 Good morning, everyone. We'll be starting shortly. Good morning, everyone. And thank you all for joining us from your various parts, from your various locations, sorry, whether you're tuned in from Fiji, the Pacific or the Pacific region. Your time is valuable and we thank you for choosing to spend it here with us this morning. On behalf of International Ideas Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, I would like to welcome you all to the fifth webinar of the Democratic Development in Melanesia webinar series 2023. We would also like to welcome our panelists, and especially you our participants. As part of International Ideas Asia and Pacific regional programs work plan for 2023. These webinars aimed to provide opportunities to citizens of the Melanesian region to take part in substantive discussions surrounding democracy in Melanesia. It's also intended that through the webinars, citizens of Melanesian countries who participate main gain knowledge on the subject matter and on the experiences of other countries. This will in turn enhance debates on institutional and procedural improvements in the respective democracies. Now this webinar, the fifth in its series is titled International Day of Democracy Empowering the Next Generation. The International Day of Democracy is observed annually on the 15th of September or today, and is an opportunity to reflect and advocate for better democratic practices for greater observance and respect for human rights by government officials, ministries, independent bodies and for stakeholders especially. This is theme is empowering the next generation, which is focused on the important contribution children and young people make in protecting democracy today, and in the future. To discuss this theme, International Ideas Fiji Office in partnership with the Citizens Constitutional Forum of Fiji, with their project donor, Izirio is hosting this webinar so thank you very much. And we'd like to hear about the work of young people who are actively involved in raising issues at national and international levels. At the moment Fiji performs in the mid range across all categories of the global state of democracy framework, although performance and representation, rights and rule of law are at the lower end of this band. It is among the world's top 25% in electoral participation and civil society, but has suffered from declines in the social group of equality. This webinar will discuss the work of CCF with International Idea and Izirio and empowering young people through their community education programs, where young people are informed about their rights, responsibilities and the functioning of democracy. The education is a powerful tool for empowering young people and fostering their active engagement in democratic processes. Achieving the SDGs requires a collective effort of all segments of society, including children and young people. When they are empowered through education and participation, they can actively contribute to the pursuit of these global goals, fostering a more sustainable and equitable world for everyone. Now it is going to be an exciting webinar and I for one cannot wait to hear from our speakers, but before we get started, as always there are a few house rules. Now this webinar will have three speakers who will deliver their presentations first, and then the audience can ask their questions after the speakers have presented. To do this, members of the audience can use the raise hand feature to ask questions, which is located at the bottom of your Zoom screen. Now the audience is reminded to keep their mic off during the webinar and to only turn it on when asking questions. However, if your mic is not working, you can pose your questions through the chat feature. Now before we proceed any further, please note that this session is being recorded. And as with all webinars with international idea, I have a disclaimer that I am required to read out. And it reads, the statements, views or opinions expressed in the presentation do not necessarily represent the institutional position of international idea, its Board of Advisors, or its Council of Member States. Now if you haven't already done so, I'd like to humbly request that everyone put their mics on mute as I introduce our first speaker for today, Ms. Vinayana Thakau. Ms. Vinayana Thakau is from Matilambau in the province of Thaylevo and is a citizen's constitutional forms community program director and has been with CCS community education team for 13 years. She has had human rights capacity building with diplomacy training program, a UNSW, which has helped her in carrying out advocacy education with communities on human rights, the 2013 Constitution, good governance, active citizenship and the rights based approach to development. She's also a fellow with the Kettering Foundation in Dayton, Ohio with a deliberative democracy institute program, which has also built her knowledge and capacity in encouraging and promoting democratic practices, especially community participation in government spaces. Ladies and gentlemen, our first speaker for this morning, Ms. Vinayana Thakau. Ms. Vinayana Thakau is a member of CCS community education program. The CCS community education program has been working with communities in CCS 2019, mainly awareness and advocacy, on areas of human rights, good governance, active citizenship, competition and the rights based approach to development. We work with community members, human rights, and community groups. We also work with local level institutions who are human-liberal students. Our main department is the working community. I would like to mention some observations from the workshop in my class and are funded from a previous project, also the ones that we are having now. Once we have found that the issues and challenges of CCS are similar. In relation to youth interest and youth participation, whether it be community-related activities that require the presence of participation, or government consultations and institutions or offices to youth participation and other resources involved. In terms of participating in national activities like elections, some responses from youth that are part of our workshops are that are registered to vote, and that are few voters in the youth and community elections. In relation to human rights, the elderly in most of our workshops manage the most human rights of youth in the community, part of the youth. Issues like gender and gender interdependencies, not upholding the political structure and the dynamics. Children were supposed to be in schools and are within the age group below 18, to attend schools and to attend events outside the civil rights. Some communities do not have community-related programs that support youth participation or to enhance their basic skills, whereas other communities have community-related programs that support them, but do not have access to methods to approach them. In the field of community, permission to access services is only available for youth from the relevant institution. In the south, there are usually levels of funds for themselves. What you have to do is that most youth who are also from the country, most youth are informed. They are seldom consulted and are demotivated to support their youth, not to engage the pet to youth. The first thing is that they are not empowered to be part of the youth community or community of youth. Youth are usually not small, also contributions to the community. From these contributions, families and adolescents who have learned and that they are part of the positive side of the good part of this thing, that youth do have a chance, a full chance on such matters. Youth have the capacity to live where they are now, open only to youth. Youths have the potential to be leaders and to develop in development of communities and their communities. Youth-related guidance, youth-related guidance and motivation is rare to have a generation that will recognize democracy and uphold the principles and principles of the Moab starting from their