This project encourages participants of young women in decision-making through the Emerging Leaders' Forum (ELF).

ELF is a year-long activity for young women between the ages of 18-26 years from a variety of backgrounds.  The main objectives of the ELF programme are to introduce emerging leaders to issues facing young women in Fiji and worldwide and to allow for in-depth discussion so that various important topics and current affairs may be better understood.

Participants are introduced to issues surrounding leadership, business, the environment, the media, reproductive health, human rights, tourism, poverty, the law, HIV/AIDS, culture and religion, their impact on women, and the role of women in each area.

The idea behind ELF was adapted from Leadership Fiji.  Leadership Fiji was attended predominantly by middle to senior management people in the corporate sector.

Anna Padarath (Young Women's Officer) attended Leadership Fiji as the only NGO representative, and a lack of opportunity for leadership training for young women was recognized.  Under her guidance and with the assistance of Virisila Buadromo (Executive Director), the Emerging Leaders Forum was formed, based on a structure similar to Leadership Fiji, deviating only in that it is run for women, with an 18-25year old age criterion. 

ELF2007 is the third successful year of ELF, with 23 young women in the current programme.  Another 23 young women have since graduated from ELF 2005 and ELF 2006.

FWRM recruits their yearly intake of potential applicants for the ELF programme by advertising in local print media towards the end of the year.

Each year, each group of ELF's contribute to the compilation of a publication.  The objective of publications 'by young women for young women' is to empower young women by providing them with examples of role models while also being a useful resource.

Over the course of the ELF programme, the participants didn't just attend the session of the Emerging Leaders' Forum.  They marched, protested, were consulted, attended seminars, discussed, argued, travelled, celebrated, marched some more, and generally got involved!  Some of their activities were:

• Youth Parliament 2004 - Suva, 24-27 May 2004
• UN International Day for Volunteers march - Suva, 5 December 2004
• Human Rights Day march - 10 December 2004
• Small Island Developing States ( SIDS) Youth Visioning for Island Living Forum - Mauritius, 07-14 January 2004
• FWRM/ DAWN Pacific Feminist Advocacy Training Institute - Nadi, 07-11 February 2005
• Ministry of Youth Peace march - 17 February 2005
• National Council of Women celebrations for International Women's Day - 8 March 2005
• Fiji Women's Crisis Centre Reclaim the Night march - 8 March 2005
• Wan Smolbag Theatre HIV/ AIDS workshop - 5-6 March 2005
• Pacific Regional Consultation on the Global Partnership for hte Prevention of ARmed Conflict (GPPAC) - Pacific Harbour, 17-22 April 2005
• Capital Markets Development Authoroity (CMDA) Investment Seminar, 22 April 2004
• Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) Youth Summit - Suva, 5 May 2005
• International Youth Day march & celebrations - Suva, 6 May 2005
• CCF Constitution and Human Rights workshop - Suva, 13-14 July, 2005
• World Youth Congress - Scotland, 29 July - 8 August 2005