Matairakula attends
WHEN the opportunity came to partake in a Community Engagement Exchange (CEE) program in the United States of America (USA), Ulamila Matairakula wasted no time and by doing so she happened to be the first Fijian to be accepted.
Ulamila who is also known as Mila to her close friends and family hails from the beautiful island of Kadavu.
Mila had undertaken the US Department of State and International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX) program under its environment cohort and has paved the way for young Fijian leaders. She was recognised for the work she was involved in as an environmental officer for the Pacific Blue Foundation (PBF).
“It was a pioneer program and I was privileged to represent Fiji in the civil society leaderfocused program,” she said.
Mila said the purpose of the workshop was to build community engagement capacity.
“The workshop allowed me to build my network, share experience and knowledge, explore opportunities, and discuss programs that I can learn to customise to suit my community back in Fiji.
“The program involved me doing an internship for three months with an organisation that does similar environmental conservation work called Save Our Shores, based in Santa Cruz, California.”
The mother of one said the program was mutually beneficial – she learnt as much as she could from Save Our Shores and they had also learnt about the projects she was involved in with PBF.
“I took with me my experience and knowledge from our PBF programs which are based on culture and traditions, the foundation of all our programs.
“We need to preserve our culture and traditions and that must be integrated into the efforts of ridge to reef conservation.”
Mental health champion Lionel
Rogers was also part of the program in 2018 and was now a mentor for the CEE pioneer program.
According to the US Embassy Mila said the CEE had built her network, connecting her with young leaders who were passionate about their community. “This fight for a better humanity and healthier environment is a global effort and it starts right here where we build global friendships.”
Apart from the CEE program, she had also represented her organisation who was supported by IUCN to participate at the International Marine Protected Areas Congress, IMPAC5 which was held in Vancouver, Canada.
From her experience shared on her organisations Facebook page, she said that there was so much to learn and share.
“It was an informative and an inspiring event but most importantly it was a wakeup call for us, the Pacific island countries, and territories (PICTs) as we are rich in our culture.
“For many years climate change mitigation and adaptation measures have mostly focused on scientific knowledge.
We need to recognise the significance of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) that has sustained our forefathers for many generations. We need to integrate this into conservation efforts and respect nature through the link we share as indigenous people with nature.”
Mila said the event brought together many nations, governments, private sectors, non-prof