The United Peace Corps Samoa is hosting 16 Blue Pacific Youth Champions for a week-long learning exchange of youth leaders from Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, and Vanuatu. 

Funded by USAID, this four-day experience in Samoa caps a series of workshops the Youth Champions have participated in across the Pacific. The Youth Champions lead a session on climate adaptation at the Commonwealth Youth Forum.

The Peace Corps Blue Pacific Youth Initiative is a Pacific-wide effort to support young champions in the Pacific in building the skills they need to be on the frontline of moving their communities to climate resilience. 

Participants travelled to each of the four countries to learn relevant climate information, assess the evolving climate-related needs of their communities, and lead localized responses to the climate emergency, from adaptation activities to disaster preparedness.

In Samoa, the workshop’s themes are leadership and taking action. At the Commonwealth Youth Forum on Monday, the youth facilitated a hands-on break-out session on climate leadership, featuring three participatory development tools. 

The widely-attended session guided participants through a series of activities in which they identified climate change hazards in their own communities, analyzed the impacts of those hazards, and brainstormed viable climate adaptation projects. 

One of Samoa’s own Blue Pacific Youth Champions, Pesamino Asalemo of Fusi Saluafata, also hosted the cohort and MNRE project managers in his village for an educational session on climate resilience followed by a visit to his mangrove project that he started in his community. 

Pesamino is also a volunteer used by the MNRE to visit different sites around the country under the Marine and Waste Management unit to monitor and analyse progress.

Peace Corps Country Director Gini Wilderson said, “This has been an amazing initiative.

"Through a range of projects, camps, clubs, and international exchanges, Pacific youth are strengthening their communities’ resilience and safeguarding their heritage. 

"Each post selected a local mentor - Samoa's is Fimareti Selu from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment - and four BPYI Youth Champions for this first year of programming. Our Pacific Peace Corps posts travelled to Fiji and Vanuatu in June 2024, and to Tonga and Samoa in October.  

"In Samoa, we are grateful to be able to have the very unique experience of giving these Pacific youth leaders an opportunity to present a session on participatory development at the CHOGM Youth Forum to fellow youth leaders around the globe.”