Youth Resilience

Participants from Samoa during the 2021 PRM Youth Forum held on 5th July 2021 at the Taumeasina Island Resort
Participants at the Taumeasina Island Resort in Samoa during the 2021 PRM Youth Forum held on 5th July 2021.

About the PRP Youth Hub

The PRP Youth Hub was endorsed by the PRP Taskforce during its November 2019 Meeting and has been informally operationalized through the IFRC and Pacific Youth Council. This came after the Pacific Resilience Meeting Youth Forum in 2019, which generated a youth outcomes statement which:

  • Recognized and acknowledged the role of young people in building a resilient Pacific;
  • Encouraged the building of relationship and trust through empowering and engaging young people, and
  • Recommended the sustainable, active, and meaningful engagement of young people and children of all diversities in the policy and decision-making processes and spaces from a Rights Based Approach.

PRP Youth Working Group

To support and operational youth engagement in the PRP, a PRP youth working group has also been established and is active which is made up of representatives from organizations actively engaging youths through advocacy and programming in the Pacific in the area of Disaster and Climate Change. This organizations includes;

  • IFRC Pacific
  • Pacific Youth Council
  • Pacific Islands Association of NGOs
  • Save the Children
  • Live & Learn Environmental Education
  • Oxfam
  • University of the South Pacific
  • Commonwealth Climate Change Youth Network

The PRP youth WG is supported by the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS) and the Pacific Community (SPC).

Youth Engagement in the PRP Technical Working Groups

The PRP youth working group representation also ensures alignment with the Framework of Resilient Development in the Pacific (FRDP). In line with this the PRP youth working group also participates and have youth representation across the PRP Technical Working Groups of:

  • Human Mobility TWG
  • Localization TWG
  • Risk Governance TWG
  • Risk Financing TWG
  • Information Knowledge Management TWG.
Participants from the 2021 PRM Hub in Vanuatu
Participants from the 2021 PRM Hub in Vanuatu

2021 PRM Youth Forum

Despite the challenges poised by COVID 19, the 2nd successful Youth Forum at the Pacific Resilience Meeting (PRM) was attended by more than 700 participants from across the Pacific Island countries and territories, under the PRM theme of Our people, Our journey: nurturing Pacific resilience from home. Participants joined in live through the online platform from their homes, offices and satelite hubs that were establised for those with limited access to internet connectivity.

Key Outcome Summary

Key to the discussions was the sub theme of 'Why Youth Matter’, a reminder to us and others that youth are actively engaged in building resilience in our communities. The Youth Forum focused its discussions around the four pillars of resilience, that is, Integrate, Include, Inform and Sustain.

You can read more in the Youth Forum's Outcome Statement, Concept and the Program below.