Cook Islands Minister for Health, Agriculture and Internal Affairs Rose Toki Brown and her staff are currently attending the Early Childhood Development (ECD) Forum in Apia, Samoa.

It is understood the Minister for Education Vaine ‘Mac’ Mokoroa is also at the forum alongside Internal Affairs secretary Anne Herman, Te Marae Ora’s Director of Planning and Funding Roana Mataitini and Agriculture secretary Temarama Anguna-Kamana.

Health Minister Brown says, “Being at the ECD Forum reminds me of the importance of returning to our traditional ways of raising children—where culture, heritage, and faith were deeply woven into the way we nurtured young lives.”

She said, “It is time we revive these values, blending them with the necessary improvements of today, to ensure a brighter and stronger future for our children. Proverbs 22:6: Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.”

The Forum, hosted by the Government of Samoa, is organised by the Pacific Regional Council for ECD (PRC4ECD) and UNICEF, with the financial support of the Governments of New Zealand and Australia as well as technical support from the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat.

According to UNICEF, two years after the 2023 Pacific Early Childhood Development (ECD) Forum that took place in Fiji, 15 Pacific Island countries have gathered in Apia this week to evaluate the progress on ECD in the past two years, highlight challenges, and share experiences.

Under the 2025 theme ‘Our Children, Our Heritage: Blue Pacific Resilience through ECD Leadership’, government ministers and representatives from several sectors, including education, finance, health and social welfare participated the cross-country and multi-sectoral dialogue during the three-day meet.

"We have come a long way in progressing ECD in the region, and I am excited to see everything that has been achieved by the countries since we last met in 2023," said Jonathan Veitch, UNICEF Pacific Representative.

"Embracing a whole of region approach is not only about protecting our young children, but it also means shared support to stop cycles of poverty and under-development undermining the strength and stability of our societies.” UNICEF/ 25051403