Angelique Pouponneau elected Commonwealth Youth Council vice-chairperson |01 December 2015

Seychellois Angelique Pouponneau is the Commonwealth Youth Council vice chairperson responsible for inclusion and engagement.

She was elected onto the new leadership team at the Commonwealth Youth Council during the general assembly at the Commonwealth Youth Forum in Malta.

The council represents national youth bodies from 53 countries.

Kishva Ambigapathy, a youth leader and engineering student from Malaysia, was chosen as chairperson, and will be supported by an executive committee of other elected youth leaders including representatives of Africa and Europe, Asia, the Caribbean and Americas, and Pacific regions.

The Commonwealth Youth Council is a coalition of national youth councils and other youth-led bodies and the recognised voice of the more than 1.2 billion young people aged 29 or under in Commonwealth member countries.

The nine-person executive is responsible for advocating on behalf of young people on issues such as employment, equality and climate change, and encouraging youth-led action on development challenges throughout the Commonwealth. Their two-year mandate runs until 2017.

Speaking to Seychelles NATION, Ms Pouponneau said as vice chairperson for inclusion and engagement her responsibility deals with membership of the Commonwealth Youth Council and engaging people in its work.

 “When my name was called out as the winner of the election for vice chair I was happy for Seychelles and for Small island developing states (Sids) and all the people who believed in me at the forum. My plans include establishing and strengthening national youth councils in countries of the Commonwealth and engaging young people at grassroots level in the work of the Commonwealth Youth Council,” said Ms Pouponneau.

Chairperson Ambigapathy said: “I feel really excited and blessed by the support given to me by all the youth delegates. Together we will move towards a more sustainable and inclusive council. My priority is to deliver on the policy recommendations and action plans that we have developed over the past few days, in the time frame that we have set.”

The general assembly was a key component of the five-day 10th Commonwealth Youth Forum – jointly organised by the government of Malta, the Commonwealth Youth Council and the Commonwealth Secretariat – held on the eve of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Malta from November 27-29.

One of the new executive’s first tasks will be to present the recommendations and priorities of the 400 youth leaders who attended the youth forum and general assembly to Commonwealth leaders.
The elected candidates were:

•    Chairperson – Kishva Ambigapathy from Malaysia

•    Vice Chairperson, Policy, Advocacy and Projects – Nikoli Jean-Paul Edwards from Trinidad and Tobago

•    Vice Chairperson, Partnerships and Resources – Faith Manthi from Kenya

•    Vice Chairperson, Inclusion and Engagement – Angelique Pouponneau from Seychelles

•    Regional Representative, Africa and Europe – Sharonice Davinnia Busch from Namibia

•    Regional Representative, Asia – Pravin Nikam from India

•    Regional Representative, Caribbean and the Americas – Sujae Boswell from Jamaica

•    Regional Representative, Pacific – Christina Giwe from Papua New Guinea

•    Representative, Special Interest Groups – David Aoneaka from Papua New Guinea