Our keynotes for PISACON 2024!
Alisi Rabukawaqa-Nacewa
Alisi Rabukawaqa-Nacewa has spent the past decade working in environment conservation, climate activism and indigenous peoples’ traditional rights and knowledge advocacy. In her personal capacity, she coordinates a youth group called Bua Urban Youth that is composed of young professionals from her province in Bua, Fiji that now work and live in the diaspora - using their skills, knowledge and network to contribute back to their provinces development. She is also a grants committee member to the Fiji Women’s Fund Women's Fund Fiji - a resource mobilisation arm of the feminist and women’s movement in Fiji, striving to shift more power and resources into the hands of diverse women, girls and gender non-conforming people from rural, remote and marginalised communities in Fiji and the Pacific. She also sits on the youth-led grassroots network 350.org Pacific Climate Warriors Council of Elders as the Melanesian representative, providing traditional knowledge on working with Pacific communities and indigenous perspectives to their climate justice work.
Internationally she is a Pacific Representative to the Indigenous Women's Biodiversity Network and the Indigenous Peoples Advisory Group to the Global Environment Facility Indigenous Peoples Advisory Group. She graduated with a BSc in Marine Science from the University of the South Pacific and for the past 4.5 years worked as a marine projects officer with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature-Oceania Regional Office, providing technical support nationally to help achieve Pacific Island countries achieve national and global commitments in protecting and conserving marine biodiversity. Alisi has a wealth of knowledge and experience in protecting marine biodiversity and is now taking on new challenges as a Consultant, continuing to make a difference in the world.
Dr. Vidalino Raatior
Dr. Vidalino Raatior is a Chuukese Micronesian international educator, social entrepreneur, community organizer, and an advocate for Pacific Islander empowerment in the United States. He founded the Pacific Leadership Assistance Network (PLAN), Pacific FocusEd, Raatior Consulting, and co-founded the We Are Oceania (WAO), the Dr. Joakim Peter Memorial Scholarship, the COFA – Community Leadership & Advocacy Network (COFA-CLAN), the Navigating Success and other initiatives aimed at advancing educational and social equity for the Pacific Islander diaspora in the United States particularly from the Micronesian region of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), and the Republic of Palau (ROP).
Currently, he works at the College of Professional & Global Education at San Jose State University (SJSU) as coordinator for study abroad & bilateral student exchange programs for Asia and Oceania. He is also the advisor for the SJSU Pacific Islander Student Association (PISA). Previously, he served as the Director of the Pacific Islander Student Center (PISC) and the AANAPISI Project at the University of Hawaii at Hilo.