community. Youth needs to be constructed and encouraged to constitute the expression that youth-related messages are needed and are well-guided at work. Youth can engage to a developing community and ask them to understand the information that is imparted. I'm talking about the content of our work, because the content of our work is mainly on human life, good governance, the physical constitution, the real-life life. So when they start to learn and then we take information on this thing, we show an interest. Then the great deal for more community-based youth-related guidance, and this engagement will be offered on that program. Basic life is coming by the relevance of the code, leadership training, basic leadership skills, for inter-athletes leaders, but when we are trying to move the physical knowledge and skills to the optimal, and skills-based professional skills. Some of the highlights we have had, because it's a way that people need to receive work with our students and students, and not only that, but it's a way for us to involve all the community officers, benefit officers, and some students. It's a collaborative way of approaching a community to engage communities exactly to improve the mood. My work is to better include the platforms in the community that develop to ensure that students can stay in the system, better access them, especially in the community development and in which they stay in their community. One thing approach in empowering youths to participate in democratic processes is in the stages of involvement and engagement that give them that confidence. We're starting on another stage in our workshop. So, what do you find in that? I apologize for that interruption. The system of community education team works with development partners, mainly the ITAB provincial officers, district officers, and some civil societies as a collaborative way of approaching to engage communities including youths. By working together, we have provided inclusive platforms in communities that are developed to ensure that youths have a say in decisions that affect them, especially in community development and in shaping their communities. One main approach that CCF has used in empowering youths to participate in democratic processes in the stages of involvement and engagement. Because we believe when they are engaged, this builds their confidence, which is founded on knowledge gained in the workshops and the consistent and continuous engagement that we hold with the community youths. The youths are identified in the community workshops. We have stages of engagement for youths in our workshops. We first identify how they participate in the interaction community workshops, and then they are invited to various forums and symposiums organized by CCF as this provides them the opportunities to share their perspectives, learn from experts and their peers, and contribute to discussion for the community and national issues. This approach is giving them the confidence to be the eldest responsibly. When I'm talking about standing boldly, I'm talking about how they are responsible in articulating their rights and in those platforms that they are invited to. There are few challenges, even though they are gaining knowledge, they are standing boldly, they are getting the confidence, they are gaining confidence. There are still challenges for youth participation that we have discovered through our workshops are the lack of awareness. They are aware of the opportunities available for their growth, and they do not know on how to get involved as information is not made available or is not passed on from them from the relevant institutions. Lack of resources. There are a lot of limitations to access markets if they are farmers, if they are farming in the communities, when they need to market the produce markets are not available. For proper transportation in terms of access roads to their farms, there is none of this available so this sort of diminishes the idea of self sustainability on agriculture and to pursue sustainability on the basic skills. There is no decision making power. Youths feel unvalued in decision making process and this may discourage their engagement. They are also, because this is sort of built on negative stereotypes and generational gaps, some are also negative views, assuming that youths are incapable or aren't interested to engage, which changes the involvement and engagement. There are a lot of networks for mentorship and guidance, especially in informal settlements. We've just had workshops lately in informal settlements here in Suva and in the Western division. What we have observed is, because for the networks that are not available for youth, they are left idle and then they involve themselves in criminal activities. The youths need mentorship and guidance. They still need this so they can navigate community engagement opportunities, capacity building, a career path and employment. These youths continually face additional barriers due to systematic inequalities and lack of representation. The existing rigid structures that do not practice youth engagement makes it difficult for youths to participate and to bring it back to bring it back to communities and back home. There is always a weak family and community structure that youths can always fell back on in terms of dynamic. There is no strong family structure back at home. A way forward would be to empower community leaders to engage youth in taking up minor leadership roles or to be included in community committees for community development so they are directly involved in decision making processes. In terms of policies, the relevant ministry should review the approach on existing programs that is geared towards youth development, preferably to have a holistic approach. To decentralize and set up support networks in the community rather than in institutions where youths are invited to be part of. There needs to be collaborative approach from all stakeholders to have a holistic approach rather than working in silos. To realize the importance of a bottom up approach rather than assuming what works for them because the context are different in all youth groups. We need to understand the dynamics before putting together programs. What works for young people in the villages and in the maritime may not work for those in the informal settlements and period. There is a need to bridge the generational gap, but to do that approaches have to be realistic that not only youths are part of but also the older generation. But also that information need to be made available where youths can easily link their strength and be nurtured through the programs. Few multiple differences we have noted between those in rural and very urban areas since we work across communities, not only in grassroots communities in villages but we also work in very urban areas. For rural areas they have existing strong structures supported by family, the Matangali or clans, the church and the Vanua, which is a culture, tradition, faith and the bond as a village and identity that links them to the land, the family, the clan, the way of life. They have the elders that preserve the structures. You know, like the elders are the watchdog and the keepers of the structure that's in place. The youths are more mobilized in the rural areas. Youth groups are registered, that's what we have seen. In our workshops, as soon as we identify a youth group who are saying you've been registered and they're registered, they have youth programs running. And youths are also task, they're already tasked with leadership roles, especially for youth development. The leaders, the elders are only there to guide and remind the youth of what needs to be done, like there is an understanding between the elders and the youths. In most rural areas, most youths are well behaved and have become independent. They build their own homes, from income they earn from farming and support their family, from toiling the land or from fishing. Democratic principles that exist in most rural, they are