesses are well prepared and taken care off. During the year 2020, our Department assisted our farmers with grants for Food Security projects, met with stakeholders and our National counterparts (UN and FSM National Government) and conducted workshops to prepare our people for the new normal that this pandemic would bring to our lives. Some of the food security projects that DREA facilitated and or participated in is UN Food Summit Dialogues which was conducted in July 2021 (ongoing) and another one last month—Green Climate Fund (Climate Resilient Food Security Project), and also some of our farmers and students were introduced to Hydroponics farming (for Business and Food Security).

DREA Director Gerson A. Jackson (July 2021 UN Food Summit Dialogues

DREA Team having Zoom Meeting with National and State Counterparts for UN Food Summit.

R&D (DREA’s National Counterpart, Pohnpei) Climate Resilient Food Security Project (meeting with Kosrae Women at the Governor’s Conference Room).

Kosrae Adapting to the “NEW NORMAL”:

The pandemic brought a lot of new things that affect our lives today and forced our people to cope and adapt to the new normal. Many businesses have been affected and had to close their businesses or lay off their employees leaving an increase in Kosrae’s unemployment rate. Most importantly, Kosrae’s economy is greatly affected with this pandemic.

Slowly DREA is trying its best to assist our people and this tiny island to keep on moving forward despite how much the economy and our people are affected with the pandemic. Recently DREA is currently conducting a MICCO19 project with the hopes of having all households grow their own produce outside their yards. There were also Food Security and Value-Added Trainings conducted targeting Kosrae women (working, housewives, and youths) to use local produce and resources to prepare food and value-added products for their families.

We have seen a lot of progress around the island that the trainings and assistance DREA has been conducting for the past two years have slowly made a difference to many lives here in Kosrae. On March 31st, 2022 Kosrae celebrated Micronesia Cultural Day, we noticed a lot of produce, handicrafts, and new local dishes being displayed by our people. There are also plans to Celebrate World Tuna Day where DREA and many of our stakeholders are still currently planning at the moment. Our lives are slowly adapting and hopefully once our flight restrictions are lifted, our people and this island will stand ready.