Solomon Islands

Mary Jionisi

Commonwealth Youth Programme South Pacific Regional Youth Caucus

Mary Jionisi, 23, believes it’s important in her role as CYP South Pacific’s Regional Youth Caucus representative for the Solomon Islands to connect with young people at a grassroots level.

“It’s very important that all of the Regional Youth Caucus members dig down and get to the real youth issues,” says Mary.

“There are always a group of young people in the community that are vulnerable, and the big people often forget them in important things. I want to be able to reach down to those on the bottom and advocate for issues that affect them.”  

Mary has the opportunity to work closely with young people in the community day-to-day in her role as a Youth Development Officer for Honiara City Council.

In her work with the council, Mary initiates youth projects which address the needs of the city’s young people and reviews and implements the urban youth policy.

She’s been in the job a year, after more than three years volunteering for various NGOs and youth organisations in Honiara and a brief stint with the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) as a Court Liaison Officer with the Law and Justice sector.

Mary’s heart was in youth advocacy though, so when the City Council offered her a chance to apply for the Youth Development Officer position – with a little nudging from an Australian volunteer – she jumped at the chance.

Mary’s not new to youth work though.

For two years, Mary has been running a 60-strong youth group for the Church of the Seventh-day Adventists in the Solomon Islands. She is the only female leader and the youngest leader of her group.

In 2005, Mary took part in Oxfam’s International Youth Partnership (OIYP), a programme which supports young people to implement community projects in their home countries.

Mary sees unemployment as one of the biggest issues for young people in the Solomon Islands.

“It’s not just unemployment, it’s all the related issues – when they’re unemployed it means they don’t have skills, they don’t have training, it leads to crime, it leaves them with nothing to do, and it impacts on their self-esteem.”

So for her OIYP project Mary focussed on communities on the outskirts of Honiara and set up two weeks of life skills workshops for 30 unemployed youth of these areas. They learned about everything from self-esteem to graphic design, and although there were challenges, the project was so successful that some of the young people involved went on to get jobs, and others to establish their own projects and enterprises.

Mary also puts education at the top of the list of issues for Solomon Island youth.

“The education system can be hard on some people. Like if a young person fails a test they’re told that they’re not smart or clever and they drop out. It judges people. Some young people might not be good at sitting in a classroom but are good at practical things like drama and dancing.”  

Although there are ways in which Mary feels the Solomon Islands could improve, she still feels proud of her country.

“It’s a very culturally diverse place. Even though we’ve had a gloomy past, we can all come together to compromise and work together when we need to.”

In her role as the Solomon Islands rep for the CYP South Pacific’s Regional Youth Caucus, she has been given the chance to not only influence Honiara City Council’s youth policy and advocacy, but have input on the Solomon Islands national youth policy.

“They’re reviewing their youth policy at the moment and are including me at all stages of the process.”

Mary also feels her role is important, in that she was the first Solomon Island rep to be selected by an open application process, and wants to make sure the government continues to invest in the role.  

“In this term I would like to make sure the government recognises this position and resources it properly so it’ll be better for the next person that comes in to represent young people’s issues in the Solomon Islands.”

Above all though, Mary says: “I just want to do the best I can for young people in advocating for their issues and to make sure that young people’s voices go up to the levels I can reach.”

Email: kjionisi@gmail.com