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My Guide to Voting Launch: Fiji Young Women’s Forum

Submitted by onorinas on Fri, 26/08/2022 - 16:37
English

My Guide to Voting (MG2V) , a youth friendly booklet aimed at empowering diverse young women to think critically about their right to vote and their role in Fiji’s democratic process was launched by the Fiji Young Women’s Forum (FYWF) in Suva this week.

“The MG2V booklet will be a helpful tool in guiding diverse young women when it comes to election day. It will ensure equal and meaningful participation of ALL women,” said Cleo Petra, a co-convenor with the House of Colours. House of Colours is a volunteer based LGBTQI+ advocacy organisation in Northern Viti Levu, Fiji.

The booklet encompasses voices of diverse young women from all over Fiji on how they want their future to be or better off, how they want the present to be. Diverse women's voices are vital for good governance and MG2V would be an important tool for it." she said.

The MG2V Booklet has been published with support from the Pacific Community (SPC), through a grant funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) as part of its US$19.8 million Promoting Just, Transparent and Civic Minded (PROJECT) Governance partnership programme. 

Women are underrepresented across various levels of decision-making spaces in Fiji, despite the fact they make up 49.3 percent of Fiji’s population. Half of Fiji’s population were recorded to be under the age of 27.5 according to the Fiji Bureau of Statistics 2017 Census Results. FYWF is concerned that young diverse women are not provided with meaningful and inclusive opportunities to contribute or be consulted with Fiji’s laws though young women make a majority in Fiji.

Prior to the launch of the booklet, the FYWF held three (3) divisional dialogues with women between the ages of 18 – 35 in the Western, Northern and Central Divisions, cumulating in the 2022 National Declaration representing young women’s challenges and strategies towards human security. The launch hosted a panel discussion by the co-conveners on strategies outlined in the national declaration followed by a question-and-answer session.

Dorrin Irvin, a co-convener with the Emerging Leaders Forum Alumni ELFA) says "It is critical that all the hard work put towards the FYWF National Declaration by the diverse young women in Fiji is recognized by the upcoming government".

At the launch USAID Deputy Chief of Mission Rebbeca Owen highlighted the importance of effective participation of young women and girls in all their diversities in community and political life which is essential to building a healthy, inclusive and democratic society.

“It is important that youths and in particular young women are enabled to actively participate in all decision-making at national, regional and international levels so that we can build a more democratic, inclusive and just society and the first step in achieving this is to empower young women to engage in their civic right to active citizenship by providing them essential information on voting and political participation of young women in Fiji’s elections process,” Owens said. 

“The My Guide to Voting booklet will go a long way in educating young women voters on their right to vote and the processes involved in order for them to exercise their right to political participation,” she added. 

Luisa Tuilau, femLINKpacific co-convener of the forum added that the booklet is an expression of young women’s commitment to their roles as voters and citizens of Fiji.

About Fiji Young Womens Forum FYWF is co-convened by the House of Colours, Emerging Leaders Forum Alumni (ELFA) and femLINKpacific and is provided secretariat support by the Fiji Women's Rights Movement (FWRM). The FYWF builds on the initial Fiji Women’s Forum and a rich tradition of activism of Fijian women throughout Fiji’s national history. The FYWF is supported by the Australian Government through the We Rise Coalition.

Media Queries can be sent to:  [email protected] or Kalpana Prasad Nizarat on [email protected]

Country List

#IWD2022 CANDIDA IS ON A MISSION TO CHANGE HERSELF AND HER COMMUNITY

Publish Published
2022
English

To celebrate women in the Pacific we're sharing a series of Herstories of women and women's movements who have collectively struggled, lobbied, stood in solidarity and supported each other and survivors of violence against women, and triumphed. This is a story of Candida Kaious a woman leader who is the Project Coordinator of Weto in Mour at the Women United Together Marshall Islands (WUTMI).  

Candida Kaious is Weto in Mour’s (WiM) Program Coordinator. She joined the service, which provides counselling and support to survivors of violence against women and girls in the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) in 2016.

