Creating Environment Advocacy and Social Empowerment for Youths.

08/01/2026

Please Join IPYG on this Online Learning on Leadership which having the Series commence tomorrow, Saturday January 10 Fiji Time.
.....See you there!

12/05/2025

🌟The National Youth Council of Fiji – Your Council! Your Voice!🌟
Since its exciting revival in 2023, the National Youth Council of Fiji has been on the move — working hard to serve and empower you, the vibrant young people of Fiji!

One of our biggest projects in the next five years is the development of a powerful and meaningful Strategic Plan — a roadmap shaped by you and for you. While the plan is still in progress, we're thrilled to share some of the ideas and contributions from our board so far.

But here's the most important part: we can’t do this without YOU!! This plan will only be complete when it reflects the voices of the young people it’s meant to serve. That means your thoughts, ideas, and vision matter deeply.

🎯 Take just a few minutes to answer our short survey — your input will directly help shape the future of youth development in Fiji.

Let’s build this future together — bold, united, and youth-driven!!
🔗 https://forms.gle/NkwrirmmzWv79Nc4A

20/11/2024

Global Peace Forum 20205

The Global Peace Forum 2025 in Canada by CCCD is a Fully Funded Forum. It is open to all the Nationals covers Airfare, Accommodation, Meals.

11/11/2024

The Ministry of Women, Children and Social Protection extends an invitation to all interested young women to attend the Young Women’s Forum on Technology Facilitated Gender Based Violence (TF GBV) or Online Violence scheduled for Thursday 5th December 2024.

Expressions of Interest close this Thursday 14th November 2024, for more details please refer to the flyer below

07/11/2024

Pacific Australia Labour Mobility Scheme

Alifereti was one of the first Fijian PALM scheme workers to travel to Inverell, New South Wales, where for 3 years he gained experience working in Australia’s meat processing industry.

Since returning to Fiji, Alifereti has renovated his home in Nadi and has built another home in his village. He has also purchased livestock, using his skills from working in Australia to expand on his pig farming back home.

“Before I went to Australia, I was a pig farmer in the village, so I knew how to clean and sell them,” he explained.
“It has been a new experience working with the beef industry in Australia. I've now learnt how to process and cut for different muscles.”

Alifereti says he valued the support from his local Fijian community during his time in Australia.
“We help and encourage each other, we have meetings, if someone is having problems, we support them, work related and outside of work too,” he said.

Alifereti is now returning to Australia to work at another abattoir in Cootamundra, New South Wales.
“My aim now is for my daughter to go to Australia for university to study accounting. I also would like to build a second house in my village.

05/11/2024

Oxford University Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Full Scholarship and Leadership Programme(Fully-funded)

The Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Scholarships offer fully funded graduate studies at the University of Oxford for exceptional graduates and professionals from developing economies. This program includes leadership development, mentoring, and networking opportunities.

Highlights:

Leadership Programme: Engage in discussions, build business skills, and enhance communication.

Financial Support: Covers 100% of course fees, living costs (min. £19,237), and pre-arrival expenses.

Eligibility: Must apply for a new course at Oxford, reside in an eligible country, and plan to return home after studies.

Starting 2024-25, the Hope Scholarships will support refugees and displaced individuals under similar criteria.

Apply Now: Select the Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Scholarships in your application and upload your statement by the relevant deadline.

For details, visit website link

Shaping Tomorrow’s Leaders The Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Scholarships and Leadership Programme is a remarkable opportunity designed to nurture future leaders. It offers exceptional university gradu…

05/11/2024

Taking climate to the world’s highest court
5 November 2024

Cynthia Houniuhi tells her story of fighting for change at the 2024 Talbot Oration (Australian Museum/Mel Koutchavlis)
This blog is an edited version of the author’s Talbot Oration, delivered at the Australian Museum on 5 June 2024.
I’m honoured and grateful to be given this invitation to tell my story, our story and our journey towards achieving the future we want for ourselves and for our children.

Before I start at the beginning of our campaign journey, I’d like you to note that for us, the Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change, the work we do and the advocacy we carry is greatly shaped and influenced by our Pacific cultural values and our understanding of our different communities.