democratic principles and it's in existence in most rural settings. So it's quite easy to link these existing principles to the desired democratic principles. Now, for the period of the areas, there is a vast difference. First of all, in behavior and the interactions, it sticks out like a sore thumb, you can easily tell because of the way they interact and behave towards one another, there is no respect. There is a big gap in trying to mobilize youths because they reasoned and existing structure that holds them together. Youths are from different backgrounds, especially family structures and the community dynamics. In one of our workshops in the peri-urban areas that we've just had, one of the youth that presented mentioned, in our community, we are from different villages living here. So we decide how we live our lives and no one should be telling us what to do. This alone sums up the difference between rural and the peri-urban setting and the dynamic details. So when the youths voice that they should not be told what to do, it tells us that there are no democratic principles in place, no support networks, and the works that we are having for the first time with them should not be the last, but an intervention that needs to be continuous. Some of the gaps that need to be addressed that we have identified are lack of awareness. So we need to maximize community awareness and civic education on human rights in rural communities and mostly peri-urban areas, especially on right to access information. There is no collective approach amongst stakeholders. Collective approaches in terms of resources, especially information from all stakeholders made available for civic education should complement one another to address the gap. Digital platforms for peri-urban areas and those accessible to digital information should be set up. There should be community centers or networks for information dissemination in rural villages. There is also lack of data as this can be used as case studies to enhance understanding. Efforts should also be made to ensure that communities needs are addressed in civic education curriculum. I guess the aim of maximizing and raising awareness is to identify injustice and promote peace. And this is relevant to individual lives and in their community also the potential benefits of achieving them. Another gap that we have identified is there is limited capacity for civic engagement. I am not sure of organizations apart from the relevant ministry that promotes SDG 16, but capacity building on advocacy skills to enable people to effectively participate in decision making processes and contribute to peaceful and inclusive communities. There is a gap with local level and local realities as challenges and priorities differ and vary across communities. Civic education programs should incorporate local examples and studies to enhance relevance and courage and encourage active engagement at the local level. Monitoring and evaluation on the impact of the civic education program needs to happen regularly to measure the effectiveness of the programs and identify areas for improvement of improvement and relevance so the communities will always relate to the goal and how it benefits them. I believe that looking and considering these looking at and considering these gaps will help contribute to the effective implementation of the SDG goal and strengthen civic education. As a result, we will empower people, especially youths who contribute with the peaceful communities and progress towards achieving SDG 16. Thank you. Thank you very much. It's an amazing presentation, but also for the work that you've done and continue to do. And then powering, it is sincerely appreciated. Thank you very, very much. Now I'd like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that if you have questions, we will address them after our final speaker. However, if you'd like, you may post these questions in the chat feature now, which will be addressed later. In our second speaker of the day is the rumor Ray by say see rays of Bonoban in Kiribati descent and was born in Fiji and raise in both Fiji and Kiribati. He holds a diploma in business accounting from the Fiji National University and bachelor of social work with honors from Mesa University and from Auckland, New Zealand. He has been a climate and human rights advocate for 13 years and has voluntarily served his communities in Kiribati, New Zealand and Fiji. Ray has undertaken various community research in the areas of human rights, climate change and so forth. He also sits on regional and international boards representing the Pacific. Ladies and gentlemen, Mr by say see. Thank you very much. Thank you so much. I'm just trying to sort out my camera, but it won't go on. It was on when I first joined the call, but it just played up. I'm sorry Ray, your audio seems to be cutting in and out. Yes, that's better. Thank you. Sorry Ray, are you are you still with us? I'm sorry Ray, you keep your audio keeps dropping in and out. If I may, can I please ask you to start again if that's okay. Yes, that's better. Okay, so I'll do it without my presentation I think and without my video as well because, you know, when I, when I share my screen, the network kind of just cut it off. Of course we understand. A very good morning to everyone. My name is Ray, as you know, I've spent 13 years of working and serving my communities in different parts of the Pacific Islands. Notably, working and advocating on climate change, human rights, trying to empower women through, you know, communication on these programs, supporting women on the ground, supporting implementation of other projects to address culture heritage, you know, loss and damage and all other work. I'm originally from Barnabas, and Barnabas is in the modern day Gidibus. And I am a third generation young person that was displaced and uprooted from my ancestral home of Barnabas to Fiji, which is 2000 kilometers away, because of excessive industries that destroyed our homeland and made it uninhabitable. You know, growing up as a young person like always have this very deep connection with home because our elders in our communities celebrate the, you know, the anniversary of our arrival in Granby in 1945, December 15, 1945. And this becomes the annual celebration just to recall, share stories of displacement, as well as share stories of resilience and how we've transitioned to make our, to make Granby our new home. So in just in terms of context, if you're not sure about what happened to Barnabas, and I'm sorry that I cannot share these, you know, the presentation with you, but I can hand it over to Amelia to share it after. But what happened to our people was a result of the British phosphate company that, you know, acquired our island since the 1900s. And the three stakeholders to the British phosphate commission was Australia, New Zealand, and the UK. And for 80 years they mined our islands. And as a result, they, you know, they had to get rid of the indigenous people through relocating them to an island they bought in Fiji through their phosphate royalties. I grew up in Granby, but I also migrated back to Kiribati in 2004. I was born in Lombasa. And growing up as a young person, I've always had the question of identity and you know, where do I come from? And this question started rising when I was in high school, just having the self doubt about who am I in the bigger majority group. We've also transitioned to be part of the bigger community groups, but it still remained the same. When we went back to Kiribati in 2004, I thought I was going back home because that's where Barnabas is located. In Kiribati, the first year, it's that question of identity that started coming up again because I thought I was home, yet I was being coiled and labelled a Rambian, a Fijian, or an Ikidibas who had lived in Granby. And that for me was the drive to the work that I do being a displaced young person and a product of the displacement because of the injustice that was caused to our islands made me realise that the