Vanuatu’s Head of State, President Baldwin Lonsdale has called on young emerging leaders of Melanesia to rise up and take challenges of any magnitude.
President Lonsdale was speaking as guest of honor at the inauguration of the MSG-SPC Emerging Youth Leaders of Melanesia Programme in Port Vila today.
He told the participants that at this critical moment in time when the Pacific island countries and the world are going through many challenges of any magnitude, we need a new brand of leadership who are responsible, ethical and God-fearing young leaders of tomorrow to step in to lead their people free from the hardship.
“It is my call to you young leaders to think serious of the opportunities and be ready to rise up and to take up the challenges to ensure that your people's desire and interest is addressed effectively and efficiently”, he said.
President Lonsdale said he personally feels and is convinced that, responsible and ethical as well as proactive leadership is all about considering others’ values more than one's interest, and deciding for the benefit of the masses instead of our individuals.
He believed that in so doing the national interest must become the determinant of all our decisions. “We lead because there are others who follow, and so let us decide for their welfare more than ours.”
The Director General of the MSG Secretariat, Amena Yauvoli said the Youth Emerging leadership Training is to empower the young leaders to “sail into the future….. as agencies of change for tomorrow” because they will be the ones to face and deal with various challenges from drugs abuses to unemployment etc.
Mr Yauvoli said this unique opportunity is to train young Melanesian youth leaders who will form part of the capacity building for Melanesia’s future leadership.
The SPC's Melanesia director, Mia Rimon, said 20 percent of the Pacific's 11 million people are 15 to 24 years old, and approximately half are unemployed.
However, she said if the leaders are successful, they could help move large numbers into formal employment.