ACT:FJ Coordinator listed as Pacific region finalist for 2016 Commonwealth Youth Worker of the year

1 Nov 2016

ACT:FJ Coordinator listed as Pacific region finalist for 2016 Commonwealth Youth Worker of the year

In 2015 Elisha Bano was awarded the Queens Young Leader and she was the first form Fiji to be honoured with this achievement.

And now in 2016 Elisha is listed as a finalist (along another four) for the Pacific region nominated for the Commonwealth Youth Worker of the year.

There are a total of 20 youth workers from the Commonwealth countries and regions who have been listed in for this prestigious recognition. Next week the Commonwealth Secretariat will announce the regional winners and later the overall winner.

Elisha founded Advocacy (through) Creative Techniques [ACT: Fj] in 2014. This is a youth group that aims to use creative methods of social advocacy especially among youths in Fiji. Currently the group comprises of six youths from across Fiji and they engage in theater, spoken words, storytelling, social media and creative merchandise to advocate on social issues.

We are extremely proud of Elisha’s nomination for this recognition and wish her well for the final selection.

-End of statement-

2016 QYL: Press statement

Press Statement:
14/06/2016

Queen's Young Leaders Award (2016). 

With much honour we confirm the participation of Ms. Alzima Elisha Bano (Founder and Coordinator of ACT:Fj) at the 2016 QYL residential week. 

Ms. Bano will be joined by 2016 award winner from Fiji; Ms. Luisa Tuilau, as they both depart Fiji on 15th June 2016. 

The Queen's Young Leader Award recognizes and celebrates exceptional people aged 18-29 from across the Commonwealth, who are taking the lead in their communities and using their skills to transform lives. Winners of this prestigious Award will receive a training, mentoring and networking opportunity. This includes a week long residential programme visits to twitter, BBC, 10 Downing Street, AMV BBDO, PWC, charitable organizations, sessions at Cambridge University and of course the award ceremony at Buckingham Palace. 

In the lead up to the QYL journey Ms. Bano has been sharing travel tips with QYL's who prepare for this once in a lifetime opportunity.  

To keep up to date with the Residential Week and Awards ceremony follow us and Ms. Bano via social media;

FB:            facebook.com/ACT.Fj
Twitter:      @actfiji  &   @HerRoyalBano
Instagram: actfiji   &   _royal.bano_  

We wish Ms. Bano and Ms. Tuilau all the best in this journey and hope to share their updates with you as we receive them. 

-End of statement- 
For comments/clarification you may contact us via email: actfiji@gmail.com 

IYD 2015

IYD: International Youth Day is marked on 12th August annually. The theme this year (2015) has been;

Youth Civic Engagement. 

Being a youth group we only thought it right to host our first public event on this day. 
After much planning and discussion we were able to  secure sponsorship from the Fiji National University (FNU) to use their lecture room at the Raiwai campus. Not only this, but the Acting Vice Chancellor kindly sponsored the refreshments for the event as well. 

We were happy to set the space for a number of young people who performed for the very first time. We hope to create more spaces like these for youths in the near future. 

Among our small audience was His Excellency; Mr. Roderick Drummond, the British High Commissioner. We glad to have such great support for youths from dignitaries in our society. 

The diverse group of young people that performed talked about their civic engagement and highlighted topics including; religion, gender, violence, drugs, family, youth, education, political participation and equality. 

The press release for this event can be found here.

A IYD 2015 video message was also launched. 

Videos of individual performances will be launched on our youtube channel soon. 

IYD 2015. Press release.

ACT FIJI HOSTS FIRST PUBLIC EVENT: International Youth Day 2015 Poetry Slam

Advocacy through Creative Techniques (ACT) Fiji hit a new milestone during International Youth Day 2015 (IYD) celebrations by hosting its first public event at the FNU Raiwai Campus last Friday.

With the theme “Youth Civic Engagement”, ACT held a poetry slam to create spaces for young people’s voices. Twelve youth participated in the event using poetry and monologues to discuss different social issues including climate change, political participation, gender equality and religion.

ACT Fiji is a youth-led organization based in Suva focused on using creative arts to advocate on social issues.

Founder of ACT Fiji, Alzima Elisha Bano and Fiji’s first recipient of the Queens Young Leaders Award (2015) said IYD was a reminder of how important it was to involve young people in decision-making roles.

“We keep getting told that young people are the future of tomorrow but the reality is we’re here right now. Make use of our skills, our expertise, our knowledge, our talent, our energy,” she said.

As part of the IYD celebrations, ACT Fiji launched its “International Youth Day 2015 video message” with Chief Guest British High Commissioner Mr. Roderick Drummond in attendance.

While IYD falls on August 12^th, ACT Fiji delayed the event due to venue issues. Mrs Bano said they were fortunate to have FNU sponsor the venue and refreshments.

“We would like to thank the Acting Vice Chancellor of FNU, Professor Ian Rouse for being such a wonderful youth supporter and encouraging us to continue to host such events. Additionally, we would like to thank His Excellency, Mr. Roderick Drummond, the British High Commissioner who graced our event and shared a few words of encouragement,” she said.

Similar projects to promote and encourage the youths to take part will be held over the next few months.

ACT Fiji Video Message Link: 

For more information contact:

Aatika Patel | Media Officer | ACT: Fiji

Phone:                 9962528

-END OF STATEMENT-

Event poster_ IYD 2015