Description
The U.S. Embassy in Australia announces an open competition for organizations and individuals to submit applications to carry out a sub-regional workshop on civic leadership designed to provide emerging Pacific leaders with the skills and knowledge they need to become leaders in the region’s civic development. As a Pacific nation, the United States has long been committed to working with partners in the region to ensure continued regional security, as well as economic growth and development. This program for young leaders will create ties across Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands to ensure that we are better prepared to address challenges together in the future. For the past six years, the State Department has convened a Young Pacific Leaders (YPL) Conference, which has taken place in American Samoa, Samoa, New Zealand, Hawaii, and Fiji, with the goal of building leadership capacity and creating ties among emerging leaders from across the Pacific region. This activity is a sub-regional workshop that will convene a group of emerging leaders aged 25-35 with the goal of providing them with practical leadership skills and a deeper knowledge of regional issues related to the civic leadership pillar of YPL. The sub-regional workshop should also help participants grow their networks and enable them to work with their peers on issues that affect the region. The sub-regional workshop should emphasize experiential learning and capacity building to equip participants with the tools they need for success. We encourage pre- and post-workshop programming that will reinforce the themes of the workshop. The location of the workshop should be in Australia and should be selected based on needs of the program, including ease of travel, as well as an opportunity to showcase connections between the United States and Pacific nations. Goals of the workshop include: · Developing the knowledge and skills of youth in Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands to become leaders who cooperate across the region to address difficult issues. · Ensuring that emerging Pacific leaders see the United States as a partner in solving regional and global challenges. · Building a network of emerging Pacific leaders that can share best practices and collaborate on shared challenges. · Increasing participants’ knowledge of current issues related to good governance, as well as strategies for increasing civic engagement among youth. Possible program themes related to civic leadership can include, but are not limited to: · Democratic governance, anti-corruption, and transparency · Press freedom, media literacy, countering disinformation · Political and civic engagement, which could include running for office, increasing voter turnout, advocacy with government agencies, and/or volunteerism · Policy development and implementation