The Pacific Region is a hotspot for climate-related disasters and environmental challenges. With the increasing intensity and frequency of extreme weather events, Pacific Island nations face growing threats to their infrastructure, ecosystems, and communities. There is an urgent need to build resilience, improve disaster risk recovery capabilities and facilitate long term climate adaptation in the region.
Pacific nations are connected by the threat of climate change, all experiencing acute national disasters which are part of a prolonged, ongoing crisis. Indigenous communities and development and humanitarian aid programmes have accumulated valuable knowledge and experience in dealing with these challenges. It is vital to create a platform for dialogue, exchange of ideas, and joint learning. This event aims to bring together stakeholders from across the region to discuss and share best practices and innovations in climate adaptation and disaster risk recovery.
This talk will:
- Foster collaboration and knowledge exchange across the Pacific region around climate adaptation and Disaster Risk Recovery (DRR)
- Showcase successful initiatives, programmes, and innovations from development and humanitarian aid organisations and indigenous communities
- Identify opportunities and make the case for capacity building, technical assistance, and financial support in the region going forward (example climate finance)
Target Audience:
- Policymakers and government representatives
- Practitioners in climate adaptation, DRR, and environmental management
- Development and humanitarian aid organisations staff
- Disaster and emergency response organisations in New Zealand and across the Pacific
- Researchers and academics
- Private sector and civil society stakeholders
Speakers:
Kim Koch
Save the Children Pacific Director
Kim is the Pacific Regional Director where works with Pacific Country Offices in Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, and Tonga, and on behalf of Pacific members, Fiji, New Zealand, and Australia. Previously Kim worked as the Country Director for Save the Children in Malawi and Thailand and led technical quality and business development for Save the Children in Ethiopia. Before joining Save the Children, she worked for the International Rescue Committee, the American Council on Education’s Center for International Initiatives, and the U.S. Institute of Peace. Kim’s first experience working abroad was two years as a community development volunteer with the U.S. Peace Corps in Namibia. She holds an M.A. in international affairs from George Washington University, and a B.A. in cultural anthropology from the College of William and Mary.
Emeline Siale Ilolahia
Executive Director, Pacific Islands Association of Non-Governmental Organizations (PIANGO)
Siale is a Tongan civil society leader, women’s advocate and activist, working and base in Suva, Fiji.
As Executive Director of PIANGO, she represents the interests of Pacific civil society in a range of regional and international fora specifically in areas of human rights based approach, governance and institutional building, effective and informed participation of citizens in decision making to ensure that interest of Pacific peoples are safeguarded.
She has brought her experiences from her previous role as Executive Director of the Civil Society Forum of Tonga to the region in the area of coalition building on issues as diverse as ethical leadership, women’s access to finance, women’s leadership and political participation, humanitarian localisation and locally-led development. Siale was awarded an inaugural Jose Edgardo Campos Collaborative Leadership Award in Washington DC in 2016 in recognition of her contributions to local leadership efforts in Tonga.
Nina Tu'i
Head of Programmes, Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand
Nina Tu’i is Head of Programmes for Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand. She has over 15 years of experience leading international development programmes, including in education, international disaster response, emergency management, and financial management. Most recently she was with New Zealand’s National Emergency Management Agency as Programme Manager for the NZ Disaster Risk Management Programme in the Pacific.
Nina lived in the Pacific for 12 years (Tonga, Samoa and Fiji) and led the educational research work for the principal scientific and technical organisation in the Pacific, the Pacific Community (SPC). Nina’s breadth of experience ranges from leading the implementation of community development projects in the Pacific to managing international development projects for the New Zealand Government.
Camille
Save the Children New Zealand Generation Hope Ambassador
Youth and climate change advocate Camille, 17, is a Save the Children New Zealand Generation Hope Ambassador for 2023. She is passionate about building resilient connected communities that drive change collectively. Camile has been involved in the School Strike for Climate here in Aotearoa as well as Generation Hope’s climate campaign ‘Messages in a Bottle’. She believes the Government can and should be doing more to properly address climate change and protect not only her future but the future generations to come. Camille plans to study Media Studies and Political Science next year at Victoria University.
Facilitator
Amie Richardson
Communications Director, Save the Children New Zealand
Amie Richardson is an experienced communications professional, who has worked for a variety of not-for-profit organisations, companies and media outlets over 20 years. She first joined the industry as a journalist, before moving into a freelance career where she split her time between journalism and TV documentary making and PR consultancy and communications.
With a particular expertise across all aspects of storytelling, strategic communications and media relations, Amie first began working with Save the Children in 2020 to support media engagement around Five to Thrive, a multi-agency advocacy campaign ahead of the General Election, before coming onboard officially as Communications Director in 2021.
Registration:
Cost
CID members and students: Complimentary
Non CID members: $25
Photo credit: Conor Ashleigh / Save the Children. Best friends Junior, 16, and John Mark, 13, paddling a canoe in Malaita Province, the Solomon Islands.