A pilot program in the Northern Territory, Australia, has provided 14 childhood educators from Papua New Guinea opportunities to acquire new skills and enhance their existing qualifications. The educators have been working at early childhood centers in the regional centers of Alice Springs and Katherine through the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme’s early childhood education and care (ECEC) pilot. The ECEC pilot is part of the Australian Government’s commitment to tackling Australia’s workforce shortages in rural and regional areas, thus it also ensures workers develop long term skills and expertise that will strengthen their own domestic labor markets back home. The Papua New Guinean educators graduated this month from a preparation program, which build on their existing qualifications in early education to support their transition into an Australian workplace. PALM scheme worker and educator Ms. Shirley Mogi says the pilot provided the opportunity to build on existing experience in and knowledge of the sector. “Here in Australia, you have something already set for the early childhood level, whereas for Papua New Guinea we have a lot of private schools, so everyone comes with their own philosophy, their own approach to early childhood.” “We need human resources to go back and educate the young people of PNG”. “For Australia to be very welcoming to open their doors to accommodate, it’s a really big honor for us,” she said. The educators will work in childcare centers for up to four years under the long-term stream of the PALM scheme. There currently are over 2,000 PALM workers from PNG in Australia working in sectors including meat processing, agriculture, and aged care. Australia is committed to supporting PNG’s economic development objectives by increasing opportunities for PNG through the PALM scheme. The pilot program was supported by PNG Labour Mobility Unit.