Wanted: a strategic dialogue with Pacific island countries
BY KAITU'U 'I PANGAI FUNAKI AND YOICHIRO SATO

29 January, 2019. This year’s winner of the prestigious King Tupou VI Coronation Scholarship for 2019 is Fugalaau Elizabeth ‘Amanaki Mafi.

21 December, 2018. Pasifika students at Otago University have joined forces to form a collective voice and feel empowered to speak up.

The Pacific Islands Students Association's new president, Mary-Jane Kivalu, said the group was formed not just to provide a Pacific voice in the academic context, but also in the Pasifika setting.

Ms Kivalu said it's important that Pacific students feel empowered to speak up anywhere, any place and any time.

She said the new association, which will begin its official year in 2019, is the pipeline to mobilise that voice for Pacific students.

"Our society tends to be very hierarchical. So if you're the younger, you tend to not have a voice in these settings. But in New Zealand, we need to empower that voice more because this is the future of our Pacific generations," she said.

Ms Kivalu, who helped launch the university's Tongan Alumni Network in the kingdom, said a recent trip there was a "eureka moment" because it helped her reconnect with her roots.

"The trip made me realise how hard I was working for Pacific movements here and made me question why I wasn't working for the same back in Tonga," she said.

Ms Kivalu said there is a growing awareness in Tonga of science as a career pathway and many young people now "think outside the box" about what they want to do in the future.

"Tongan parents usually make all the decisions for their children, and it can seem like we don't have initiative but it's just how we are brought up," she said.

"We have an empowered Pasifika generation coming through and current Pasifika 'scarfies' (nickname for Otago uni students) have made UOPISA (University of Otago Pacific Islands Students Association) happen which is great."

- RNZI

10 November, 2018. The Government of Japan and the St. Francis of Assisi Primary School celebrated the completion of a new building with two classrooms, funded through Japan’s Grant Assistance for Grass-Roots Human Security Projects, GGP on Friday morning, 9 November, 2018.

3 November, 2018. Na'e hokohoko mei he uike kuo 'osi ki he uike ni 'i 'Okatopa mo Novema 'a e faka'ali'ali 'aati, hulu filimi hele'uhila tokiumenituli, mo e ngaahi lekisa 'e tolu ko e konga tefito 'o e Siulisi Papiliki Lekisa 'a e Lo'au University he 2018 he 'Api-ko-Ma'ananga 'ihe Lepa-i-Fualu 'i loto Pahu Tahi.

8 ‘Okatopa, 2018. Na’e fakahoko ‘a e lotu fakafeta’i ki hono fakamanatua ‘a e ‘aho fakamāmāni lahi ‘o e kau faiakó, ‘i he holo Falemasiva ‘o Tailulu, ‘i he pongipongi Falaite ‘o e uike kuo ‘osí ‘aki ‘a e kaveinga “ Ko e Faingamālie ke Akó, ‘Oku totonu ke ma’u ha Faiako kuo teu’i lelei.”

18 September, 2018. Thirty seven (37) Tongan citizens received scholarships funded by the Government of Australia to take up university studies starting 2019 in Australia and the Pacific region.