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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-NZ link="#467886" vlink="#96607D" style='word-wrap:break-word'><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'>Bula vinaka Seta,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'>This is to acknowledge receipt of your email sent to PDF Board members, the CEO, senior Secretariat staff, and all PDF members’ lists, stating your concerns regarding governance and strategic events for 2025.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'>Your deep connection to this movement is profound and recognised. However, the content, tone, and broadcasting of your criticisms requires a principled response to correct several assumptions and ensure clarity and collective responsibility are upheld..<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'>A Time of Leadership Transition and Renewal<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'>You formally resigned from the role of PDF CEO in 2024 after 17 years of service. Since then, PDF is in a phase of strategic reform and renewal, under a new generation of leadership.</span><span style='font-size:12.0pt'> The current Board and Secretariat are fully engaged in reforming PDF’s governance and strategic direction. We are in the final year of the current Strategic Plan, and work is actively underway—collaboratively with members and partners—to develop a new strategy that meets the evolving needs of our region. Transitions, by nature, involve complexity and recalibration.</span><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'>The Board through its constitutional authority appointed a new Chief Executive Officer, a highly capable vision-impaired woman, to lead PDF forward. Her appointment is not symbolic, but deliberate. It reflects our commitment to elevating emerging leadership, including women with disabilities, and broadening regional ownership of our movement.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'>To that end, your continued interventions in governance matters, especially from your new role as President of the Fiji Disabled Peoples Federation (FDPF), raise significant concerns about conflict of interest. By stepping into that presidency within months of leaving your CEO role at the Secretariat, the optics—and the reality—suggest that you have not been able to step away and allow space for growth and independent governance within both FDPF or PDF. This sends a message, intentional or not, that no one else is capable without you, even with your support. This is not leadership development; it is inhibition.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'>Undermining Trust and Governance Through Public Criticism<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'>Your choice to mass-mail your criticisms to lists viewable to donors, funding partners, and other observers is especially troubling. Whatever the intention, the effect is corrosive, undermining confidence in the new CEO and her staff who are working diligently to ensure continuity, reform and service delivery under considerable constraint. This approach creates an atmosphere where fear of appearing disloyal to your legacy outweighs honest discussion. Many will hesitate to challenge your assertions directly, not because they agree with them, but because they are wary of the polarisation your interventions may cause. Your influence casts a long shadow, one that is difficult to speak against, and that stifles rather than nurtures new leadership.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'>Governance Processes Are Underway <o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><ul style='margin-top:0cm' type=disc><li class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:-18.0pt;mso-list:l2 level1 lfo7'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The 2025 election timeline is aligned with last year’s. The only shift has been a few weeks, caused by member delays in confirming Voting Delegates, a constitutional requirement for an eligible election process. <o:p></o:p></span></li><li class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:-18.0pt;mso-list:l2 level1 lfo7'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Repeated reminders have been issued by Secretariat staff (on 4 and 23 June, and 18 July). This has been transparent and in line with the constitution.<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:-18.0pt;mso-list:l2 level1 lfo7'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The Board is meeting this week to approve the election policy, appoint the Returning Officer, and initiate the formal voting process.<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:-18.0pt;mso-list:l2 level1 lfo7'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Planning for the 2025 Pacific Regional Conference and General Forum is progressing. Confirmation is pending finalisation of funding agreements. Until that is secured, we must proceed responsibly and manage costs cautiously.<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:-18.0pt;mso-list:l2 level1 lfo7'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Regarding constitutional amendments, the Board will ensure the proper advance notice is met once the General Forum date is confirmed.<o:p></o:p></span></li></ul><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The Board and CEO are very mindful to act carefully and constitutionally to </span><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>ensure the 2025 governance processes are credible, participatory, and robust.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The Question of Legacy and the Way Forward<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>You have served the region and this movement with distinction. That contribution is appreciated and a legacy to be proud of. However, legacy is not measured by one’s ability to remain central, but by the strength of those who follow. </span><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>True leadership, especially after stepping down, includes the grace to support successors without overshadowing them.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The two-year term you now hold as President of FDPF begs the question: What happens then? Who will be ready to step up, if your presence now has overshadowed and inhibited current FDPF leaders? These are the patterns our movement seeks to change.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>This Pacific Disability Forum was not built by one person. It was built collectively—by leaders across the Pacific, in all their diversity. Today, that leadership is coming through: in younger voices, in women, in people with psychosocial, intellectual, and multiple disabilities, and in the evolving structures of OPDs throughout the region.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Let us not repeat the turmoil experienced by our global partners, including the International Disability Alliance, where transitions became points of fracture rather than strength. We have seen how crucial it is to protect new leadership from the destabilising effects of overreach, no matter how well-intentioned.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>This year marks the end of tenure for both Co-chairs after two full terms who will be stepping down in full respect of the term limits and governance structures by which we abide. This is the example we must all set. If there were genuine concerns, a phone call or direct outreach to the Co-chairs would have been a more respectful and appropriate approach in the first instance.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>All Voting Delegates and Full Members are asked to remain focused on collective progress and not be drawn into personal allegiances. Our movement must stand on principle—not personalities.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Vinaka vaka levu,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Co-chairs Jacqueline Garoau and <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Latoa Halatau-Talagi MNZM<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>For the Board<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div></body></html>