things that our ancestors, the history of our people should become a lesson learned for everyone, every other communities that may have to be displaced because of climate change in the future. So I started working in Kiribati in 2011, in the Kiribati Local Government Association and I served all the rural and urban councils of Kiribati for four years. Working to support capacity building programmes as well as development programmes for the island councils and that's where I really developed my love and passion for community service and community work. During my four years of service for the Local Government Association, I then resigned and worked with young people on a volunteer basis and these were very capable young aspiring artists that were singing in cover bars and trying to earn income from the talents. So what I basically did is we formed a group of what we call Kiribati Children's Campaign Network, then we started utilising their skills and their music to sing about climate change, anti-corruption, all other issues that young people were going through and what they were experiencing as part of the social issues that young people have to face or are facing on a daily basis. But what happened in the process is that we tried and get young people to talk with the president at the time, it was President Amati Thong and then later on we were able to get 20 young people to the Marshall Islands to form a later group on the coalition of Etoile nations on climate change. We were very successful to bring our young people to the dance scene since the time of poverty and everything else. And then later on we also established the Kiribati Corruption Kickers Network and we started developing civic education material and also developing posters and cartoons on the different types of corruption and started just going out to the community to educate them. And then I went to New Zealand to study and then I also started some work with our Kiribati and Bonovan communities in New Zealand and basically it was around digitising resources. And so while Kiribati was also talking about climate change and what do they do with the people around migration and building resilience, there was a high number of, or influx, number of Kiribati communities that were already in New Zealand for economic reasons. And in New Zealand we also tried and support a local NGO who works with the Kiribati and Tuvalu communities on navigating policy and legal spaces around implementing their human rights as communities, what is placed there and how they can access well-being support services while they're there. I was in New Zealand for five years and I support the work there with the communities that have migrated. Then I also came back to Rambi. This time I came back in 2021 and when I left Fiji in 2004 I felt personally that nothing has changed a lot when I came back. I still came back to drinking brown water. I still came back to having to travel 80 kilometres away to Saba Saba to access better health services. I still have to travel to Saba Saba to do shopping and all these other stuff. And much of the experiences that I had as a young person really drove me to say, how can we help? After 77 years of displacement our elders came into, our elders were in Fiji since 1945. And I was really trying to figure out what's happening, why that hasn't been developed or any changes on the island. So I embarked on a journey of research as a volunteer in Rambi, supporting the communities. We published so many reports after two years and that has been the information that I use now to implement and to do most of the work that I'm doing in Rambi. And so there was a people involved in the Rambi Rehabilitation Initiative in 2021 which focuses on rehabilitation using the social work perspective on how do we have displaced communities that are already very experiencing trauma, historical trauma because of the injustice that was caused to them and the way that they were moved. And so in 2000 I partnered with the International Center Advocates Against Discrimination then we kind of designed a project called The Right to Life with Dignity Project and to do a community consultation to collect stories from our remaining elders who are on Rambi and then to also develop a policy brief on the dispossession and displacement of Barnabon policy. A policy brief on dispossession and displacement of Barnabon's. In 2022 we developed a activism project to implement the kind of finding that we found after the consultation and developing the policy brief and it was just so awful that there were so many human rights violations that took place in the process of our forced relocation. And no wonder we still inherit those deficit social well-being indicators in all our well-being domains such as health. Rambi is basically number one in the rural area, top of every deficit health. High youth unemployment, lack of development and so forth. So we developed the policy brief and then we started working because in just in terms of context Barnabon's governed well self-autonomous partly semi self-autonomous. We have our own Barnabon settlement activity in the Fiji government. We also have an act in the Kirippus government. We have two MPs in the Kirippus parliament and we have a chapter within the Kirippus constitution that also look after the well-being and welfare of our Barnabon people. Now this corollary settlement act was a provision that was entrenched within the two constitution of the two states to look after the affairs of the Barnabon people. But right now with a lot of loopholes and gaps within the two constitutions in two states, you know, the life and the affairs of the Barnabon people is very political. And that was why we angle this work with our young people to say that, you know, you really need to be present in this democracy work because our history is so much political because of that historical context. And the displacement that, you know, moved us. But some of the key challenges that I came about working, you know, in Kirippus, New Zealand, in Rambi, you know, it's the question of as a young person is the question of do I know my human rights. And I think in Kirippus on the work that we do on climate change and anti-corruption. One of the most prominent issue that I came up with was cultural obstacles. And then we need to navigate this, especially if you're an advocate for your country and for the things that you stand for your country as a young person, your cultural competency, your worldview on how you see things. You really need to groom yourself or build capacity to ensure that whatever you do is not disrespectful to the elders and to the spaces that you work in communities. And then also politicizing the issue of climate change within the scope of politics where migration with dignity was something that was supported by a previous government and then the new government came into support. And then you have young people were floating between political ideologies and, you know, systems that governments bring in on a different time, space and location. There was another major challenge that, you know, young people were confronted with. In New Zealand, where you're looking at the Kirippus youth and migration in that context, youth exploitation, you know, and lack of support system for youth migrants. The majority of our young people who are migrating to New Zealand are young people. And so they're faced with a lot of exploitation, not just on the Kirippus group, but other Pacific Island groups. And if you have followed, there have been so many articles that came out because of these exploitation. And then coming back to the Rambi where a colonial settlement net that is already so very old and not working for development. You know, how do we engage young people to talk about these issues? And we were so fortunate that we were part of the reimagining democracy workshop that was this. There was, you know, there was health few weeks back in Suha. And we talked about bargain issues and, you know, why the settlement net is not working. Why is