Pacific leaders acknowledged for tackling pressing issues

Auckland:

Five people from the Pacific have won residencies as part of the Queen’s Young Leaders programme.

The recipients were honoured for their work in improving the lives of people in their islands on issues such as youth unemployment, high rates of teenage pregnancies and poor adult literacy.

One of the recipients, Petronilla Molilo’o Mataeliga, is a member of the Women’s Committee of Faleapuna in Samoa, where they use traditional Samoan mat weaving to tackle the issue of female unemployment.

According to National statistics,

nine per cent of women are unemployed, but Ms Mataeliga said the struggle for employment is higher in her village.

“We are going through a very hard phase with teenage pregnancy and a lot of students dropping out of school. “My mother and my aunties that are involved in the committee try and encourage the young women to get involved, as they know it is a beneficial programme.

“It’s a chance to give the women something to learn and at the same time they can use the products they make to provide for their families,” she said.

Another who received one of the awards, Millicent Barty uses traditional storytelling through a project called Kastom Story Time to address the poor literacy rates across Solomon Islands.