Pan-Commonwealth Youth Caucus leadership elections

Next month in Chandigarh, India, around 50 youth representatives from all over the Commonwealth will meet to elect a new Chair and Vice-Chair for the Pan-Commonwealth Youth Caucus.

Four candidates from the Pacific region are standing for election to fill both leadership positions, which are currently vacant. The newly-elected Chair and Vice-chair will serve for two years and the appointments rotate regionally.

Over the next few days, we will be profiling the four candidates who have been nominated:

Tom Junior Misikea (Niue)

Tom Junior Misikea has been a youth activist since he was 14. He is involved in many community activities in Niue and organises workshops for young people. In 2009, he was elected Youth President of Hakupu Atua Youth and was elected as a member of the Youth Parliament.

He is working with other Youth MPs to push the government and community to implement policies such as hosting the Youth Parliament annually; ensuring sex education is included in the curriculum and lobbying for a full time counsellor; promoting Vagahau Niue (the language of Niue); establishing a savings scheme for school students; and supporting the establishment of a crèche for young working families.

Tom has been at the forefront of youth work, encouraging and supporting other young people to become activists in government level and at grassroots level.

He became involved in youth activism when he was nominated to be the Youth Parliament Member for his village in the Niue National Youth Assembly. The love he has for the youth in his village and for the rest of the young people on the island motivates him to support their activities and to help the government and communities. He is concerned about the severe depopulation on Niue as the majority of Niue people reside permanently in New Zealand.

In his village, he wants young people to work together to preserve their unique culture, language, customs, traditions and protocol.
As Youth President for his village, Tom is involved with village meetings, church activities and youth workshops which help him with decision making in his leadership role.

His career highlights so far include participating at the 11th PIPSA in Auckland last year, the youth meeting in Wellington and now being the RYC Representative for Niue. He believes the Commonwealth Youth Programme is great in the way it fosters an environment that promotes teamwork and partnership.

Key Links:

• Our work: Commonwealth Youth Programme
• More information on Niue