Candida fell into the work by chance, having recently graduated from Marshall Islands College after three years spent teaching primary school . She had gone back to college in the hopes of securing a better paying job to support her young family. Candida initially joined WiM in a part-time role but quickly became passionate about her job – even turning down a better-paying government role as a data entry clerk.

“The more I learned about gender-based violence and gender inequality, and how our culture and beliefs are linked to violence, I then realised there needs to be change. I also realised that I need to change and that I want to give back to the community,” she said.

“That’s what made me stick with this work. Since then, I have changed how I think about gender differences, such as how people think they should behave and dress. It was not easy but I have tried hard have made a breakthrough.”

Candida joined WiM along with four other women, all in their thirties, and together they helped launch the country’s very first counselling service for survivors of violence against women and girls with funding and technical support from the Australian Government. This support continues through Pacific Women Lead, and formerly through Pacific Women Shaping Pacific Development (Pacific Women).

None of the women had prior knowledge about gender-based violence and the law so there was a steep learning curve. Besides learning on the job, they have benefited from working alongside Marshall Islands women’s rights pioneers like Daisy Alik Momotaro and Marie Maddison at WiM’s parent organisation Women United Together Marshall Islands (WUTMI).

Candida says there are  number of challenges in WiM’s work including the widely held belief that their work was somehow anti-culture, anti-religion and anti-men - stereotypes they continue to work hard to overcome. 

“When the program was new, people were saying that we were going was against our men, that we are trying to destroy our culture and customs. That what we were doing went against the bible. Through training, we’ve learned to provide appropriate culture-based responses.”

She and her fellow caseworkers employ Marshallese sayings that translate to ‘mothers as caretakers’ and ‘men’s need to protect mothers’ alongside contemporary readings of the bible to make the case for greater equality between women and men.

Candida has taken the time to talk about gender with her father, a pastor, and her husband who previously had traditional ideas about men and women’s roles. Today, they’re both proud and supportive of her work.

By leading a team of women her own age, she has acquired leadership skills.

“I’ve learned to be supportive and lead through example,’ she said.

“And not to think we can do everything ourselves. We need others to get things done.”

To young women leaders doing similar work in the region, she says it is worth sticking it out.

‘This work takes a lot of time and learning but don’t give up. Just seeing these women being empowered and free; there’s a wonderful feeling there.’[1]

ENDS

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#IWD2022 CREATING SAFE SPACES FOR WOMEN IN CHUUK IS CRITICAL SAYS ELEANOR

Publish Published
2022
English

To celebrate women in the Pacific we're sharing a series of Herstories of women and women's movements who have collectively struggled, lobbied, stood in solidarity and supported each other and survivors of violence against women, and triumphed. This is a story of Eleanor Mori, a woman leader who is the Coordinator of Tongen Inepwineu Counseling Center (TICC) at the Chuuk Women's Council (CWC). 
 

Eleanor Mori is the Coordinator of Tongen Inepwineu Counseling Center (TICC), the first crisis support centre for women and girls in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). Prior to joining TICC, she worked at the Social Affairs Office providing services to elderly and aging citizens. A year into her new job, Eleanor says work at the centre is both challenging and eye-opening.

Seeing women and girls who come into the centre having experienced some form of abuse has fueled her passion for the work.

 ‘‘No child should feel afraid at home,’’ she said, adding: ‘‘A home should be safe. A mother should feel safe. When she is healthy and strong, she can take care of the kids and they grow up to be healthy and strong. When there is no violence in the home that family grows.’’

The establishment of TICC — initiated by the Chuuk Women’s Council (CWC) — has created a safe space where Chuukese women feel they can finally speak up, something that they are typically hesitant to do. Nationwide, one in every three women in FSM experience physical and/or sexual violence by a partner in their lifetime.[1]

‘‘Our women didn’t really like to talk about what goes on in their relationships and it has been a process to win their trust. Now, when they see TICC staff in their communities, they are more open and talk to us about anything.’'

 The centre’s work is being taken seriously by authorities.

 Where previously three witness statements were needed in addition to the centre’s case report before making its final way to the Attorney-General’s Office for further processing, now the case report alone is enough to begin the investigation.

