The future of the nation and the region begins with the well-being, identity, and protection of the youngest citizens, said Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata'afa during the 2025 Pacific Early Childhood Development Forum at Taumeasina Island Resort on Monday.

She acknowledged the region's resilience through adversity while maintaining its collective focus on children. It has set the tone for the high-level and meaningful discussion this week. 

She said the Samoa National ECD Framework 2024-2034, a landmark whole-of-government initiative, was launched and endorsed by the cabinet. She said the framework represented a 10-year commitment to a holistic approach to early childhood development, integrating health, education, protection, nutrition, parenting, and inclusion, all rooted in Samoa's cultural values, spiritual traditions, and village governance systems. 

“Regionally, Samoa has contributed to the elevation of ECD within Pacific policy architecture, where ECD was endorsed in the 2024 Triennial Pacific Women Ministers Communique. It was highlighted in the Pacific Youth Ministers Meeting outcome, featured prominently in our CSW69 statement to the UN, and continues to shape our regional economic and resilience agendas,” she said.

She described these milestones as more than policy progress, calling them “cultural shifts representing our collective will to shape a Blue Pacific, where ECD is foundational to gender equality, climate justice, and economic stability.”

In a groundbreaking move, Samoa and UNICEF Pacific are co-hosting the inaugural Pacific ECD Summit for Caregivers and Frontline Workers, providing a platform for those at the heart of early childhood development — the grandmothers, fathers, teachers, and health workers — to share their lived experiences. Looking ahead, the Prime Minister called for decisive action and genuine engagement:

“Tomorrow, you will hear their collective voice. And I urge you, listen not with policy ears, but with ancestral hearts. This is not the time for polite consensus, but for bold decisions. Let us use this forum to embed language, identity, and cultural knowledge into every ECD setting, infuse climate adaptation and environmental awareness into every curriculum and caregiving approach, sustain the work of PRC4 ECD with long-term political and financial commitments.

“If we change the beginning of this story, we change the whole story. Let this forum be a space of brave conversations and honest listening. May your talanoa be rich with wisdom, and may the voices of our children be the compass that guides every dialogue. Because in the end, it is not only what we build for them, but what we build with them that will endure.”

The 2025 Pacific Early Childhood Development (ECD) Forum is a three-day regional event uniting leaders from 15 Pacific nations to advance early childhood development, reaffirming commitments made since the 2017 Pasifika Call to Action. It is centered on the theme "Children, Our Heritage: Blue Pacific Resilience through ECD Leadership."