it that, you know, Fiji government, the coalition government has promised us to restate the council, but yet they're not working towards that pathway. And we had to raise that as young people because of course the local government is the closest stakeholder to the development of people and they live and breathe with communities. Yet they will not allow us to go into election next year because our channel as a displaced community, as a minority community in Fiji does not fit with the whole plan around reinstating this council. And then of course falling in the crack of two countries. And I've shared that, you know, our well being domains are just so deficit and so worried that we need to really, you know, help our young people and helping them in a way that they could participate and to be frank as a young person myself. You know, I had to be creative with my approach of engaging young people to turn up to turn up to consultations in the community to turn up to consultations in local government to turn up to consultations in national region or international spaces. Young people are not. And I have to be really honest, young people afford the space but are not attending. And I'm not taking a lot of interest in participating in all these spaces that are set up for them. Lack of research and perhaps lack of understanding foremost is how do we make information very friendly and very accessible to young people. And no wonder young people do not turn up to very important consultations to participate and also to share their views on what they think they feel about issues that are being discussed. Lack of policy interventions, of course, because young people are not turning up. They cannot be, you know, a stakeholder or an important stakeholder in the policy stages of developing those policies that will address, you know, youth issues, but yet they complain at the end of the day that they're being used as tokens. And then lack of legislations across Kiddipads, New Zealand, Barnabens, there is lack of legislations to actually, you know, deal with these issues that are being politicized around the issues of climate change, anti-corruption, migration, displacement. You know, we need to be present on these spaces because only then can all our issues be addressed. And of course, young people lack access to human rights resources, especially the beautiful indigenous languages that we have. You know, you cannot be bringing materials that are not understood by a specific group of people because they need to access those documents to make informed decisions so that they are able to participate and also show, implement the human rights as citizens and good citizens of any country. Then of course, lack of financial support to support very deeply the young people are changing their different countries. The last issue that I want to talk about, which also becomes a challenge, is ensuring how young people can participate in the demo and regional spaces. You know, how the young people advocate in the PIF space, regional spaces, international space, you know, how we make it so that we have to understand where these conversations start, where the conversation needs to work. You know, it's still become a very limited experience for many of young people. This is because, of course, young people have been volunteering, they've been volunteering very busy in the community. And this is, you know, is the important thing for young people in the PSE. We really looked at it because we cannot be volunteering for very, very important issues. Thank you very much. Thank you very much Ray for your incredible presentation. We sincerely appreciate the time that you took to be with us here this morning. Now there were moments where it was kind of dropping in and out. So I'll just remind all of our participants that a little later on, if you'd like to ask him any questions or if you'd like to go back and ask him to kind of maybe recover some of the things that you may have missed, we can do that in the question and answer session. Now in the meantime, if you'd like, you may go ahead and pose the questions that you do have, or if there's anything that you'd like to kind of highlight, you can go ahead and do that in the chat feature. And these will all be addressed a little later on in the question and answer session. Now last but certainly not least, our final speaker for today. My name is Apelli Lissouma from Pacific Network on Globalization. Now Apelli Lissouma is from La Condrove and graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce in Politics and Management from the University of the South Pacific. Upon graduating, he served for several years in various roles at the Fiji Higher Education Commission before joining the Pacific Network on Globalization in 2022. He joined to provide search support for the Nuclear Justice Program before being appointed as the Nuclear Justice Campaigner. He's also been a dedicated volunteer and member of the Fiji Red Cross Society for nearly a decade, contributing at the governance level to the youth program and both constitutional and strategic reforms. Mr. Lissouma, thank you so much for joining us today. Over to you. Thanks. Thank you, Amelia. Perhaps, just to ensure I'm coming across every clearly for everyone maybe just give me a thumbs up reaction on zoom. Well, let me know if everyone can hear me clearly. Before I start proper. All right, I saw one thumbs up. Thank you. Hello, everyone. As, as, as Amelia had explained, my name is Italy and I work supporting the Pacific Network on Globalization's nuclear justice campaign. And so, perhaps before I head into it, a bit of a brief on who Tang is as an organization. We are a regional civil based civil society organization that supports a wide range of networks, some indigenous communities, feminist groups, youth groups, academics and activists and artists to promote economic self determination, political self determination for for Pacific peoples. A large part of our role is to serve as a think tank organization as well. To provide advice, be it legally or politically using our network for for Pacific people to advocate for their self determination at either a national regional international level. In the nuclear justice program that I work with specifically, we support a network of groups in Pacific Islands, nuclear affected communities. So these communities are in the Marshall Islands in Mahi Nui or French occupied Polynesia. And this also includes those from Christmas Island, Kiribati, both the affected communities in Kiribati, but also veteran communities as well, and advocating for nuclear justice issues for the Pacific and for these people at various levels. And so, my, my talk today I was asked to speak briefly on on around three things. And I don't have a presentation but I hope you'll be, you'll be able to draw some gold nuggets out of what I'll share. So the first area I really enjoyed listening to the first two presentations just just quickly. And the highlighted points around the challenges that young people face, given that this year's International Day of Democracy theme is around empowering the next generation. Highlight the challenges that Vinyana and Ray both highlighted around engaging young people, you know, rural and very urban or displace communities, engaging them in various processes of consultation. And the challenges they face around access to resources and information. I think this is a challenge that that various organizations face at one point or another. So tying it to the work that I did with the volunteer work I do with the Fiji Red Cross, listening to some of the challenges Ray and Vinyana highlighted were ones that I was familiar with, in terms of getting young people on board, and having them a part of change. But we're talking about democracy today and young people are key part of achieving democracy, particularly here in the Pacific where, where we make up the majority of the population in relation to nuclear justice and the program that I work with. Young people have played an important role in advocating for nuclear justice issues and taking on the mantle and the stories passed onto them by their elders to campaign for countries like France, the United States and the United Kingdom to properly acknowledge and compensate affected communities here in the Pacific. One such youth group that has perhaps been that we work with that pain that has been an active voice for a nuclear justice in the Pacific. This is one called Young Sovara Pacific, and Young Sovara Pacific is a collective of artists, academics who use art as a medium to advocate for for nuclear justice, but also advocating for other issues, such as self determination for occupied Pacific countries like West Papua. And so Young Sovara's ability to position art as a form of engagement with young people. And as a form of messaging to a global audience is is is one of the ways in which hang has worked with youth to sort of engage in maybe discussions like democracy discussions like nuclear justice discussions like the Fukushima nuclear wastewater issue that may be slightly sensitive in other spaces. And so the beauty and using art is that it's able to transcend a number of spaces, be it in a university or school in church spaces or religious spaces rather, but also entering the public domain, social media, city streets, and art galleries and museums. Young people, young people have an important role as well. When you think about being the bridge, I suppose between one generation to the next. And so in doing some reading about why youth are important in democracy and in campaigns like nuclear justice, a word that stood out for me is that young people are the bridge to the future. There's often talk about young people being the leaders of tomorrow and so the importance of involving them in advocacy work today is takes on new meaning because involving young people in in talking about Fukushima issues today. You set them up to be better leaders when they sit in leadership positions in the future and ensuring that they continue to impart knowledge to a new generation of nuclear justice campaigns. Young people have played an important role in as recently as two or three weeks ago, where if you had the opportunity to participate and see videos or photos from the Fukushima anti wastewater dumping march in Suva, they were cross section of people that participated in that march. They weren't just older folks who are protesting in the 70s and the 80s, but they were also a few children in school uniform that participated. They're young people that also young families who brought their children along. And so it was encouraging to see a seed being planted in the lives of these children on the importance of speaking up for what they believe in and what they see as something with protecting them. And in the case of the Fukushima purchase much, it was the Pacific Ocean. I think it was an acknowledgement by their by their parents and and who brought them along or gave consent to them to be there that this March that took place three weeks ago is so much more than colorful placards and shouting it was a call to action for the leaders now to be conscious of the decisions being made that will impact these young folk further down the line. And so when I think about democracy and the journey of democracy that Fiji has undergone that Fukushima March for me was was an exciting one because it was one way you saw Fijians have the opportunity to march and express the view vocally and passionately for something that they believe in. But it was also exciting for Fiji's democracy because you saw a generation of ocean activists, marine conservationists and nuclear justice campaigners. And so, in and amongst the midst of the doom and the gloom of young people perhaps not engaging more effectively or not accessing resources. I think that much was a small representation of how democracy, this intersection between democracy and nuclear justice can sort of lead to a new generation of nuclear justice campaigners or democracy campaigners at that. I think it was observed as well, being an avid social media user has been the vibrancy of discussions that have been taking place. Not only about this issue around Fukushima and Japan's wastewater release, nuclear wastewater release, but also the young people that have actively participated in maybe tagging a member of parliament on Twitter or and asking hard questions. They don't always get the response from the from the leader in government, but it's encouraging to see that the questions are being asked that critical thought is being generated. And I acknowledge the saying this is that a lot of the young people that perhaps engage actively on social media and in these conversations around Fukushima and democracy are young people who have the privilege of accessing maybe stable internet smartphone device and also perhaps maybe to a certain extent information. And as presentation was an interesting one because there are gaps that exist between young people in the rural settings and young people in the urban settings and access to, you know, mediums like this through zoom. How then do we bridge this gap for young people in various, various settings and context, I think perhaps it becomes incumbent upon us as maybe urban based young people to be better advocates for and mentors for perhaps even the voice for young people at times rural based young people. And so that's, that was the encouragement that I found in Ray's intervention, for example, because coming from Rambi, going back to Kiribati and now studying in Australia and in New Zealand particularly he's been able to be a bit of voice for young people. Talking in his talk about climate change, for example. And so, for us, for us, when we talk about nuclear justice, it requires I guess a greater level of, a greater level of responsibility and custodian ship, I suppose, was to always be conscious that in talking about issues like Fukushima. It's important that we're also able to explain and share information with our friends in the in the rural areas and rural settings. One of the questions that has also asked me to speak on rather was around Fukushima nuclear justice and it's it's linked to SDG five on gender equality and SDG 16 on peace justice and strong institutions. And just in relation to SDG, SDG five. I often times decisions are made by, made by men in power. And there was a having the opportunity to attend the democracy reimagined symposium that CCF hosted. A year ago, this was a message that I that resonated, I suppose, in me and came out very strong in an intervention made by Ms. Noli Nambulival from Viva for equality. And so when I thought about this Fukushima waste water release I you sort of unpack and realize that it's decision that is taken by Japanese government, which their Prime Minister is a man. And the decisions to support the IAEA report and similarly, Japan's stance in Fiji's case is another decision taken by men. And so the link I suppose between environmental harm, perhaps harm on our and domination of men in our democracy is one that perhaps does not unpack to really understand the impact that it has on women and children. And so Fukushima's waste water release and the concerns that people have emanate from the impact that it will have on food sources, economic opportunities with many people relying on the fish for for an income through the sale of seafood and things like that. But also the impact on families and the health of mothers, women and children. And so it's it's encouraging to see that in in the case of our nuclear march last in the last two weeks. That was a mass where one of the leading groups were feminist groups and women from, from communities in the West that largely rely on the sea for their source of income but also to put food on the tables of their families. And so the passionate please that came across about, you know, changing the stance of Fiji government support for the IAEA's and Japan's release of waste put into the ocean was one that I think was quite memorable for many of us who may have attended that much. But also, it is, I also reminded of a group in Japan, they call themselves the Fukushima mums, mums who are who are volunteered to sort of test the water that that is being discharged out of Fukushima. And these mums do so, acknowledging the impact that that this wastewater will have on their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. And I think that if anything is a good example of how women have taken charge of the opportunity to to become actively engaged in, in wasting concerns as part of a democratic process but also actively engaged in this science and this debate of whether this wastewater is safe or not against the science of which is largely dominated by men. Circling maybe, you know, I'm conscious of time to the last two points that I've just started down as well. Democratic spaces and and unpacking why youth and independent institutions are important. I think conversations like this webinars like this are a great start for generating discussions on on why we need to be better advocates for a healthy democracy that advocates in turn for things that impact our democracy like nuclear waste in the Pacific. And lack of youth and gender participation and representation. And so online platforms like this are a great way to to start those conversations about why you and I as voters in this tech space need to speak up actively. But I think I'm conscious as well that in speaking to those on this call and those that may watch this call that I'm probably already speaking to the converted. And so it becomes incumbent on all of us going back after this call to whatever spaces we may retreat back to after this to also have the same conversations with our families around the dinner table, or friends around the about why it is important to to cherish and defend our democracy and why it is important to access information that perhaps we when we don't know enough about something. And I think, you know, it's, it's encouraging that we have an organization like CCF in Fiji, where we're, where we're then able to make connections and access information in a manner that is palatable for for young people palatable as well for for young women. And young people, you know, depending on whether they're in a very urban setting, or in a in a rural setting as well. I think another way that that we can perhaps also become active in engaging in our democracy is through the media and through social media. And so I see in terms of practicing what I preach, I do this by tweeting as actively as I do. Part of being in a vibrant democracy is is also calling out behavior that is perhaps inappropriate. And so how I practice this every day is by tweeting government number plates, for example, government drivers that driving to see on the road. I walk to and from work daily. And so when you walk from when you walk as I do you tend to observe very reckless driving by our blue number plated vehicles in government. And so one of the ways in which I maybe try it's a small way at least to engage in my democracy as a young person is to treat the number plate of the driver and call them out for their driving. Perhaps the next step for me, and maybe the next step for you as a small example is writing to the government minister or ministry to or to LTA to say these are the drivers driving on safety on our roads. And they need to be pulled into line. So engaging, I suppose I use that as an example I suppose as engaging on social media. Perhaps even writing letters to the editor to hold our democracy and those that we put in power to account. But also to to demonstrate that it's okay to call bad behavior out, and it's incumbent upon us as voters to actively do this that the time of silence in our country I think is over. And the only way for us to create a vibrant democracy and to empower our next generation is if we, you know, do it and practice what we preach. I'm not going to take up any more time, but I thank you. I hope I was able to come across scary for everyone and maybe implant some little nuggets of gold, but I'll hand over to Amelie. Thank you so much for that amazing presentation. I really enjoyed hearing what you had to say. Also to our two other speakers miss being out of the calm and Mr. So now we now have about 10 minutes for our question and answer session. So if if there's any more if there's a question you'd like to ask, you could always post in the question and ask is chat group or chat function or raise your hand. I'd like to encourage all of you to use this opportunity to ask a panelist questions. If you're a specific person that you'd like to address this question to please indicate so otherwise you may let the panelists know that it's an open question for all three of them. I know that was a lot of information to take in so I'll just give you a few moments to type your questions into the chat box, or to raise your hand if you'd like to ask any of our panelists a question. So no question so far that's fine. I know that was a lot of information to absorb so to get the questions to get the question started. I guess I have an observation and also a question it's really maybe for three of you. Apparently you said something earlier that really stuck with me and that was, if I'm speaking to you then I'm already kind of speaking to the converted and I love that. Sometimes when we're in these situations when we're in these presentations we're really kind of speaking to people who are already kind of the gospel. How do we encourage those people who need to be coming to these tables how do we encourage youths, for example, who might be interested but you know because we're kind of taught from a young age to be seen and not to be heard. So I get them to kind of go against the grain and to start joining these groups to have a voice. And I, and I really like to hear from all three of you seeing that you've all three of you've kind of worked in different facets of the youth community so I'm not sure who'd like to go first to an answer in that but at least it's your campus already on I guess you could go first. But I'm happy to because I have a great example of how I was able to maybe convert someone. In about, I think it would have been about the 21st of August, the Pacific Youth Council had a International Youth Day celebration at the holiday in London coordination with the UN agency. So a number of young people there, mostly I think university students. And once the formalities had ended. Three young people flooded to our booth, Tang's booth. And on our table we displayed information on our nuclear justice program. Freedom for West Papua and self determination but also our call for a ban on deep sea mining. Two of the young ladies in particular had a lot of questions about Fukushima. They had only heard about the issue. Had a relative understanding of why it's bad and its impacts. But I use that opportunity to sort of maybe convert them and turn them into hopefully active participants in our democracy and nuclear justice advocates. Fast forward two weeks later when we marched through Suva. Towards the end of the demonstration marches when we were in front of Parliament House. I got a tap on my shoulder. And when I turned around. It was the young lady who had spoken to two weeks prior, proudly wearing her anti nuclear T shirt. And proudly saying she was happy and proud to have participated in that much. So I suppose for me that was a small win in maybe converting someone as you know to use that word. To not only become a nuclear justice advocate. But also an active participant in her democracy that is a young second year law student from between you she was able to match an expressive view on the streets of Suva. So that's just my small example of speaking to the converting someone. Thank you. That is such an amazing story. Thank you so much. Vinayana Ray. Would you like to share your thoughts? Yeah, I mean from from our end, sorry, Vinayana. But from my end, you know, over the last days, the last few days, the last week. You must aware of, you know, the fact that a mining company has resurfaced once again to try and remind our, our home island in Kittibus and done to resist this work. We have been engaging the media. And I think deploying other means where we can actually amplify the voices of our communities or land owners who have never been consulted prior to the, I think one effective way of bringing people on board is to try and break down information. And we do this by helping resources for our communities, and also translating it to the data in Kittibus, which is the language that we use because abundant language was lost in the process of our migration story. So, petitions and, you know, young people and the general community can only join if they really understand, you know, the framing to the level to, you know, so there was one way we could work around this campaign and this campaign is ongoing one. We're still trying to present the petitions. Plus, with the lack of awareness of our people, they've been threatened. You know, the petitions is illegal and anyone who signs the petition can get in trouble. But most of our communities are, you know, when you tell them the human rights, we need to educate them and break down these human rights so that they understand it to the level that they know they're well prepared to join any specific causes. Thank you. Okay. Okay, one approach that CCF is currently using is a continuous intervention and engagement of use. We have it in faces. First, it's education and awareness in communities and then we identify youth who are interested in the content interested in human rights and the 2013 Constitution or the rule of law. And then we take them further or engage them further in symposiums and other workshops, like the one that we had last month where Ray and Epelio were part of. We invited youth from Nandi who were part of our community workshops. Just because they generated an interest during our workshops in the communities, we invited them to the symposiums to for PR discussions for them to further explore ways on how they can enhance their learning on democratic principles. So those are some of the things one of the approaches that CCF is continuing and will continue to do. And now that we are working in a very urban areas recently, we have started to move away from the E2K villages, not just because we want to concentrate on peri-urban, but we want to keep a balance to sort of seeing how the youths are managing in rural areas, and also how youth in the urban areas are involving themselves, are being engaged. So we can have a collaborative approach, as I have mentioned in my presentation, to have a collaborative approach with relevant ministries, civil societies and organizations who are keen to work with youth and look at how they can be developed and maybe sustain living, to minimize the crime rate or lessen the crime rate, or have support networks in the communities. So those are some of the things that the Citizens Concession Forum is currently doing. Thank you so much, Vinyana. Thank you so much everyone for answering those questions. Now, if you have any other questions, I'm going to have to ask that you send them in. We've run out of time, and we just have a few minutes left for closing remarks for everyone. So I'm going to ask that our speakers kind of gather their thoughts so you can deliver your closing remarks, but in the meantime, I'd like to extend our appreciation to all of you for being here this morning to participate in today's webinar. And when we opened up this morning's webinar, there was a sentence that I read out that lifted from the website of International Idea and it read, education is a powerful tool for empowering young people and fostering their active engagement in democratic processes. And I couldn't agree more. I firmly believe that education is the key to success and that that coupled with information can allow us and them to make smart informed choices. And as you learned, I'm going to go from back to front. Mr. Lesuma, if you'd like to give your closing remarks now. Thank you. Thanks. Thank you. I suppose in closing, my final comment to everyone is I suppose to actively, you know, we're engaging here actively. I'd like to throw a challenge back to the audience to actively perhaps have conversations about our democracy and how we as voters and taxpayers can maybe contribute to making it stronger and more robust to hold our leaders to account. But also actively looking at opportunities of how we can maybe learn from each other and collaborate. And so if this webinar is one useful way in which we can disseminate information, I'd encourage the audience and challenge the audience to share the video once it's out, if it comes out to two friends so that we can can start having, having more serious conversations about this sort of thing. And other than that, happy International Day of Democracy. Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Lesuma. And thank you very much for the work that you do with and for the Pacific Network on globalization. Now I'd like to invite Mr. by CC to give us his closing remarks. Thank you. Thank you very much, Amelia. In closing, I'd like to thank the organizers for bringing us into this very important space. From my perspective, there is a lot to be done in advancing democracy for indeed in any specific context, whether you are in England, Australia, Kittipes or anywhere in any part of the world. If the story of the vitamins has been one of the most what is important story because he's still pretty much contract under. And so broken. If you have networks or what's addressing the challenges the link challenges about facing open discussing these with partners like idea CCF who can actually be that supporting institution to advance strikes of indigenous people. Thank you very much. And thank you everyone for participating today. Thank you very much sir for all the work that you do but especially for joining us this morning all the way from Canberra, we sincerely appreciate it. And last but not least miss the cow would you like to give your closing remarks. I like, I'll share the same sentiments as a belly and ray. In terms of upholding democracy. Since I can tell that who are all on this zoom are all the converted. So how do you reach out to the ones who are not converted. So I guess it's a lot on us and CCF does a lot of civic education. This is a good platform where we can reach out to one another where we can work collaboratively. Since we work on different issues on climate change, global climate change. And the platform that we can all share information, because there's capacity already on the space that we can sort of complement to reach out to those that we need to, to reach out to, to accelerate the progress of democracy and strengthen democracy here in Fiji. Thank you so much miss the cow. And thank you very much for availing yourself this morning we sincerely thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to be with us here today. And not just to you madam but to our other two panelists as well. And rather on behalf of international idea Fiji and international idea Asia and our Pacific regional office. We'd like to thank you sincerely for sharing your knowledge and experience with us today. We'd also like to thank you, our audience for joining us for this live event. And just using this to listen was earlier shared experience as an example. You never know when it's seemingly random conversation, a shared moment can make a difference can give someone the courage they need to be an advocate for change. And if I had one asked it's to use those moments you have to make them learning opportunities. What we say, what we share what we do can make a difference and encourage the next generation of leaders. And as miss the cow asked, how can we reach the unconverted a question to ponder, as we finish today's webinar. Then we'd like to strongly encourage you to look up for the dates for our next one. And we, as always, we look forward to your participation. Until then, from the international idea team from CCF and I. Thank you.