Transcript
"I'm not sure about other countries, but in Papua New Guinea if you are a female you kind of need validation and the Queen Young Leaders awards was a validation of the highest honour because it gives way to the positions that I make and people don't second guessing what I do and they're not second guessing my organisation UniMums."
She says there's not enough support for young mothers wanting to study.
"There is a large number of women who are representing that they need to go back to university or other institutions that leads to a degree or a diploma that gives them that qualification, that edge over when it comes to job hunting in the country, so there are a lot of women in that situation or who are going through that situation." 0:22
Another award recipient from PNG, Johnetta Lili, was recognised for her work in Port Moresby on raising awareness around cancer treatment and prevention.
"Work on a project that would make information on cancer treatment and screening accessible to people all around Papua New Guinea, so people would know where to go for treatment, where to go for screening because we have over 90 per cent of our population living in really rural areas with no access to a lot of this information, so we want to make the information accessible to everyone all around the country. 1 in every 10 deaths are cancer related."
Award winners receive training, mentoring and networking opportunities was part of their prize.
The Queen Young Leaders' scheme is currently helping another recepient, Elizabeth Kite from Tonga, with her project to try and increase political participation among Tongan youth.
"1 in every 5 people in Tonga is a member of the youth. That's a huge part of our population that I don't feel has so much of a say when it comes to national decision making and I believe that needs to change and not only that the youth needs to be given the responsibility for our future and we also need to take the responsibility for it out of respect to our elders."
From Solomon Islands Karrie Jionisi was acknowledged for helping unemployed girls and single mothers learn new job skills.
She is also trying to address gender imbalance through her group Girls For Change.
"When I take this award it means so much to me so that I can tell other women that I'm a proof that women in the Solomon Islands can do this, to make other young women, especially women that they have the lack of coming out into the leadership role and we empower them through our workshops and our trainings."
All four Pacific women travelled to London and received their awards from Queen Elizabeth.