This is a significant achievement and support for TICC clients. This means survivors are not additionally or unnecessarily burdened. To aid in its work, TICC has established a network of 35 family champions throughout the main island with plans to recruit more in the outer islands. The champions, both young and old, refer clients to the centre and accompany them to counselling and referral services (such as medical, police or legal services) if needed. The family champions are TICC’s eyes and ears in the community.

The centre has trained health assistants (with access to dispensaries and transport) and plans to link them to family champions.

Eleanor’s vision for TICC’s future was recently achieved with the centre’s expansion to include phone counselling. Next, she hopes the centre may create a separate, dedicated space for greater client privacy, a day care centre and shelter, a gap TICC addresses by developing safety plans with clients, who choose a safe house and host family with TICC providing remote support.

‘‘This stuff doesn’t just happen between the hours of 8 to 5,’’ said Eleanor, adding: ‘‘That’s why we need a safe house where mothers can go for the night and stay longer if they need to.’’

Currently the only shelter that exists in Chuuk belongs to the Human Trafficking Division under the National Police.

 On her leadership style, Eleanor says it is all about ‘‘having mutual respect and faith in one another’’ that the assigned activities will be done.

Between TICC and CWC, there are women aged 20 to 60 and balancing the generation gap while providing space and opportunities for the younger women to flourish has been high on her agenda.

Launched in March 2020, TICC provides free, confidential counselling and referral support to survivors of domestic violence, rape, sexual harassment and child sexual abuse through trained safe counsellors.

The centre is part of the CWC, which has received funding and extensive on-going technical support from the Australian Government through the Pacific Women Lead formerly known as Pacific Women Shaping Pacific Development Program. Tongen Inepwineu means ‘Love of the Family’ in Chuukese.

ENDS


[1][ FSM Family Health and Safety Study, 2014, FSM Department of Health and Social Affairs

One of the largest global commitments to gender equality, Pacific Women Lead aims to promote women’s leadership, realise women’s rights, and increase the effectiveness of regional gender equality efforts.

Australia has committed AUD 170 million to the five-year programme, including through its partnerships with the Pacific Community (SPC) Human Rights and Social Development (HRSD) division, women’s funds and other development partners.

HRSD Pacific Women Lead is at the centre of SPC’s regional work for gender equality, serving as secretariat to the Governance Board and providing technical, convening and funding support to government ministries, civil society and other partners.

For more information about the program’s design refer to the SPC HRSD website or the high-level design framework

 

Pacific Women Lead team starts work at Pacific Community (SPC)

Submitted by SRolls on Thu, 24/02/2022 - 08:55
Publish Published
2022
English

Pacific Women Lead has transitioned to the Pacific Community (SPC) Human Rights and Social Development (HRSD) Division. With this transition, Pacific Women Lead is now at the centre of SPC’s regional work on gender equality.  

Several members of the new SPC HRSD Pacific Women Lead team have been recruited from the Support Unit of Pacific Women Shaping Pacific Development (Pacific Women), which was the region’s former gender equality programme supported by Australia over 10 years.

The new programme’s onboarding of specialist staff from Pacific Women, has ensured continuity of funding and technical support to partners during the transition from the former programme to Pacific Women Lead.

During the transition, there is also a focus on capturing and sharing more than a decade of partners’ experiences from the former programme, to help guide Pacific Women Lead.

This includes the promotion and expansion of a new series of knowledge products garnering lessons learned, experiences, and gender transformative approaches from Pacific Women partners. The lessons learned and good practice contained in the knowledge products aim to guide future gender equality initiatives, including the implementation of Pacific Women Lead. They are available online through the Pacific Data Hub as a result of a dedicated knowledge management process.

This intentional transition approach has been guided by a principle of continuity of critical services. Supporting specialist staff to transition from Pacific Women to Pacific Women Lead has ensured uninterrupted technical and funding support to essential services, including many of the 15 Pacific crisis centre partners supported by the former programme.