Growing up in the Reef Islands [of Solomon Islands], I was taught by the aunties and grandmas about the different types of plants available for us to eat, what fruits and plants were edible and which ones were not. I was taught by the uncles, grandpas and my brothers and their friends about how to fish and how to set up traps for the wild birds. Most of all, I was taught about the value that the land adds to our lives, and especially the value we add to the land by looking after it and being aware of our own limits.
I first came to notice the environment that was sustaining my people was disintegrating during one of the trips that we took to my father’s island in South Malaita province. There is an island there called Fanalei Island, and it is located at the port we call Port Adam. During one of the trips to my dad’s island, before we reached home, the sight that greeted me was not the image that I often see whenever I close my eyes and think of Fanalei. I saw that the Fanalei I used to love seeing was no more. There were fewer houses than before. There were no children on the beach playing. It looked deserted, and some of the houses were standing right in the waters. I was young, but very curious about the cause. So I asked my father, and he pointed to the houses and said that the sea level has come into the village, making it difficult for some of the homes to be safe for families, especially during storms. And so the people have had to move to the mainland, abandoning some of the houses.

This interaction was a moment I remembered clearly as the start of my climate justice journey. My curiosity, my love and concern for my people and the eagerness to learn pushed me onto this journey.
In 2016, I chose to study law from the options I had. I remembered I always appreciated law for its ability to govern, regulate and to achieve justice, and so I remember making the decision that I would like to specialise in environmental law one day. My motivation was that I wanted a degree to be relevant to an issue close to home.

In 2017, I commenced my undergraduate studies at the University of the South Pacific. In 2019, my third year of law school, we were given a chance to choose our electives. I remember one of the options was international environmental law, and I registered immediately. It was in that class that our campaign was born.
In class we learnt that some of our people are building sea walls, youth are doing awareness campaigns, and our leaders showing great climate leadership on the international level. When we chose the international environmental law unit, the focus for the majority of us was to understand what the climate change regimes are on the international level so that we could better utilise them to bring about the urgent need and change that we need.

We saw the rate at which the global community was moving towards climate solutions is not proportionate to the pace at which the adverse effects of climate change are hitting our islands. Our communities at the front line of the adverse effects of this climate crisis do not have the luxury to wait for the world to take the climate crisis seriously.

As a class, we researched many different legal pathways. However, the one that resonated well with us was the legal pathway of seeking an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice, the ICJ. We were convinced that the ICJ Advisory Opinion was the most appealing option, after assessment of the global impact such authority can potentially have for efforts to combat the climate crisis. Once we all agreed on the legal pathway, we then had to decide on who among the class were willing to take this on. I remember 27 students put up their hands and volunteered. It was not for special credit. It was a choice the students had to make on their own. I was one of them.

This was the birth of Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change as a group. This group was born specifically to action our chosen legal pathway. We started getting organised. Online group chats were created, and our first activity as a group was to write letters to all our Pacific island leaders who are members of the Pacific Islands Forum with our proposal.

From all the letters we sent out to all the Pacific leaders, including in Australia and New Zealand, we received an overwhelmingly compelling positive response from one Pacific island nation, the Republic of Vanuatu. The Vanuatu government have always been brilliant visionaries regarding climate leadership.

At the Pacific Islands Forum meeting, in the final communique, Pacific leaders noted our proposal. We were hoping for an endorsement, but in the final text, the leaders noted the proposal “to request a United Nations General Assembly Resolution seeking an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice”. We were not satisfied with the outcome and were determined to continue campaigning.

After four years of campaigning, working alongside governments, which included group members working on various campaign activities to assist the efforts of the Vanuatu government in building the numbers needed to pass the UNGA vote, our biggest milestone collectively happened on 29 March 2023. On that day, the United Nations General Assembly historically unanimously adopted a resolution to request an advisory opinion from the ICJ, supported by 130-plus countries.

The final question that was asked of the ICJ referred to concepts that we advocated for since 2019 and those are intergenerational equity and human rights. In summary, the final legal question asked the ICJ to consult international law such as human rights law, climate law and environmental law to be considered together, and provide a clarification on states’ obligations to protect the rights of present and future generations and the consequences of breaching these rights.

Since the unanimous adoption in March 2023, the ICJ has invited countries to make submissions before the court, and written submissions were due on 22 March of this year. A total of 90-plus written submissions were received by the International Court of Justice — the greatest number of submissions to be received by the ICJ.

The next phase is the comments phase, and the deadline for this was extended from 24 June this year to 15 August. States that have made written submissions to the ICJ will get an opportunity to comment on the submissions by other states received by the ICJ. Once the comment phase is done, then the next phase is the oral hearing [now confirmed for 2 December 2024].

