Contributor:
Joleen Mataele
Tonga Leitis Association (TLA), Tonga
First of all I would like to thank ADB for this opportunity and experience, This is a milestone for the work of the Tonga Leitis Association and I would like to acknowledge the partnership with APCOM for this opportunity is a reminder of the work that we do is not for us alone but we do it to save lives of our SOGIESC Community throughout not only Asia and the Pacific but throughout the globe.
The conference was absolutely a platform to learn about the great work that ADB is doing especially on the platforms of advocacy that inclusion is important in all lines of work so that the Communities and lives of those who we want to save and the voices of those that are not heard are included through topics such as Food Systems Transformation, Digital Transformation, Frontiers of the Energy Revolution and Innovation for Resilience.
In the CSO safe space we I experienced that it was a safe space to share your knowledge and experience with a lot of the CSO participants from different countries but the commonality of the issues and needs are the same especially in the session on Unpacking the risks in ADB’s Transition Agenda and Dual Pathways to Economic Inclusion through Equipping Underrepresented Youth for Digital and sustainable features, we can see the struggles that a lot of our Civil Societies go through which a lot of decision makers do not know or their agenda do not allow them to hear those that are truly in need.
One of the struggles some of us from the CSO shared with each other is the importance of how the how the schedule of the main Events was laid out, some of the events on the High level meeting on similar topics was parallel with the same as the CSO panels like Digital Pathways, It was a struggle to decide where to go cause you do not want to miss anything in such important topics.
The highlight of the conference was getting to work closely under the same roof with our Honorable Prime Minister of Tonga, also our Tonga National Reserve Bank Governor and CEO of the Ministry of Finance and some of the leaders from the small Pacific Islands . The collaboration we were able to work on in Milan would have never happened when we are back here in Tonga or other Pacific Islands.
It was truly an experience to be amongst thousands of leaders and expertise in all lines of work especially to be able to hear the voices of those that are working on the fields of Protecting Workers Rights towards a just transition also engaging stakeholders meaningfully on Sustainable Development Projects Lessons from Community Participatory Approaches.
We learn new things everyday, especially this new world of technology has taken us to another level which is why it is important for us to nurture our youth and bring them to this platform so they can learn and continue this work for the future of our Asia Pacific regions. I thoroughly enjoyed everything especially the formal Receptions and top it all off was the Opera Theatre and the two singers were absolutely phenomenal.
I thank you so much for this opportunity and look forward for more collaboration in the near future.
About the contributor:
As a transgender woman, Joey Joleen Mataele knows firsthand the struggles that the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex (LGBTQI) communities face in her native Tonga and the greater Pacific region. As a singer and entertainer, she also understands the importance of oral culture and the role of song, humour and dance in Pacific cultures, which she has been using to elicit support for and raise issues affecting the often marginalised LGBTQI community.
In 1993, Joleen founded the Miss Galaxy Queen Pageant as an annual event to celebrate the diversity and creativity of “fakaleitis” and the LGBTQI community in Tonga. A year prior in 1992, she co-founded the Tonga Leitis Association, of which she is currently the executive director.
Joleen is also the co-founder of the Pacific Sexual and Gender Diversity Network (PSGDN) and an active figure in the LGBTQI and human rights movements in the Pacific
