Open Hearing: Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in the Pacific

Transcription

1 Open Hearing: Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in the Pacific Bios of Presenters Hon. Dr. Hilda Heine, Minister of Education, Republic of the Marshall Islands Hon. Dr. Hilda Heine is the Minister of Education of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and has a long and distinguished career in higher education and learning. Hon. Dr. Heine was previously Director of the Pacific Comprehensive Assistance Center in Honolulu. She has also served as President of the College of the Marshall Islands and as Secretary of Education in the nineties. Hon. Dr. Heine received her doctorate in Education from the University of Southern California, as the first Marshall Islander to receive a doctoral degree. Hon. Tolofuaivalelei Falemoe Leiataua, Minister for Women, Community and Social Development, Samoa Hon. Leiataua is Samoa s Minister for Women, Community and Social Development, and also serves as Samoa s Ombudsman. He is a Samoan politician representing the A'ana Alofi No. 2 constituency, and is a member of the Human Rights Protection Party. He was first elected to Parliament in 1996 and served briefly as Minister of Posts Office and Telecommunications. He was re-elected in 2001 and was appointed Deputy Speaker, and in 2006 became Speaker of the Legislative Assembly. Hon. Lotoala Metia, Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Tuvalu Lotoala Metia has served as the Tuvaluan Minister of Finance and Auditor General since He previously served as Minister for Finance, Economic Planning and Industries from 2006 to 2010, and as Governor of the Bank and the Fund for Tuvalu. Hon. Metia holds degrees from the University of Oxford in England and the University of the South Pacific. He led Tuvalu s successful efforts to become the 187 th member of the World Bank in 2010.

2 Hon. Maere Tekanene, Minister of Education, Kiribati Hon. Maere Tekanene is the Minister of Education of Kiribati, and a Member of the Kiribati Parliament. Elected in October 2011, Hon. Tekanene has been serving the public as a leader in the education sector, and has worked towards the advancement of women for more than 30 years. She is also currently the Kiribati Team Leader for Economic Empowerment of Women under the Vital Voices initiative, and Team Leader for the Emerging Pacific Women Leaders Programme. Hon. Tekanene holds degrees from James Cook University, Victoria University of Wellington, and University of the South Pacific. Hon. Douglas Ete, Solomon Islands Douglas Ete is a Solomon Islands Member of Parliament, representing the East Honiara constituency since the August 2010 general election. Hon. Ete was previously the Chief Executive Officer of the Solomon Islands National Referral Hospital. He also served as the Minister of Public Service, and later, Minister of Forestry in Prime Minister Danny Philip's Cabinet. Hon. Ete holds degrees from the University of the South Pacific and Massey University in New Zealand. Dame Carol Kidu, Papua New Guinea Dame Carol Kidu, DBE, is an Australian-born Papua New Guinean politician. Dame Carol served as Minister for Community Development under Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare from 2002 to Between 2002 and 2012 she was the only female Member of Parliament as the leader of the Melanesian Alliance Party. From February to July 2012, Dame Carol has served as the Leader of the Opposition with Hon Sam Abal as her deputy, she is the first woman to occupy that position. Dame Carol entered politics in 1997, standing as an Independent candidate in the parliamentary elections. Dame Carol holds honorary doctorates from Vudal University, University of Queensland and the University of Papua New Guinea.

3 Hon. Eta Rory, Vanuatu Hon. Eta Rory is a Member of Parliament from Vanuatu, representing the Vanuatu Republican Party. As the only female MP in Vanuatu s Parliament, Hon. Rory has a long track record of advocating for women s and children s rights, and is an independent MP under her Family First Party. She is currently a member of the Parliamentary Committee on Economic Policy as well as the Parliamentary Committee on Social Policy. She has previously served as Minister of Agriculture, and as State Minister of Agriculture & Fisheries. Hon. Rory has a background as a school teacher. Mike Burrell, New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade Mike Burrell is responsible for managing the sector development division of the New Zealand Aid Programme. His division focuses on sustainable economic development (agriculture, fisheries and tourism) and human development (education and health), underpinned by investments in energy, infrastructure and governance. Prior to joining MFAT he was Chief Executive of Aquaculture New Zealand. Mike s development career spans work with the ADB, AusAID, NZAID, Oxfam and VSO, with a focus on the Pacific. He was a VSO volunteer in Vanuatu and has a Master s Degree in development management from the London School of Economics. Dr. Edith Digwaleu-Kariko, Papua New Guinea Dr. Edith Digwaleu-Kariko is a medical doctor from Papua New Guinea. She holds degrees from Wesley College and the University of Papua New Guinea, School Of Medicine and Health Sciences. Dr. Digwaleu-Kariko specialises in public health and infectious diseases, and is a member of the Medical Society of Papua New Guinea.

4 Frank Gideon, Wan Smolbag, Vanuatu Frank Gideon of Vanuatu is a peer educator at Wan Smolbag, an enterprising and highly creative nongovernment organisation based in Vanuatu but operating all over the South Pacific. Coupled with structured workshops facilitated by actors, the organisation uses drama to inform, raise awareness and encourage public discussion on a range of contemporary health, lifestyle, environment and governance issues. Started in 1989 with 5 paid actors, Wan Smolbag now has a staff of 100 and over 400 volunteers. Dirk Jena, UNFPA Sub-Regional Office, Fiji Dirk Jena is the Director and Representative of the UNFPA Pacific Sub-Regional Office. Mr. Jena joined UNFPA s Pacific Sub-Regional Office in Fiji as Director and Representative in August A national of Belgium, Mr. Jena is a seasoned international civil servant with more than 20 years of UN experience. He has served as the UNFPA Representative in Eritrea and Rwanda, and held senior posts with the UN in New York, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Viet Nam, Sri Lanka, the Pacific and Central Asia. Polikalepo Kefu, Tonga Leiti Association Polikalepo Kefu is part of the Secretariat of the Tonga Leiti Association (TLA). The TLA works to promote the rights and inclusion of individuals who identify as fakaleiti gender, that is, those who choose to live with feminine attributes in an occasional, temporary or permanent manner. TLA orchestrates programs, activities and partnerships with private groups, government agencies and community organizations to increase understanding of the leiti population needs. Mr. Kefu also works as an HIV/AIDS Project Coordinator for the Tonga National Youth Congress. In this capacity, he has represented Tonga at the International Youth Forum on Climate Change in Indonesia.