Overall, we hope for an advisory opinion that is grounded in climate justice and human rights. The world is not taking climate change seriously. Carbon pollution continues to rise as the window for action slowly closes upon us. Vulnerable communities such as mine, who didn’t cause the climate crisis, are already experiencing it. We demand a strong advisory opinion that will uphold climate justice and human rights.

May our journey inspire you to act. Be like the students of the Pacific islands. Reach out to your government through letters. Make the polluters accountable by sharing your voices, sharing your stories, sharing your passion. March with the school students. And if you’re an educator, inspire your students to act, as our lecturer has done for us. Plant trees, get informed about the cause, join the fight in whatever capacity you have and the space that you are in. Do what you can for the same objective that we are trying to achieve, and that is a sustainable future for the present and our future generations. Nothing is too small or too big. The only thing that matters is your contribution to your community. Everything counts.

What I fight for is for my people and our children to live in dignity without the fear of climate change denying them that freedom.
The former Prime Minister of the Republic of Vanuatu, Bob Loughman, summed it up perfectly, and I would like to end with that quote: “This is for the world’s most vulnerable, for all of humanity and our collective future. This is about what we must save, not what has been lost. This is a campaign to build ambition, not division. This is a campaign to uplift the goals of the Paris Agreement. This is the young generation’s call for justice to the world’s highest court.”

The entire Talbot Oration is available to view on the Australian Museum’s YouTube channel.

05/11/2024

he Global Undergraduate Exchange Program (Global UGRAD) provides a unique experience for young leaders worldwide. This program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and administered by World Learning, enables participants to study at U.S. universities, immerse themselves in American culture, and build essential professional skills.

Since 2008, Global UGRAD has supported over 2,500 students, helping them become influential leaders in their communities and professions. With a focus on cultural exchange, academic growth, and career readiness, participants gain hands-on experience and leave equipped with skills that last a lifetime.

Program Highlights:

Academic & Cultural Exchange: Participants experience U.S. higher education while forming meaningful connections across cultural boundaries.
Professional Development: Alumni often advance to prestigious roles, including Fulbright grants, international internships, and impactful careers in government and business.
Community Engagement: Global UGRAD participants collectively volunteer thousands of hours during their time in the U.S., creating lasting impacts in their host communities.

Program Goals Global UGRAD aims to:

Foster mutual understanding between people of the U.S. and other nations.
Equip students with academic and leadership skills.
Enhance career readiness for professional growth.
Provide a comprehensive understanding of U.S. culture and values.
Enable students to create lasting networks with U.S. host institutions and local communities.
Inspire civic engagement in participants’ home countries and globally.

Eligible Countries Global UGRAD serves students from a diverse range of countries, including:

Albania, Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Egypt, El Salvador, Fiji, Georgia, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kiribati, Kosovo, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Malawi, Malaysia, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Nauru, Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger, North Macedonia, Palestinian Territories (West Bank), Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Philippines, Samoa, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Thailand, Timor Leste, Tonga, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Vietnam, Zimbabwe.

Note: The Global UGRAD-Pakistan Program is administered separately. For inquiries, reach out to [email protected].

To learn more and apply, visit

Program Overview The Global Undergraduate Exchange Program (Global UGRAD) offers young leaders from around the world an opportunity to study in the United States, develop critical professional skil…

05/11/2024

Obama Foundation Scholars Program at Columbia University: Fully Funded with Stipend and Living Expenses

Applications are now open for the prestigious Obama Foundation Scholars Program at Columbia University. This one-year program equips emerging global leaders with skills and resources to address pressing global challenges. Scholars benefit from: https://wp.me/p23f03-bv8

Full Tuition and Fees for up to four courses

Monthly Stipend to cover living costs in NYC

Furnished Housing near campus

Medical, Dental, and Life Insurance

Round-Trip Travel from home countries

Through seminars, experiential learning, and mentorship from Columbia faculty, Scholars engage deeply with New York’s diverse community, developing projects and strategies to implement in their home regions post-program.

Deadline: December 16, 5 PM EST. Learn more and apply here https://wp.me/p23f03-bv8

04/11/2024

Please register for this Event, if you can.

16/10/2024

International Day on Eradication of Poverty

Youth involvement should always be a significant focus of every year’s observance. Young people should participate in discussions about their role in combating poverty and driving sustainable development. They should harness the energy and creativity of their youth to tackle the challenges that their communities, villages and society as a whole, faces. It is their future that it is at stake and they need to be part of the solution.

Lets End Poverty, Now!

16/10/2024

The 2025 Community Solutions Program application is now open! to enhance your leadership skills, network with community leaders, and collaborate with U.S. organizations!