New Framework for Pacific Regionalism

New Framework for Pacific Regionalism

Joint Media Release:
Pacific Leadership Program and Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat

More than 30 established and emerging Pacific island leaders from Pacific regional organisations and civil society are attending the Pacific Regional Leadership Initiative this week.

Represented at the workshop are the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, Secretariat of the Pacific Community, University of the South Pacific, South Pacific Regional Environment Programme, Forum Fisheries Agency, Pacific Disability Forum, Pacific Islands Association of Non-Government Organisations and Pacific Islands Private Sector Organisation.

The Pacific Regional Leadership Initiative was developed by the Pacific Leadership Program (PLP) to support Pacific leaders. In collaboration with Cambridge Leadership Associates (CLA), it is a comprehensive yearlong program that comprises three week-long residential modules, interspersed with ongoing strategic coaching support. Professor Juan Carlos Eichholz, Chair of the Business School of Adolfo Ibáñez University, Chile, and founding director of the Adaptive Leadership Center, will deliver the workshop this week.

Participants will be introduced to the concept of Adaptive Leadership, a range of diagnostic and management tools fororganisational or social change, and the application of Adaptive Leadership principles to the challenge of responding to andoperationalizing the Framework for Pacific Regionalism.

Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat’s Secretary General, Dame Meg Taylor said the new Framework for Pacific Regionalismencapsulates a new direction in this region: “It speaks to leadership at all levels and the need to realise that as Pacific peoples we need to re-orient ourselves and recognise that collectively we can do more.”

“The Framework also recognises the critical role that Civil Societies and Private Sector play in its implementation. Therefore, this training initiative organised by the Pacific Leadership Program could not come at a better time,” said Dame Meg.

PLP Team Leader, Georgina Cope, says the Pacific Regional Leadership Initiative’s focus on Adaptive Leadership is an excellent fit for the Pacific, where diverse cultures, large distances, competing national and regional priorities and agendas, and constrained resources all make the process of change complex and often unpredictable.

“Adaptive Leadership accepts that leaders don’t need to have all the answers, but encourages them to rethink the way they view, and address, issues. This approach also recognizes that leadership can be exercised at all levels in organisations and societies, not just at the top,” said Ms Cope.

ENDS

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