The gathering took place at the headquarters of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) in Nouméa last month, bringing together representatives from Pacific countries expected to take part in the conference along with representatives from other stakeholders including non-profit organisations, government and development agencies.
Some of the representatives included Martin Roberts of the Australian Sports Commission, Paul Peteru of the Commonwealth Secretariat, Meria Carling from the SPC and Mansana Vatanitawake from the Pacifc Youth Council as well as deputy PYASC CEO Sylvian Rafford-Artique, also of the New Caledonia government, and PYASC CEO and OFC Head of Social Responsiblity and International Relations Franck Castillo.
The main item on the agenda was defining the format and objectives of the conference and collectively beginning to build the content.
Castillo says each representative present was asked to define their own objectives for the conference, in terms of what they expect from the event.
“Our objective is to answer to each delegation and stakeholders’ needs. Knowing that we are shaping the content of the conference, workshops, seminars and roundtables on those needs it is imperative that we identify what everybody’s individual expectations are,” Castillo says.
Based on the results of the meeting’s discussions, the stakeholders have written a set of guidelines for guest speakers to comply with the conference, workshop and seminar formats that will ensure that PYASC will provide the expected outcome.
“Guidelines include how the guest speakers will address the issue, how much time they will have, how they will train – as they are not just talking about issues but also training participants to create something using sport – and how they can implement it.”
Castillo says this is the first occasion where the content of the conference is being decided by the participants to answer to their specific needs, rather than simply having the organisers define it for them.
The co-convenors of PYASC 2013 are OFC, the New Caledonia government and the SPC, and the event will be held at the Arena du Sud in Paita.
The overall objective of the conference is to act as a tool to aid youth to develop and pursue social projects in their communities. It is a three-stage process encompassing the periods before, during and after the conference.
The first step for each stakeholder is to select participants who will then be trained to attend the conference.
Castillo says training attendees for the conference includes understanding how to process the information they will receive throughout the five days to best apply it to their projects.
“We don’t want participants to arrive and be surprised, and we want them to also be aware of what their country will expect of them. Explaining the situation and preparing participants for the event needs to start happening now, and will mean that they will be more motivated.”
The second step is during the conference itself where participants will share knowledge in order to help each country prepare projects to tackle social issues that affect their people, which they will present on the final day.
Finally, after the conference each delegation will return to their country where participants, along with their governments, non-government organisations, youth and sport organisations, will take ownership of the projects they have developed during the conference and implement, monitor and evaluate them.

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