Coral Pasisi is one of Niue’s Climate Change experts, with extensive experience in this space, having previously worked for regional organizations like SPREP, the Pacific Island’s Forum Secretariat and international organizations like the Green Climate Fund.
Earlier this week the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) announced her appointment as the Director of its Climate Change and Sustainability programme and is now Acting Senior Advisor to the Secretary General until they find a replacement.
Since 2020, Ms Pasisi was the Senior Advisor to the Secretary General of SPC and since last year she also carried the role as Acting Director of Climate Change and Sustainability.
Today BCN News spoke to Coral Pasisi who said that SPC’s Climate Change and Sustainability programme is relatively new, having just started in 2015. Pasisi explains that SPC is a very large organization with around 750 staff members spread around the Pacific working in various sectors including and their technical division covers every single Sustainable Development Goal.
For the past ten years Coral has been working remotely from her office at Tapeu and will continue to work from Niue in her new role. She told BCN News that ten years ago, she made sure her office was set up so that she can continue to do her work and run her consultancy from Niue.
For Coral Pasisi, negotiating a contract when you know your worth and are able to prove that working remotely where you have the best support network around you will make you perform at your best. “It really comes down to what you want to do with your life and your career and if you work hard and you’re very good at what you do, people will want your services, wherever you’re located and whatever your terms and conditions are.
“You should always negotiate that and know your worth.I think that’s something we don’t do very well as women or Pacific island people.
“We tend to be very humble which is a good thing, that’s our aga fakamotu, it’s our aga faka-Pasifika.
“I think it’s really important to not be shy about saying ‘well actually I’ve got other priorities to my community to my country, to my family and so I want to do this as well as this’.
“And I’ve proven that I can operate remotely and Covid fast-tracked that for most of us around the world, so if you can do that then don’t be shy about trying to negotiate being able to stay in your home environment where you’ve got the best support you could ever have and therefore you can perform the best” said Coral Pasisi.
She joins another Niuean Climate Change expert and Director of Climate Change at SPREP, Tagaloa Cooper Halo.
The two Niuean women are regional leaders in the Climate Change and sustainability space and well placed to help the Pacific governments navigate international donor bureaucracy and how best respond to the existential threat, that is the climate crisis.