Faaolo Utumapu-Utailesolo

Faaolo Utumapu-Utailesolo is the Program Officer for the Pacific Island Countries for the Disability Rights Fund and the Disability Rights Advocacy Fund. She works closely with the program team and serves as a liaison between the funds and grantees in the Pacific Island Countries.

Faaolo is an experienced disability rights advocate in the Pacific region and in her home country of Samoa. She is one of the founders of the Disability Rights Movement in Samoa, having co-founded the National Disabled People’s Organization, Nuanua o le Alofa (NOLA), in 2001. She served on various leadership roles on the Board of NOLA,  has provided volunteer capacity-building support to other DPOs on a voluntary basis, and was the former president of the Samoa Blind Persons Association. Faaolo also volunteered and provided communications support for the then-emerging Deaf Association of Samoa. She also coordinated promotion and awareness campaigns for SENESE Inclusive Support Service, a provider of inclusive education services, to ensure that the message of disability-inclusive is acknowledged by the communities where children with disabilities reside. Her dedication to the disability rights movement has continued to grow as she has served on the disability sub-sector committee of the Samoan government, as well as serving as a member of the Samoa Media Council. Faaolo has taken on various leadership roles for the Pacific Disability Forum, the Regional DPO in the Pacific, including a 4-year Board term from 2013-2017.

Faaolo has a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications from Auckland University of Technology in Auckland, New Zealand, and a Masters of Arts Degree in Media and Communications from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia.