Youth Delegates
There was be a pre-conference meeting for the youth delegates from each participating country from February 8-9.
Download the Youth Side Event Agenda here
The conference assisted youth delegates identify child and youth-focused strategies in line with the themes of the meeting. Youth delegates also teamed up with youth advocates from Vanuatu to facilitate classroom discussions with school-children in Port Vila and discussed how the crisis affected the lives of children. Information from school visits will be used to support the development of child and youth-focused strategies.
Youth delegates also worked closely with the media to ensure that youth perspectives are captured in media coverage of the conference.
Interview with UNICEF Pacific Social Policy Officer Mereia Carling on Radio Australia: ‘Pacific leaders hear from youth on global crisis’
Competition: ‘Story of the Human Face’
The Pacific Youth Journalist Competition for the Global Economic Crisis Conference’ sought to encourage young people in the Pacific region to write real stories about how real people in their countries have been affected by the global economic crisis. The aim was to understand in greater depth ‘the human face’ of the crisis, so that responses can address specifically the real issues of real people in the Pacific.
The award for the ‘Story of the Human Face: Pacific Youth Journalist Competition for the Global Economic Crisis Conference’ went to Ms June Atomea for her story entitled “Silent cry of John the village boy.” Ms June Atomea is 22 years old and comes from North Malaita in the Solomon Islands. Ms June Atomea is currently enrolled at the University of South Pacific in Suva, Fiji.
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Child and youth videos
UNICEF worked with the 1-Minute Junior Foundation and young people to produce audio-visual messages that were used in the conference. 20 young people from Fiji produced videos to capture how they believed the global economic crisis has affected the lives of vulnerable groups of people in the Pacific. In addition to this, the voices of children and young people were captured in Solomon Islands and Kiribati to contribute towards the production of an introductory video for the opening session of conference.
Facebook Group
The conference is also on Facebook with the group The Human Face. We encourage young people to join this group and contribute to the debate about the financial crisis and its impact on the Pacific people.