Youth training

RNZI reports the Pacific Community will train 20 youth from Fiji, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu to act as leaders to help unemployed youth in their home countries.

The SPC's Melanesia director, Mia Rimon, said 20 percent of the Pacific's 11 million people are 15 to 24 years old, and approximately half are unemployed.

Eleven female and nine male learned the traditional skills of siapo production, mat weaving, wood carving and canoe making. The skills training course was implemented as part of the Government of Samoa and One-UN Youth Employment Programme, with financial support being provided by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).