28 Jan 2019

Pacific voice lost when lumped with Asia says youth leader

From , 5:03 am on 28 January 2019

The chairperson of the Pacific Youth Council says lumping the Pacific with Asia in international forums causes the region's needs to be diluted and lost.

Tahere Si'isi'ialafia is also a sociology lecturer at National University in Samoa.

Ms Si'isi'ialafia is one of six Pacific people among 21 candidates the Obama Foundation selected as emerging Asia-Pacific leaders.

They met in Hawai'i earlier this month to start designing a regional youth leadership programme.

Ms Si'isi'ialafia was part of a sub-group working on the sustainability of the programme.

She spoke with Dominic Godfrey about telling Barack Obama that Pacific perspectives were overshadowed when grouped with Asia.

Tahere Si'isi'ia-lafia

Tahere Si'isi'ia-lafia Photo: Facebook/ UN Women