Press Release
Student Leaders Attend Anti-Corruption Seminar
Posted by Media Team 27 August 2024
56 student leaders from 29 secondary schools in the Central Division are attending the 2024 Young Leaders Seminar at the Lami Convention Centre.
The two-day Seminar was hosted by the Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption (FICAC) in partnership with the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) and the kind sponsorship of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Pacific Community (SPC).
The theme for the two-day Seminar is “Empowering Young Leaders through Digital Literacy for Anti-Corruption.”
In her opening speech, FICAC Acting Deputy Commissioner Ms Francis Puleiwai says the Seminar aims to equip the students with an educational experience and empowerment that will assist them in gaining life skills through fun and informative activities.
Ms Puleiwai says the young leaders represent the next generation of change-makers, and their role in shaping a better future cannot be understated.
She adds the Commission aims to give the students, our future leaders, an educational experience and assist in gaining life skills through informative activities that will help promote the principles of good governance and integrity, and to maximize the benefits of technology for sustainable development from the perspectives of integrity, trust and anti-corruption.
One of the most common factors that FICAC finds in its investigations and prosecuting cases is the underlying problem of integrity, which according to Ms Puleiwai is lacking.
The Acting Deputy Commissioner says the Young Leaders Seminar will provide the students with the necessary awareness and skills that will encourage them to champion the principles of integrity, ethics, transparency and anti-corruption in every cornerstone of our digital and physical worlds.
Ms Puleiwai acknowledged the Ministry of Education, Permanent Secretary Ms Selina Kuruleca, the school principals of each of the schools whom are represented by the different head girls and head boys or prefects and the teachers for showing their support to the program.
Over the course of the Seminar, the students will hear speeches and presentations from representatives of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), University of the South Pacific (USP), Online Safety Commission Fiji, the United Kingdom Integrated Security Fund Program as well as FICAC’s Corruption Prevention department.