As Pacific Women Lead began in 2021, the regional Pacific Women program closed with country-specific support in Papua New Guinea continuing in 2022. Pacific Women connected more than 190 partners and over 180 initiatives across 14 countries, making it one of the largest global commitments to gender equality.

Sharing knowledge  

The series of knowledge products capture and share lessons learned, experiences, and gender transformative approaches from many of its 192 partners over the life of the Pacific Women programme.

The series of knowledge products includes:

 

One of the largest global commitments to gender equality, Pacific Women Lead aims to promote women’s leadership, realise women’s rights, and increase the effectiveness of regional gender equality efforts.

Australia has committed AUD 170 million to the five-year programme, including through its partnerships with the Pacific Community (SPC) Human Rights and Social Development (HRSD) division, women’s funds and other development partners.

HRSD Pacific Women Lead is at the centre of SPC’s regional work for gender equality, serving as secretariat to the Governance Board and providing technical, convening and funding support to government ministries, civil society and other partners.

For more information about the program’s design refer to the SPC HRSD website or the high-level design framework .

 

Country List

East West Center part of the Blue Pacific Alliance under PROJECT Governance

Submitted by Admin on Mon, 27/09/2021 - 15:18
Publish Published
2021
English

About the East-West Center

The East-West Center(link is external) promotes better relations and understanding among the United States, Asia and the Pacific through collaborative study, research, and dialogue. Across Asia and the Pacific Islands, and at our campuses in Honolulu and Washington DC, the Center hosts conferences, exchanges, and in-depth trainings for policymakers, educators, cultural and civil-society leaders, and entrepreneurs. The Center conducts multidisciplinary research on environmental issues, public health, demography, economic policy and geopolitics, and provides graduate degree fellowships for the next generation of leaders. The Center also hosts the Pacific Islands Development Program(link is external)—the focal point of EWC programming for Pacific nations, and the seat of the secretariat of the Pacific Islands Conference of Leaders.

EWC and PROJECT Governance

The East-West Center is proud to join SPC, IFES, and CARE as part of the Blue Pacific Alliance implementing PROJECT Governance. EWC will lead four mutually reinforcing activities focused on supporting financial-governance offices and officials across the region:

For more information about the East-West Center and PROJECT Governance, please contact us at [email protected].

Stocktake of the gender mainstreaming capacity of Pacific Island governments: Tonga

Stocktake of the gender mainstreaming capacity of Pacific Island governments: Tonga

Anon.
2012

Anon. 2012. Stocktake of the gender mainstreaming capacity of Pacific Island governments: Tonga. Noumea: Secretariat of the Pacific Community. 26 p.

Stocktake of the gender mainstreaming capacity of Pacific Island governments: Republic of the Marshall Islands

Stocktake of the gender mainstreaming capacity of Pacific Island governments: Republic of the Marshall Islands

Anon.
2012

Anon. 2012. Stocktake of the gender mainstreaming capacity of Pacific Island governments: Republic of the Marshall Islands. Noumea: Secretariat of the Pacific Community. 25 p.

Stocktake of the gender mainstreaming capacity of Pacific Island governments: Papua New Guinea

Stocktake of the gender mainstreaming capacity of Pacific Island governments: Papua New Guinea

Anon.
2012

Anon. 2012. Stocktake of the gender mainstreaming capacity of Pacific Island governments: Papua New Guinea. Noumea: Secretariat of the Pacific Community. 34 p.

Stocktake of the gender mainstreaming capacity of Pacific Island governments: Federated States of Micronesia

Stocktake of the gender mainstreaming capacity of Pacific Island governments: Federated States of Micronesia

Anon.
2012

Anon. 2012. Stocktake of the gender mainstreaming capacity of Pacific Island governments: Federated States of Micronesia. Noumea: Secretariat of the Pacific Community. 25 p.

Stocktake of the gender mainstreaming capacity of Pacific Island governments: Cook Islands

Stocktake of the gender mainstreaming capacity of Pacific Island governments: Cook Islands

Anon.
2012

Anon. 2012. Stocktake of the gender mainstreaming capacity of Pacific Island governments: Cook Islands. Noumea: Secretariat of the Pacific Community. 31 p.

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