Raijeli Nicole

Change Agent, Explorer, Project manager, Writer/Editor

Raijeli Nicole is a community development specialist and women’s rights advocate. She is the Regional Director of Oxfam in the Pacific providing strategic direction and coordination of Oxfam’s programme, advocacy and humanitarian work in Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga, Micronesia, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. Previously Raijeli was the Chief Executive Officer of Save the Children in Fiji and a Community and Development and Funding Advisor to the New Zealand Government where she led the Pacific Community Post Earthquake Recovery Strategy following the 2011 Christchurch earthquake. Raijeli is a Fijian national with a strong sense of social justice, stemming from her time as a student of history and politics at the University of the South Pacific. An active women’s rights’ advocate, Raijeli worked at the Fiji Women’s Rights Movement and later led the Asia Pacific women’s rights advocacy organisation Isis International in the Philippines to monitor and report on the Asia-Pacific Governments’ responses to women’s rights and other development issues. Raijeli has a masters in in International Law and Politics from the University of Canterbury and currently lives and works in Christchurch, NZ

Providing a space for innovative ideas, created from the Pacific and by Pacific Islanders. Some of the most remarkable innovations are created here and making sure they have a world stage as a platform is critical.

advocacy, behaviour change, change management, Lobbying, Pacific, policy

I have had the most wonderful experience with TEDxSuva. This idea began in a small office in Suva after a discussion with my colleague at Save the Children Fiji. Both of us were working for a small NGO and decided to help create a platform like TEDxSuva to showcase the depth that exists in the Pacific region. This is where it all began. We then confirmed our licence a few months later and spent more than 18 months planning and developing our first TEDxSuva event. The expertise, intellect, depth, challenges and successes of 7 speakers created ideas worth spreading during our first TEDxSuva stage and I am so lucky to be involved with such an incredible team that is dedicated to making TEDx a platform for people to witness their own stories across the region. We have now held our second event and are planning for our third in the last quarter of 2018 to continue showcase the ideas and strength that exits in our region.

I love physics & the mathematics discipline and its potential application to addressing inequality and poverty. I also love diets (but I am not very good at them).