The Pacific Islands Tax Administrators Association (PITAA), in collaboration with the Pacific Financial Technical Assistance Centre (PFTAC), is conducting a Northern Regional Workshop on Design and Monitoring from 9–13th February 2026 in Koror, Palau.
The five-day in-person workshop brings together PITAA member countries from Kiribati, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, and Timor-Leste to strengthen design and monitoring functions that support effective revenue administration.
Director of the Bureau of Revenue and Taxation in Palau, Mr. Elway Ikeda, welcomed participants during the opening ceremony and highlighted the significance of the workshop for the host country and the wider region.
“It is a great honor for Palau to host this PITAA-PFTAC regional workshop on design and monitoring of tax administrations, the first such event in our country in taxation. The workshop is highly relevant to Palau as we strengthen our bureau’s initiatives, including compliance enhancements amid our challenges, adaptive designs to support economic resilience, and digital monitoring tools for efficient revenue collection. Events like this foster regional collaboration, equipping us to bridge strategic plans with impactful operations for sustainable revenue growth,” he said.
The workshop focuses on enhancing participants’ understanding of design and monitoring functions within revenue administrations, and how these functions operate alongside centralized or head office functions to improve organizational performance, compliance outcomes, and revenue collection. Design and Monitoring were identified as priority areas requiring focused attention through benchmarking exercises conducted during the 2024 and 2025 PITAA Annual Heads Meetings.
PITAA Head of Secretariat, Mr. Petero Maivucevuce, highlighted the critical role of design and monitoring for Pacific tax administrations.
“For small island tax administrations, design and monitoring are essential tools for effectiveness. Every process must count, every staff member’s time must be optimized, and every revenue dollar matters,” he said.
He added that design and monitoring connect long-term strategy with day-to-day operations, helping create workflows that match actual capacity and providing visibility and accountability when monitoring performance.
PFTAC Revenue Advisor Mr. Vincent de Paul Koukpaizan provided an overview of PFTAC, “the first IMF technical assistance center, established in 1993 to promote macro‑financial stability in the Pacific Island Countries.” He explained that PFTAC’s mandate is to strengthen the institutional capacity of Pacific countries to design and implement sound macroeconomic and financial policies. He encouraged participants to remain open-minded and share their experiences, noting that the workshop offers a valuable peer‑learning platform to enhance planning and performance and to bridge strategy and operations through a structured framework for continuous improvement across Pacific Island tax administrations.
Throughout the week, participants will engage in facilitated sessions covering the foundations of design and monitoring, translating strategic vision into practical system design, building effective reporting and monitoring frameworks, and applying design thinking approaches within tax administrations. The workshop also includes case studies, country-led discussions, and practical exercises to strengthen institutional capabilities and foster peer learning.
The workshop is delivered by experienced presenters and facilitators, including Raelene Vivian, Elad Meshulam, and Katrina Williams, with support from PITAA and PFTAC. It is designed for leaders and staff involved in design and monitoring, strategic planning, organizational performance monitoring, and accountability reporting.
This workshop forms part of PITAA’s broader regional capacity development programme, ensuring that Pacific tax administrations are better equipped to adapt to evolving economic conditions, strengthen transparency and accountability, and enhance revenue mobilization in support of national development priorities. The PITAA/PFTAC southern regional workshop is scheduled for 16 – 20th March 2026 in Suva, Fiji and will include Cook Islands, Fiji, Niue, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.