Young Pacific Leaders Conference 2021

U.S. Embassy New Zealand announces an open competition for organizations interested in submitting proposals to organize a comprehensive program designed to provide emerging Pacific leaders with the skills and knowledge they need to become leaders in the region’s economic and civic development. As a Pacific nation, the United States has long been committed to working with partners in the region to ensure continued regional security, as well as economic growth and development. This program for young leaders will create ties across the Pacific to ensure that we are better prepared to address challenges together in the future. The State Department has convened a Young Pacific Leaders (YPL) Conference each year for the past six years, taking place in American Samoa, Samoa, New Zealand, Hawaii, and Fiji, with a conference pending in Papua New Guinea. All these conferences shared the goal of building leadership capacity and creating ties among emerging leaders from across the Pacific region (see below for a list of participating countries). This year, the conference should bring together a group of emerging leaders, ages 25-35, with the goal of providing them with practical leadership skills and a deeper knowledge of regional issues related to the four pillars of the YPL program: civic engagement, environment/resource management, education, and economic and social development. The conference should also help participants grow their networks and enable them to work with their peers on issues that affect the region. The conference should emphasize experiential learning and capacity building in order to equip participants with the tools they need for success. We encourage pre- and post-conference programming that will reinforce the learnings from the conference. The location of the conference should be in Hawaii, in order to showcase the United States as a Pacific country and the U.S. connections to the Pacific region.