5 Dr. Elissa Kennedy, Burnet Institute Dr Elissa Kennedy is Principal for Maternal and Child Health at the Centre for International Health, Burnet Institute, Melbourne Australia. She is a public health registrar with particular expertise in sexual and reproductive health, family planning and adolescent health. Her recent work (supported by the AusAID funded Women s and Children s Health Knowledge Hub) has focused on ensuring universal access to reproductive health for adolescents, particularly in the Pacific. This has included a number of research projects to explore reproductive health outcomes for adolescents, including barriers (and enablers) to accessing information and health services. Dr. Kennedy has previously worked as a clinician and health advisor to primary health care programs in Kenya and South Sudan, with a particular focus on women s and children s health and HIV. Dr. Rufina Latu, WHO, Fiji Dr. Rufina Latu is a medical officer, health systems development with the World Health Organisation in Port Vila, Vanuatu. Dr. Latu is a graduate from the Fiji School of Medicine and holds a Masters degree in Public Health from the University of New South Wales. For the past 20 years, she has been working in public health with a special focus on MCH & Reproductive Health. While working for the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), she devoted eight years coordinating a UNFPA-funded multi-country programme on adolescent health and development in the Pacific to address sexual and reproductive health issues of young people. The views expressed in her submission on adolescent sexual and reproductive health and rights (ASRHR) are based on her personal observations, experiences and insights and do not represent those of the organisations she has worked for or currently associated with. Archana Mani, International Planned Parenthood Federation Archana Mani is a Programme Manager at the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) s Sub Regional Office for the Pacific in Suva, Fiji.

6 Dr. Adriu Naduva, UNFPA Sub-Regional Office Dr. Naduva joined UNFPA in 2007 and is the focal point for UNFPA programmes in Micronesia. As a medical doctor he worked across the Pacific and is familiar with the particular challenges faced in this region. With a background in Public Health, Dr. Naduva has also taught Public Health at the Fiji School of Medicine. As the focal point for young people, he believes in investing in young people by prioritising their needs and giving them access to opportunities. The current youth bulge in the Pacific makes this an even more important issue that needs to be positively addressed. Ramon D. San Pascual, AFPPD Ramon San Pascual is the new Executive Director of the Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (AFPPD). Prior to this he was Executive Director of the Philippine Legislators Committee on Population and Development (PLCPD) a non-profit policy development institution committed to policy reforms on population and human development. PLCPD is mainly responsible for the ongoing policy struggle to pass the Reproductive Health Bill in the Philippines. He has taught as a Professor on Population Policy and Health at the University of the Philippines, and was a Leadership Fellow for the Gates-Packard Population Leadership Program. Eric Sogote e, MISHIM, Solomon Islands Eric Sogote e is a male nurse based at the Solomon Islands Planned Parenthood Association (SIPPA) clinic in Auki, Solomon Islands. Eric has for the past two years led the day-to-day activities of the project Men Improving Sexual Health in Malaita, (MISHIM) which is a partnership between SIPPA and Family Planning International New Zealand (FPI). In this capacity, Mr. Sogote e provides clinical services to men and boys in Auki and the surrounding areas, as well as community education sessions which focus on addressing issues of STIs, HIV, family planning, parenting and family violence.

7 Sumi Subramaniam, Family Planning International (FPI), New Zealand Sumi Subramaniam is the Director of FPI and is based in New Zealand. She provides strategic leadership and has overall technical and administrative responsibility for the advocacy, research and program development components of FPI, with an emphasis on the Pacific region. Ms. Subramaniam is a member of the senior management team for Family Planning New Zealand and is a board member of the Council for International Development. She has a BA in Economics (Honours) from Delhi University, India and a Masters in International Health Policy from Johns Hopkins University. Before coming to the Pacific region, she worked for over 15 years in India, USA, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Zambia, South Africa, Nigeria, Bangladesh, and Vietnam. Jenta Tau, Solomon Islands YWCA Jenta Tau is the General Secretary of the Solomon Islands Young Women s Association (YWCA). In addition to having worked for the Solomon Islands YWCA in various capacities before being named General Secretary, 26-year-old Jenta was previously seconded to the World YWCA in Geneva. In this capacity, Ms. Tau represented the World YWCA at the 17 th UN Human Rights Council on the topic of sexual and reproductive health for young Pacific women, and at the UN Universal Periodic Review on the issue of violence against women in the Pacific region. Filomena Tuivanualevu, Fiji Women's Rights Movement 27-year-old Filomena Tuivanualevu is a Young Women's Officer for the Fiji Women's Rights Movement. In this capacity, she works with issues such as law reform, women's rights, and young women's leadership, and is currently preparing for Fiji s upcoming constitutional reform and elections in She is a part of the Pacific Young Women's Leadership Alliance, Oxfam International Youth Partnership, and the Emerging Leaders Forum Alumni.