Samoa’s national development strategy for financial years 2026/27 to 2030/31 gives cultural preservation a dedicated place within its education and culture priorities, according to UNESCO.
The Pathway for the Development of Samoa, known as PDS2, was launched on 8 June 2026. UNESCO describes the framework as placing renewed emphasis on culture, education, science and knowledge within the country’s development goals.
The organisation says culture has, for the first time, been fully integrated into Samoa’s national development framework. Under Key Priority Area 2, Education and Culture, the strategy includes a specific outcome for preserving Samoan culture and heritage.
That recognition extends to documenting, safeguarding and promoting both tangible and intangible heritage. The framework also emphasises education’s role in passing cultural knowledge, values and practices to future generations.
UNESCO’s account identifies cultural tourism, community-based tourism and the sustainable use of cultural resources among the strategy’s economic development objectives. These are presented as ways to support livelihoods, employment and economic diversification; the account does not provide forecasts for jobs or income.
The strategy also acknowledges threats from climate change and disasters to cultural heritage and traditional knowledge. It calls for heritage safeguarding to be included in broader resilience and adaptation efforts.
International cooperation forms another part of the framework. UNESCO says PDS2 commits to strengthening Samoa’s engagement with its culture conventions and with regional and international cultural cooperation mechanisms.
UNESCO describes its supporting work as including heritage legislation and policy, implementation of cultural conventions and initiatives that help communities transmit living heritage between generations.
The framework sets out ambitions rather than completed results. Its distinctive feature, as described by UNESCO, is the explicit connection between cultural preservation and the country’s education, tourism, environmental and development priorities.