Country: Niue Island

Council Name: Niue Youth Council

Contact Person: Inangaro Vakaafi

Position: President

Contact Telephone: Day: 4019 Home: 3319

Contact Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Contact Post: P.O Box 173, Alofi, Niue Island

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Brief background/history of your National Youth Council

The Niue National Youth Council is an Incorporated Society established in 1982 to unify the various youth groups on the island. At present its members consist of the 14 village youth groups as well as 5 youth groups from the different denominations present on the island. The Council represents and acts on behalf of youth and interests concerning youth development at a national, regional and international level.

Vision: A thriving young generation committed to unity and prosperity.

Mission: To develop a generation of dedicated young people who in partnership with communities; taking on positive actions towards youth development in Niue.

Aims: Nurture a dynamic youth population contributing positively to national unity and development.

Objectives: The Council have 8 policy objectives

Education, training and career development.

Cultural heritage and spiritual well being.

Youth employment and economic development

Health and wellbeing.

Environment and climate change.

Media and ICT.

Social development and family values

Sports and recreation.

Guiding principles

1. 1. Youth Participation - Engaging young people in planning, implementation and monitoring of community and national programs.
   2. Youth Voice - Recognition and act on youth views and concerns in decision-making processes

1. 1. Nurture and foster a spirit of partnership between young people and youth stakeholders to build youth confidence
   2. Leadership - Motivate and encourage youth to take leadership roles and responsibilities
   3. Respect and acceptance of individual cultures, religious faiths in agreement with human rights and the rule of law
   4. Equality - Each young person has equal opportunity to access services and other opportunities despite their, sex, creed, ethnicity and ability

Does your NYC have a constitution? Yes

1. Please name your Office Bearers and how often are they chosen?

OffiOfficece Bearers are elected every three years. The current management committee consist of the following office bearers who were elected in May 2008

Inangaro Vakaafi President

Sinahemana Hekau Vice President

Carthy Lavini Secretary

Norma Palana Treasurer

Lavea Puheke Committee

Juvena Siataga Committee

Natasha Tohovaka Committee

What are current programmes?

The programmes that we offer are interlinked with the 8 project objectives outlined in our Niue National Youth Policy. We as a Council also hope to deliver programmes which are relevant and rather than duplicating what is already present we look to strengthen links and networks with other associations with similar goals on the island to cooperate and run programmes.

We have been successful with the Public Health Promotions Unit of the Health Department in promoting "Healthy Lifestyles" by addressing health issues related to youth, etc. We have the support of the Niue Police Department in coordinating and holding youth camps on a quarterly basis. We also have a number of sub regional projects funded by UNDP being implemented with our co agency of Community Affairs.

QuQuarterly youth camps each with a different theme or topic which are a means of building capacity of youth to grasp the importance of the role they play within society and also promote youth empowerment develop skills vital to their role as leaders.

We also envisage increasing youth participation in the various national celebrations such as Constitution. The idea is to get youth as actively involved as possible putting their energy into positive actions which will not only be beneficial for their own personal development but also have some impact on their communities, jobs and national developments.

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What are your challenges?

Lack of institutional and human resources

Depopulation(increasing number of youth migrating)

Lack of capacity to develop proposals seeking funding

Lack of funds or funding avenues for implementation of activities

Novelty of volunteerism run dry due to discontent

Overly committed (due to the sheer lack in numbers youth are expected to be multitaskers and take on various responsibilities from their workplaces, home, community, NGO groups, youth groups, church, etc)

What are your plans for 2009?

Our plans for 2009 are to deliver activities which are based on the needs and requests of the youth shown within the review of the youth policy in 2008. We hope to get some headway on implementing activities laid out within that policy and to be more proactive in seeking funding from donor agencies to assist us in providing services needed and not relying solely on government. In terms of activities we plan to be realistic in what we can actually achieve with the resources we have and would like to get more young people actively involved within the Council as well as activities carried out by the Council. Taking onboard the broad theme "TAKE THE LEAD" to develop an environment where young people can take onboard this trail of thought and apply it to their lives.